Man-made pollution of the environment with coal dust as a result of operation and closure of coal mines

Abstract

The technological processes of coal mining, enrichment and use, in particular coal combusting is accompanied by formation and release of significant amounts of dust and gases. Atmospheric air protection is one of the most urgent problems of the nowadays technological society, as scientific and technological progress and expansion of production is associated with an increase in negative anthropogenic impacts on the atmosphere. The paper presents a new solution to the current scientific problem of reducing carbon-containing dust content based on the disclosure of the laws of the aerodynamic interaction of dust and water flows in gravitational and electrostatic fields. The authors show in this study the causes of atmosphere pollution with coal-containing dust; main issues of atmospheric air protection at enterprises located in the controlled territory of Ukraine. The data of the first quarter of the 2020 year are presented in the research. The biggest part of the facilities that pollute the atmospheric air are focused in Donetsk and Lugansk regions. It is estimated that the air environment of the underground mine surface complex is filled with exhaust ventilation air of approximately 200.000 m3 per minute with a dust concentration of approximately (5-7) mg / m3, which is equal to 1.5 tons of dust per a day. It is here that the possibility of transporting pollutants over long distances is most often realized. Coarse dust discharged through the ventilation systems of mines is intensively deposited in the sanitary protection zones of mines. Fine dust is carried by the wind outside them, polluting the environment on the distance of up to 3500 m from the coal mine. Emissions of carbon dust into the atmosphere are almost always a major part of transboundary environmental pollution. Mine waste also poses an environmental threat. Technologies of reduction air pollution at the source of carbon-containing dust formation should be used in all new industries of economy. The results obtained reveal the mechanism of interaction of the sprayed liquid with coal dust and can be used in the development of new effective means of controlling the carbon-containing dust. The principles and practices of sustainable development, coupled with local research, will help to contain or eliminate health and environmental risks resulting from air pollution by carbon-containing dust.