Integrated air quality prediction and mitigation strategies for sustainable mining operations in India

The study focuses on dual purpose of forecasting air pollution levels and implementing eco-friendly dust suppression methods for a planned expansion of a lignite mine in India, aligning with the goal of achieving sustainable mining practices. The main objective is to predict the highest concentration of dust emissions from the mine, both with and without the implementation of mitigation measures. The study determined the baseline levels of PM₁₀, PM_2.5, SO₂, and NO_x in the surrounding of the mine site. The recorded values ranged from 53.1–79.5, 20.2–43.2, 16.6–31.2, and 21.2–50.1 µg m^–3, correspondingly. The concentrations detected were below the allowable thresholds of 100, 60, 80, and 80 µg m^–3, correspondingly. Air quality modelling was conducted to forecast the air quality in the vicinity of the lignite mine, both with and without the implementation of control measures during the project's expansion phase. This was achieved by measuring background air pollutants level, assessing emission sources, determining activity-specific emission rates, analysing micro-meteorological parameters, and identifying receptor locations. Without the application of control measures, the projected levels of PM₁₀, PM_2.5, SO₂, and NO_x are assessed to range from 73.9–97.1, 31.9–44.2, 11.46–21.09, and 15.27–28.40 µg m^–3, respectively. However, by employing mitigation measures during the mine's expansion operation, it is expected that the amounts of PM₁₀, PM_2.5, SO₂, and NO_x will be within the range of 73.5–82.5, 31.8–43.8, 9.38–20.14, and 13.17–25.45 µg m^–3, respectively. Accordingly, it is anticipated that the air pollutants will persist lower than the allowable limits in the surrounding buffer zone with control measures. Hence, the study also proposes effective measures to control dust pollution, together with a comprehensive description of the developed intelligent dust suppression systems those can be utilized at different dust-emission sources within the opencast mine for ecofriendly and clean mining.