A three-year grant will help the varsity carry out a comparitive research on emissions from underground mining equipment that use diesel vis-a-vis biodiesel-blend fuels to analyse their effect on both miners as well as the public.
UA Zuckerman College of Public Health professor and study principal investigator Dr Jeff Burgess revealed that diesel particulate exposure in underground mining is more than existing standards.
"Biodiesel blends are being employed to reduce these exposures, yet there is no information on whether this increases, decreases or fails to change the toxicity to miners of equipment emissions.
"This study will help determine the health consequences of using biodiesel fuel blends in the underground mining setting," Burgess said.
