Concentration of Total Suspended Particulate on X Coal Mining in Kutai Kartanegara District

Abstract

The quality of inhaled air is determined by the amount of pollutant gases and by particulates in the air. Particulate especially total suspended particulate (TSP) contains heavy metal elements that can have serious health effects. Among all the processes that produce particulates, the coal mining process is one of the most dangerous because it produces dust which is included in the type of fibrogenic and very toxic. The purpose of this study was to determine the concentration of total suspended particulate (TSP) at the X coal mining in Kutai Kartanegara. This research was quantitative descriptive type. The population were the ambient air around the “X coal mining area”. The samples were the ambient air measured at six sampling point namely "Jetty", "WD 7", "Pit West", "Stockpile", "Desa Bakaran", and "RT 09". The results revealed the sampling point "WEST PIT" had the highest concentration of TSP that was 414 μg/m3for measurements in January whereas for measurements in June was 325 µg/m3. In January measurement, the TSP concentration was around 78.26%, whereas in June the TSP concentration was around 72.30% compared to the TSP threshold limit value based on government regulations which was 90 μg/m3 for 1-hour measurement. Monitoring of ambient air quality around the mine site especially in coal mining still needs to be done but must be supported by additional efforts such as routine health checks for workers at the mine site thus it can anticipate the onset of occupational diseases and other health complaints due to particulate exposure