Evaluation of Green House Gases from Mine Fire Areas of JCF, India

Coal mine fire, a natural hazard, is one of the sources of emission of greenhouse gases. Several locations of Jharia Coalfield are affected by underground mine fire and green house gases are the product of active fires in coal mines. At present, there were 67 fires spread over 41 coal mines. The carbon monoxide concentration was more than 1000 ppm at fissure/ pot-hole openings. An area having only smoke, without fire at the surface, the high CO concentration was confined within the smoke. The concentration of CO2 was above 300 ppm and N2O concentration was above 1 ppm at ground level up to a distance of around 10 and 20 m from smoke and fire respectively. 24 hourly average maximum concentrations (578.2-695 µg/m3) of SPM were found at Nichitpur, Kankani, Tetulmari, Bastakola, Lodna, Kusunda respectively, whereas Ena (478.8 µg/m3) and Dhansar (484.3 µg/m3) registered comparatively lower concentration levels. The concentration of lead at all the monitoring stations was much higher than the permissible limits as per Indian standards. This work provides some guidelines for understanding the complexity of air pollution problems due to gaseous and particulate emission in JCF region.