Development of Empirical Formulae to Determine Emission Rate from Various Opencast Coal Mining Operations

All major mining activities, particularly opencast coal mining,directly or indirectly contribute to the problem of air pollution.Therefore, air quality assessment and prediction arerequired to prevent and minimize the air quality deteriorationdue to various opencast coal mining operations. Determination ofemission rates for these activities is the first and foremostconcern. In view of the above, this study was undertaken to determinate emission rates and to develop empericalformulae to calculate emission rates of various opencast coalmining activities.To achieve the objectives, seven coal mining sites were selectedto generate site-specific emission data by considering miningpractices, method of working, geographical location,accessibility and above all resourceavailability. The study covers various mining activities andlocations including drilling, overburden loading and unloading,coal loading and unloading, the coal handling plant, the exposedoverburden dump, the stock yard, the workshop, the exposed pit surface roadsand haul roads.Based on the study, a set of twelve emperical formulae have beendeveloped for calculation of suspended particulate matter (SPM)emission rates from various opencast coal mining activities. Theemission of gaseous pollutants (sulphur dioxide and nitrogenoxide) has been found negligible for various mining activities.Therefore, observation for gaseous pollutants has been consideredfor overall mine activities and empirical formulae have subsequently beendeveloped.The developed empirical formulae were calculatedby a field study at another coal mine. The measured andcalculated values of emission rate were compared for eachactivity. Average correlation between the measured andcalculated values for different activities was estimated to be 85.6–99.9%, which indicates fairly good accuracy.Validation of the study was also carried out by means of thefugitive dust model (FDM) using the calculated emissionrate data from the empirical formulae for each mining activity of amine, meteorological data and other details as input.The average accuracy between measured and predictedvalues of concentration of SPM at certain receptor locations wasfound to be 79%. A user-friendly emission software called`EmissCalc' was developed to calculate emission rate, whichcan be used as input for different air quality models.     

Production analysis of broiler farming in central Punjab,Pakistan

Tropical Animal Health and Production - This study examined the analysis of personal and production performance of broiler farming in 10 cities of central Punjab (Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Okara,...     

Anti-inflammatory activities of cucurbitacin E isolated from Citrullus lanatus var. citroides: role of reactive nitrogen species and cyclooxygenase enzyme inhibition

The in vivo and in vitro mechanistic anti-inflammatory actions of cucurbitacin E (CE) (Citrullus lanatus var. citroides) were examined. The results showed that LPS/INF-γ increased NO production in RAW264.7 macrophages, whereas L-NAME and CE curtailed it. CE did not reveal any cytotoxicity on RAW264.7 and WRL-68 cells. CE inhibited both COX enzymes with more selectivity toward COX-2. Intraperitoneal injection of CE significantly suppressed carrageenan-induced rat's paw edema. ORAC and FRAP assays showed that CE is not a potent ROS scavenger. It could be concluded that CE is potentially useful in treating inflammation through the inhibition of COX and RNS but not ROS.     

Effects of Increasing Dosages of Acid Mining Wastes in Metal Uptake by Lygeum spartum and Soil Metal Extractability

Water, Air, & Soil Pollution - A yearlong (December 2003 to February 2005) monitoring program was undertaken for urban roadside measurement of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, m- and p-xylene,...     

Genetic model analysis on seedling and maturity traits in wheat under rainfed conditions

An experiment was conducted to access the genetic variability among early vigour and quantitative traits under limited moisture in F₂ generation of a 5 × 5 diallel cross of bread wheat. The results indicated that there was significant genotypic variation among the genotypes. Additive dominance model revealed full fitness of the data for RL, DSW, FRW, DRW, spike length, and 1000-grain weight but was partially fit for SL, FSW, R/S, tillers per seedling, plant height, tillers per plant, spikelets per spike, and grain yield per plant. The partially adequate models for these plant characters might be due to the presence of non-allelic interaction, linkage, and non-independent distribution of the genes in the parents. Additive genes coupled with moderate to high narrow sense heritability were involved in the heritage of all the traits, which indicated a higher scope of selection in early generations.     

Solvent crystallization of palm based dihydroxystearic acid with isopropyl alcohol: Effects of solvent quantity and concentration on particle size distribution, crystal habit and morphology, and resultant crystal purity

Crude dihydroxystearic acid was prepared from palm based oleic acid and was then solvent purified with isopropyl alcohol in a custom fabricated simultaneous batch crystallizer unit. The crystallized dihydroxystearic acid was a functional ingredient that acted as multipurpose intermediate for synthesis of various fine chemicals, cosmetics and personal care products. The effects of solvent quantity and concentration on particle size distribution, crystal habit and morphology, and resultant crystal purity were studied. The crystals were purer but smaller and the span of the distribution curve was wider at higher solvent quantity and concentration. Through scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, it was observed that the crystals agglomerated into plate-like (flaky) habit with triclinic crystal structure. Solvent crystallization with 80% IPA at 20 °C and solute:solvent ratio of 1.0:1.0 was the most optimized and efficient, producing β-DHSA crystals that has high resistance against fat exudation during vacuum filtration process.