Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2019 number 2

The paper presents the assessment of the spatial distribution of the dust load, macroelement (Ca, Na, Fe, Al, Si, Mg) and mineral-phase composition of particulate matter deposited in snow cover in the impacted area of cement production plant (Topki, Kemerovo region). It was determined that the dust load exceeded the background from tens to hundreds times. The dust load was estimated from allowable to highly hazardous pollution levels. The main crystalline phases included calcite and quartz in the particulate phase of snow and emitted dust from the plant. Additionally, the particulate phase of snow contained the minerals of Portland cement clinker such as brownmillerite and hatrurite. The content of these four minerals mainly controlled the dust load. The content of Ca (10-12 times higher than background values) in the particulate phase of snow showed the anthropogenic geochemical specificity of the samples and it is comparable to the content in the emitted dust from the plant and portland cement. We identified fine particles of Ca ferrites, Fe oxides as most abundant particles in the samples, as well as trace amounts of Ca aluminate and Fe sulphide particles. The main types of particulate matter were suggested to be pit operation, transport and load handling works in the plant. The long-range transport of particulate matter was revealed in the north direction at 2 km distance from the plant. The dust load decreased with the distance from the plant. The identified crystalline phases and fine particle types can be used as tracers for cement production plant emissions.