Abstract
ABSTRACT Urban restaurants that charbroil meat are a major emission source of fine particulate matter (PM) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and receive frequent public complaints in large Korean cities. This study evaluated the effectiveness of newly installed pollution control equipment, including electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) and filters, at five charbroiling restaurants in different metropolitan areas near Seoul. The PM in the exhaust gas, which was sampled from the inflow and the outflow of the control devices, was measured with a 3-stage cascade impactor. The particle-bound PAHs, following pre-treatment, extraction, and concentration, were then quantitatively analyzed using high-resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). According to our field tests, the flue gas emitted by these five restaurants contained average PM10, PM2.5, and PAH concentrations of 22.6 mg m–3, 22.1 mg m–3, and 4,127.1 ng m–3, respectively. In addition, the ratio of the PM2.5 to the PM10 was 0.98, and the correlation coefficient between the PM10 and the particulate-phase PAHs was 0.95, suggesting a close relationship between the fine particle fraction and PAHs. The air pollution control equipment demonstrated an overall removal efficiency above 90%, but specific cases exhibited an unexpectedly low efficiency (30%), indicating the necessity of periodic cleaning and consistent maintenance.
Highlights
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of interest in the air quality of large cities
We investigated the effectiveness of air pollution control facilities in charbroiling restaurants to remove particulate matters
Particulate matter such as PM10 and PM2.5 contained in the exhaust gas flow, which are listed in the Korea Enforcement Decree of Clean Air Conservation ACT and as a U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hazardous air pollutant (HAP), were closely investigated based on facility performance
Summary
There has been a proliferation of interest in the air quality of large cities. In addition to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), visible smoke containing fine particles and odors discharged from charbroiling restaurants mostly using grills deteriorates urban air, because the flue gas is exhausted without emissions control (Seo et al, 2015; Schauer et al, 1999). Studies on fine particle charbroil exhaust have been carried out on a lab scale using chambers, and emission coefficients of PAHs and particulate matters have been evaluated depending on meat type and grilling method (Lee et al, 2009; Park et al, 2009; Bong et al, 2010; Kang et al, 2014; Park et al, 2015)
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