China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Discursive coalitions
Published in Benjamin K. Sovacool, Visions of Energy Futures, 2019
For example, clean coal sponsors mention that best practices can greatly minimize any damage that might occur during the mining, transport, and combustion of coal. Already established control methods exist to minimize miner exposure to coal mine dust, the primary contributor to coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, commonly known as black lung disease. These include applying water to lower dust from roads, using brushes to clean conveyor belts, and improving air ventilation and circulation.24 Furthermore, Methane Control and Prediction (MCP) systems can be implemented to monitor fugitive emissions, and enable the recovery or capture of coalbed methane—which simultaneously enhances safety, reduces leakage, and provides a revenue source from the relatively clean natural gas byproduct.25
Toxicology
Published in W. David Yates, Safety Professional’s, 2015
Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (also known as black lung disease) is a lung disease caused by inhaling coal mine dust. Although some miners never develop the disease, others may develop the early signs after less than 10 years of mining experience. According to recent studies by the NIOSH, about 1 of every 20 miners participating in our program has x-ray evidence of some pneumoconiosis.
Toxicology
Published in W. David Yates, Safety Professional’s Reference and Study Guide, 2020
Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (also known as black lung disease) is a lung disease caused by inhaling coal mine dust. Although some miners never develop the disease, others may develop the early signs after less than 10 years of mining experience. According to recent studies by the NIOSH, about 1 of every 20 miners participating in our program has X-ray evidence of some pneumoconiosis.
Influence of swirl intensity on atomization characteristics and dust-reduction using pressure swirl nozzle
Published in Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 2021
Jingjing Yan, Fei Wang, Yucheng Li, Hongwei Liu, Yabin Gao, Zhigang Li, Ziwen Li
Almost all coal industry processes produce dust of some kind (Wang et al. 2019a). However, some processes produce high concentrations of dust which seriously endanger the health of employees and the safety of the production processes (Peng et al. 2019). It has been found that overexposure to coal mine dust can lead to “Coal Worker Pneumoconiosis” (CWP), which is also referred to as black lung disease (Kollipara, Chugh, and Mondal 2014). In addition, heavy concentrations of coal dust have been confirmed to be the main causes of dust explosions and mechanical hazards due to its characteristics of ambient existence and activity times (Kundu et al. 2018). According to the latest statistical data of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, the cumulative number of related occupational diseases reached as high as 994,284 in 2019. As shown in Figure 1, the incidence of CWP accounted for 82.1% in 2019 alone. Although infections have been declining since 2016, the latency and concealment of pneumoconiosis cannot be ignored. Therefore, the prevention and control of hazardous dust conditions are of major significance to ensuring the health and safety of workers (Zhou et al. 2018). At the present time, it is considered to be critical to maintain dust concentrations in underground mines below the maximum implemented allowable levels (Ren, Wang, and Zhang 2018).
Dust reduction method based on water infusion blasting in open-pit mines: a step toward green mining
Published in Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 2021
Zhi-Ming Wang, Wei Zhou, Izhar Mithal Jiskani, Xiao-Hua Ding, Zhi-Chao Liu, Yan-Zhen Qiao, Boyu Luan
Dust is one of the significant environmental concerns associated with surface mining, which causes serious deterioration of air quality and adverse effects on human health in the proximity of mining sites (Chang et al. 2019; Entwistle et al. 2019; Mandal et al. 2012). Dust emission caused by exploration, perforation, blasting, exploitation, transporting, crushing and disposal, or even other means, results in the deposition at different locations, such as roadsides. It significantly leads to the degradation of vegetation and the diversity of plants and animals. It should be noted that excessive dust reduces the water retention of the atmosphere and, at the same time, increases the temperature (Kayet et al. 2019). Open-pit mining is considered to be one of the main sources of particulate matter (PM). In particular, PM10 (with aerodynamic diameter <10 µm) is considered a significant risk factor (Arregocés et al., 2018; Vaupel, Klenk, and Schmidt 2016). It is reported that more than 30% of coal miners in China suffer from pneumoconiosis (black lung disease) due to dust, indicating the necessity of further strengthening dust reduction measures (Cui et al. 2015). Dust pollution has brought a series of problems to the development of the mine, including low visibility of the working environment and significant potential health and safety risks, which seriously affect the production efficiency. In addition to reducing crop production, it can also pollute the downstream areas (Abdollahisharif, Bakhtavar, and Nourizadeh 2016). Blasting in open-pit mining produces energy, which breaks the rock mass and forms a large amount of dust. Also, the explosion itself comes with a large amount of smoke, so the blasting dust has the characteristics of high concentration and wide diffusion (Alvarado et al. 2015). The most effective dust monitoring method in the mine is locating the monitoring points or networks (Sosa et al. 2013). However, with the increase of mining depth, it is difficult to predict the diffusion and dispersion of PM due to inadequate ventilation (Gautam et al. 2018). At each phase of the mining operation, the dust has characteristics of large production from multiple sources with an indefinite mode and direction of diffusion, making it challenging to capture and control (Vaupel, Klenk, and Schmidt 2016). In addition, the unique sag terrain of the open-pit mine significantly changes the wind field and temperature field flowing through it. The phenomena of circulation and reverse temperature are apparent (Raj 2015; Wanjun and Qingxiang 2018). These phenomena hinder the spread of the open-pit dust, resulting in a high concentration of dust in the open-pit mine.