Experimental studies on indoor air pollution from domestic cooking appliances

Abstract

SYNOPSIS The results of an extensive experimental study undertaken to determine the indoor concentration of several pollutants due to the combustion of domestic cooking fuels in respective appliances are summarised. The primary objective has been the statistical significance testing of the results of the pollution measurements. An attempt was also made to study and analyse the effect of a variety of factors affecting the indoor concentration of pollutants. The results have confirmed that there is statistically significant benefit in replacing the traditional biofuel stoves by improved cookstoves. Replacement of a traditional cookstove using dungcakes with a biogas stove also leads to a statistically significant reduction in the indoor concentration of pollutants. Similarly, a transition from traditional biofuels to kerosene/LPG for domestic cooking is found to lead to a significant reduction in the concentrations of indoor pollutants. However, in a large number of situations the trends observed in the level of pollutant concentration as measured during the experimentation are not statistically significant, and the validity of causal explanations usually given for the variation in the concentration of pollutants (due to change in fuel, fuel feeding rate, monitoring positions, etc.) is rather limited.