Faculty Publications
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Item Air quality assessment of Dhanbad District, India - A case study(2010) Anantharamu, A.; Singh, G.; Venkat Reddy, D.Ambient air pollution status in Dhanbad district is studied and presented in this article. The selection of Dhanbad is made considering its importance and the nature of activities taking place around the district. For the assessment of ambient air quality in Dhanbad, the following five locations were chosen: Main Gate of Indian School of Mines(ISM), Dhanbad: It is a site representing purely commercial activities and road traffic. Bankmore: It is one of the busiest marketing centres of the district and is surrounded by residential areas. All the vehicles going to Bokaro pass by this place and thus the traffic density is pretty high. Kusunda: It is a place 10.9 kilometres from Dhanbad Railway Station. It is just beside one of the coal mines, hence, all vehicles going to the mine passes through this place. Steel Gate: It consists of a small market. Trucks and other heavy vehicle are more frequent during night as this road connects to a highway. ISM Admin Block: It can be considered as a sensitive area since it is a very calm place where the usage of vehicles is minimum throughout the day. Monitoring of ambient air quality is done following the standard procedure prescribed in IS: 5182. In addition, the concentration of lead, zinc, cadmium, copper, manganese and iron metals in SPM is also monitored. The ambient air quality assessment was done in the month of June, 2009. The concentration of SPM was higher than the permissible limit in three locations namely ISM Main Gate, Bankmore and Steel Gate, while it was less than the permissible limit in other two locations, ISM Admin Block and Kusunda. Since the generation of SPM was mainly due to vehicular traffic it was expected to cross the limit in the above mentioned three locations as density of vehicular movement is very high. © 2010 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY.Item A comprehensive assessment of increased iron ore production on the environment - A case study(2011) Thimmaiah, S.A.; Rao, Y.; Murthy, C.H.S.N.There has been a significant increase in iron ore production in the Bellary- Hospet-Sandur sector of Karnataka, India due to sudden increase in the demand of iron ore from other countries as well as by local steel plants set up in the region. An attempt has been made in this paper to study the effect of increase in the iron ore production on various environmental parameters like air, water, soil and noise. For this purpose a study area of 10 Km radius was taken and the various environmental parameters were monitored before and after increase in iron ore production in the region. Study shows that there is no significant change in the air quality in terms of SPM, RPM, SO2 and NOx in the region. In many locations, there is decrease in the concentrations of these parameters. This is mainly due to improvement of roads by asphalting, effective covering of iron ore trucks by tarpaulin, awareness among mine owners about the protection of environment by following various pollution control measures, dust suppression measures on the public road using water sprinklers and stringent monitoring of the environmental protective measures by various regulatory authorities. The concentration of SO2 and NOx was found to increase due to increase in traffic by movement of tippers in the public/village road. The deployment of heavy earth moving machinery at mine site also contributed for increase of SO2 and NOx. The surface water quality parameters were found to be within the acceptable limits in the study area. There is no possibility of disturbing/altering ground water table due to mining operations as the mining is being carried out on hill top which is above the general ground level. In agricultural soil, except that of potassium and electrical conductivity, variations in other parameters are insignificant as the agricultural lands are located 2 to 3 Kms away from the active mining area. Increase in noise level is found at most of the locations of the study area. Therefore, serious attempts should be made by mine owners as well as statutory bodies to reduce the sound level at various locations for increasing the quality of life in these locations in terms of sound level. © 2011 CAFET-INNOVA technical society. All right reserved.Item An economic analysis of environmental pollution and health - a case study of Bellary-Hospet sector(2012) Thimmaiah, S.A.; Ravi, D.R.; Rao, Y.V.; Murthy, C.S.N.The Earth's natural ecosystem is the basis for our life-supporting system and provides marketable goods to human and other living organisms. The natural environment has always been exploited to fulfill human needs. The green revolution and industrial revolution has caused serious threat to sustainable development for both developed and developing countries. The degradation of air, water and land has directly affected the livelihood and human health. The environmental damage increases, as the economic activity increases, in view of the fact that the association between economy and the environment are multiple, complex and important. Mining is one such activity, which significantly results in the degradation of the environment, apart from generating huge economy to the country. Hence, the identification and quantification of socio economic impact of environmental pollution caused due to increased mining activity is necessary in the broader economic analysis. The present study is envisaged with the objective to identify and evaluate the impacts of mining activity on Social, Economical and Environmental Aspects of the area and to measure its economic burden on the affected people. The ambient air quality in the selected stations of study area reveals that, the increase in iron ore production has significantly resulted in the deterioration