Possibility of Using Wind and Solar Sources for Electric Power Generation on Serbian Opencast Coal Mines

The rapid technology advancement and the significant decline of investment costs in wind and solar energy generation have opened up a significant opportunity to build these facilities on closed opencast mines or mines in the phase of closure around the world, where large available areas are almost ideal for such projects. In that sense, it is necessary to give an analysis of the possible application of wind and/or solar energy production in the Republic of Serbia’s mines, as well as the dynamics of such a generally ambitious and long-term project with conceptual solutions.

Characterisation of Atmospheric Particulate Matter from Opencast Coal Mining Activities and Adjacent Communities

Standard source apportionment techniques for atmospheric particulate (PM) collected near opencast coal mines provide less accurate results, as the inorganic mineral components in the overburden and at adjacent residential locations are similar. This study explores the use of the stable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotope ratios (13C/12C and 15N/14N) and thermal optical methods to differentiate sources of carbonaceous material in the atmospheric PM samples from the opencast coal mines and adjacent communities. Both techniques allow a clear distinction between atmospheric PM samples from the opencast coal mines and communities to be made, although distinguishing between the contributions of coal combustion, liquid fuel combustion and the domestic use of biomass for requires further analysis.