Survey of Particulate Matter Pollution in Ambient Air of Azandarian Stone Crushing Units

Mineral activities that have long been considered by humans due to the importance of supplying raw materials have caused many changes in the environment, including air pollution particulate matter. This study was conducted to assess the realesed pollutants from Azandarian stone crushing units on the ambient air quality.
Particulate matters were collected from 8 selected stations included 5 stone crushing units stack and 3 environmental analysis stations during two seasons in 2013. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS.
The results showed that maximum mean concentration of particulate matters in the summer and autumn seasons in stone crushing units stack samples were 198.78±68.59 mg/m3 and 199.67±9.00 mg/m3, respectively, and were significantly lower than Iran DOE permissible limits. Also, the mean concentrations of PM2.5 in all environmental monitoring stations except station 3 in the summer season, and the mean concentrations of PM10 in all environmental monitoring stations except station 2 in the autumn season were significantly higher and lower than EPA permissible limits, respectively.
Due to the mean concentrations of particulate matters emitted from the Azandarian stone crushing units stack and mean concentrations of PM10 measured in environmental monitoring were significantly lower than national and international permissible limits, so can be admitted the air pollution control equipments such as industrial scrubbers and cyclones are relative efficiency.