of air quality. High particulate matter to an extent of 310 ?g/nm3 in case of SPM concentration and 160 ?g/nm3 in case of RSPM. The health data collected from the respondents have revealed, significantly more number of respondents who are suffering from dust allergy, skin allergy in the study area, where there are mines and are working as workers in those mines, contributing for higher health cost incurred through treatment. © 2012 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY.Item Characteristics of airborne bacteria in Mumbai urban environment(Elsevier, 2014) Gangamma, S.Components of biological origin constitute small but a significant proportion of the ambient airborne particulate matter (PM). However, their diversity and role in proinflammatory responses of PM are not well understood. The present study characterizes airborne bacterial species diversity in Mumbai City and elucidates the role of bacterial endotoxin in PM induced proinflammatory response in ex vivo. Airborne bacteria and endotoxin samples were collected during April-May 2010 in Mumbai using six stage microbial impactor and biosampler. The culturable bacterial species concentration was measured and factors influencing the composition were identified by principal component analysis (PCA). The biosampler samples were used to stimulate immune cells in whole blood assay. A total of 28 species belonging to 17 genera were identified. Gram positive and spore forming groups of bacteria dominated the airborne culturable bacterial concentration. The study indicated the dominance of spore forming and human or animal flora derived pathogenic/opportunistic bacteria in the ambient air environment. Pathogenic and opportunistic species of bacteria were also present in the samples. TNF-? induction by PM was reduced (35%) by polymyxin B pretreatment and this result was corroborated with the results of blocking endotoxin receptor cluster differentiation (CD14). The study highlights the importance of airborne biological particles and suggests need of further studies on biological characterization of ambient PM. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.Item Source apportionment of PM2.5 particles: Influence of outdoor particles on indoor environment of schools using chemical mass balance(AAGR Aerosol and Air Quality Research hhyang@cyut.edu.tw, 2017) Kalaiarasan, G.; Mohan Balakrishnan, R.M.; Sethunath, N.A.; Manoharan, S.Children have higher lung function than adults and they spend most of their day time in schools. Also, children studying at schools located in the vicinity of busy roadways are vulnerable to childhood asthma and respiratory disorders. The present study is focused on estimating the sources of PM2.5 particles present in the indoor air quality in schools which are located adjacent to urban and suburban roadways. The indoor PM2.5 samples from all the four schools were collected using fine dust sampler from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The sampling was carried out for one complete week during various seasons including both working and non-working days. The chemical compositions of the PM2.5 samples were analyzed for certain elements like Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sr, Ti, V and Zn using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP OES) and ions like F-, Cl-, NO3-, PO43-, SO42-, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4+, Na+ using Ion Chromatography (IC). Source apportionment study using Chemical Mass Balance was carried out using the species concentration of the collected samples. The major sources were found to be Paved Road Dust, Soil Dust, Gasoline Vehicle Emissions, Diesel Vehicle Emissions and Marine Source Emissions. Among these, vehicular emissions contribution was found to be higher for the schools located close to roadways rather than the school located at a considerable distance from highway. The difference in source type contribution at each school clearly depicts the difference in nature of location and type of activities in the vicinity of the sampling sites. © Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research.Item Particulate matter (PM10) enhances RNA virus infection through modulation of innate immune responses(Elsevier Ltd, 2020) Mishra, R.; Krishnamoorthy, P.; Gangamma, S.; Raut, A.A.; Kumar, H.Particulate matter (PM10) enhances severity of influenza virus infection through skewing innate immunity via modulation of metabolic pathways-related genes.; Sensing of pathogens by specialized receptors is the hallmark of the innate immunity. Innate immune response also mounts a defense response against various allergens and pollutants including particulate matter present in the atmosphere. Air pollution has been included as the top threat to global health declared by WHO which aims to cover more than three billion people against health emergencies from 2019 to 2023. Particulate matter (PM), one of the major components of air pollution, is a significant risk factor for many human diseases and its adverse effects include morbidity and premature deaths throughout the world. Several clinical and epidemiological studies have identified a key link between the PM existence and the prevalence of respiratory and inflammatory disorders. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is not well understood. Here, we investigated the influence of air pollutant, PM10 (particles with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 ?m) during RNA virus infections using Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) – H5N1 virus. We thus characterized the transcriptomic profile of lung epithelial cell line, A549 treated with PM10 prior to H5N1infection, which is known to cause severe lung damage and respiratory disease. We found that PM10 enhances vulnerability (by cellular damage) and regulates virus infectivity to enhance overall pathogenic burden in the lung cells. Additionally, the transcriptomic profile highlights the connection of host factors related to various metabolic pathways and immune responses which were dysregulated during virus infection. Collectively, our findings suggest a strong link between the prevalence of respiratory illness and its association with the air quality. