Reducing human exposure to PM2.5 generated while cooking typical Chinese cuisine

Abstract

Residential Chinese cooking can lead to severe exposure to carcinogenic fine particles (PM2.5) from cooking-oil fumes. Keeping the kitchen door open is conducive to improving air quality in the kitchen, but it can result in further diffusion of PM2.5 emissions into adjacent rooms. In this study, PM2.5 exposure concentrations were measured in the kitchen and an adjacent room during and after cooking activities, where various interventions were employed based on an orthogonal design. Intervention strategies, including range-hood operations, protective respirator use, personal portable fan operation, side panels configured for the range hood, and air cleaner use, were incorporated. The results demonstrated that using the range hood with an equivalent air exchange rate of 7.5–10.9 h−1 in the kitchen and wearing respirators during cooking were the most efficient prevention measures, significantly decreasing the inhalation exposure to PM2.5 for the cook in the kitchen by 90–95% and 79–84%, respectively. The average concentrations in the adjacent living room could be decreased by 50%–75% with an additional period of 5–10 min running the range hood or the air cleaner (the cleaner air exchange rate was no more than 5 h−1).