Characteristics of airborne coal mine dust and its implication to coal workers' pneumoconiosis

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:6220862

Kim, H

Size selective airborne dust samples were collected using 4-stage cassette impactors at nine different locations in continuous mining sections in each of five coal seams located in the Appalachian bituminous coal field. These coal seams were the Upper Freeport, Pittsburgh, Kittanning, Coalburg, and Pocahontas. Mineralogical analyses were performed by an x-ray powder diffraction photographic technique. The distributions of total and respirable dust concentrations were fit best by a log-normal distribution. The effects of the coal seam and the sampling location on dust levels were significant. The results of the particle size distribution analyses suggest that coal mine dust has a multi-modal distribution. The effects of the coal seam and the sampling locations were significant. The distributions obtained were often affected by such mine-related variables as ventilation rate, relative humidity, and the section dimensions. Nine minerals commonly found in the coal mine dust samples collected from the coal seams studied were illite, calcite, kaolinite, quartz, dolomite, siderite, gypsum, anhydrite, and pyrite in descending order of magnitude. Relative abundance of all mineral species except siderite and gypsum was coal seam specific and suggests that existence of coal seam variability of mineral content. Although mineral content was affected by sampling locations and the sections within a mine, the magnitude was small when compared with that of cal seams. Mineral content also appears to be affected by particle size, although no particular pattern was observed.

• Research Organization: West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6220862
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
016000* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Health & Safety
APPALACHIA
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
COAL MINERS
COAL MINING
DISEASES
DUSTS
EPIDEMIOLOGY
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
MINERALS
MINERS
MINING
NORTH AMERICA
PARTICLE SIZE
PERSONNEL
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PNEUMOCONIOSES
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM DISEASES
SIZE
USA