Black carbon aerosols from the coal seam of eastern India: A real-time analysis with statistical validation

Journal of earth system science

Ahmad Nawaz^1¹  Siddharth Singh^2² 

[1]Environmental Nanotechnology Laboratory, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand 826 004, India.^1

[2]Natural Resources and Environment Management, CSIR–Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad, Jharkhand 826 015, India.^2

关键词: Black carbon;    coal seam fire;    dispersion;    goodness of fit;    lognormal;    variogram;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：天文学(综合)

来源: Indian Academy of Sciences

【 摘 要 】

Underground coal seam fire is one of the serious problems caused by coal mining activities. Hence, the present study is focused on investigating the potential emission of black carbon (BC) and its dispersion from the fire-affected area located in the Jharia coal field, Dhanbad district of the Jharkhand state of India. The real-time BC concentration measurements in the active fire area and the adjacent neighbouring urban area were studied and reported. Results showed an average concentration of BC was 12.54 $\mu$g m$^{-3}$ in the fumes/smokes emitting from the surface cracks and vents at the fire-affected zone. The continuous probability distribution functions, i.e., lognormal, gamma and Weibull, were used to fit the BC data individually, and among these lognormal fits, the best were for the medium-range values. Furthermore, the robustness of the obtained BC concentration was also explained by these models. All fitness was in good agreement, in the studied area, with the coefficient of regression ranging between 0.84 and 0.96. Both the experimental and predicted results clearly indicated the contribution of the BC that discharged from the coal seam fire as a source of particulate pollutant. Spatial modelling was also performed to validate the experimental consistency of BC concentration while the model was in good agreement with the underground coal fire zone as compared to the rest.

【 授权许可】

CC BY