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd; © 2020 Elsevier LtdItem Chemical characterization and source apportionment of ambient PM10 in Hubli-Dharwad region, Karnataka, India(World Research Association, 2021) Navalgund, N.; Keshava, J.; Krishna, K.; Srinikethan, S.; Sampagaon, N.; Manoj, K.; Aishwaraya, S.In India, particulate matter (PM10) shows very strong persistence and very high levels in most of the tier-II cities along with metropolitan cities and other cities of the world. The present work was to study air pollution (PM10) in Hubli-Dharwad, a tier-II city of Karnataka, India. The mean mass concentration for PM10 varied from 260-410 ppm, substantially higher than guidelines of CPCB. Seasonal variations of these pollutants indicated that higher concentrations of pollutants were observed in summer than in winter seasons with air quality index (AQI) as 211 in summer. The source apportionment study using positive matrix factorization (PMF5) indicated the presence of heavy metals in the atmosphere. Out of 4 identified factors, motor vehicles contributed vastly (38.8%), dust (16.4%), industrial emission (19.8%) and biomass burning (25.0%). This study has found that the source apportionment has distinct regional and seasonal characteristics. Such studies are essential for the Government to make region specific control strategies for particulate pollution in India. © 2021 World Research Association. All rights reserved.Item Assimilative capacity approach for air pollution control in automotive engines through magnetic field-assisted combustion of hydrocarbons(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2021) Oommen, L.P.; Gottekere Narayanappa, K.G.Deterioration of air quality through the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels has been one of the global transboundary problems put before the research community since last five decades. According to the updated statistics, 79% of energy needs in India are met by fossil fuel combustion which results in the emission of toxic pollutants like carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, and unburned hydrocarbons. Air quality has seriously been affected in many parts of India, and statistically, 13 out of 15 most polluted cities in the world lie in India. Magnetic field-assisted combustion has been proven as a reliable technology in internal combustion engines for enhancing the combustion of fuels and reduction of harmful emissions that are the byproducts of incomplete combustion of fuels. In the present work, the magnetic field-assisted combustion of a liquid-phase and a gas-phase fuel (gasoline and LPG) has been studied in a multicylinder automobile engine replicating on road driving conditions in a laboratory focusing on the levels of emissions in comparison with normal combustion of both the fuels. The experimental study concludes that the applied magnetic field positively influences combustion, resulting in reduced level of emission of toxic components irrespective of the phase of hydrocarbon fuels. It is also observed that the percentage reduction in emissions increases with increase in intensity of magnetization. The maximum reduction obtained for CO and UBHC emissions through this technique is 20.58% and 14.47%, respectively. The effectiveness of MFAC in countering air pollution from vehicular exhaust is also studied with respect to fuel phase and mode of operation. The effectiveness of MFAC is observed to be more in high-speed operation of the engine and decreases in the order CO > UBHC > NO. The obtained emission results have a cumulative significance as 45% of total air pollution in India is caused by combustion of hydrocarbons in automotive engines. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature.Item Investigation of Dust Emission in Limestone Mines and its Statistical Prediction using Supervised Machine Learning (Regression) Modelling(World Researchers Associations, 2025) Rajib, P.; Harsha, V.; Shanmugam, S.B.; Harish, H.; Amrites, S.In India, the fugitive dust emissions in the processing plant and mining area of limestone mines are very high. The dust emission of (particulate matter) PM10 and PM2.5 forms an unsafe working environment for workers in processing plant areas and mining areas. The excessive emission of PM10 and PM2.5 will cause lung-related diseases to the workers and the people existing in the adjacent areas of the mine. The dust emission majorly causes air pollution to occur due to the distribution of particulate matter in the work area. This study majorly investigates the dust emission levels of PM10 and PM2.5 in the limestone mine of Kadapa, Andra Prasad, India. The investigation on the dust emission of PM10 and PM2.5 was carried out as per the guidelines of DGMS and MoEF and CC guidelines, with a specific focus on PM10 and PM2.5 particulate matter. From the study, it was clear that the dust emission levels of PM10 and PM2.5 in the mine area and some parts of the processing area were below the permissible limit of 1200 ?g/m³ as per the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS, 2009). It was also found that the dust emission levels of PM10 and PM2.5 in the crushing and screening area of the processing plant were above the permissible limit of 1200 ?g/m³. Further the statistical prediction model was developed using linear, quadratic and cubic supervised machine learning (regression) modelling. The results indicated that the cubic regression model will provide the accurate prediction of fugitive dust emission with lower error and standard deviation. © 2025, World Researchers Associations. All rights reserved.