Ventilation improvement for reducing individual exposure to cooking-generated particles in Chinese residential kitchen

Abstract

This paper investigates the situation of residential kitchen ventilation and individual exposure in China and attempts to reduce the exposure through organizing local make-up airflow. Measurements were conducted in a kitchen chamber to reproduce the real exposure to the cooking-generated particles under the mode of natural make-up airflow surveyed. Measurements results show that an individual cooking in a kitchen could be exposed to a concentration of airborne particles at ∼10 mg/m³ within a simplified cooking process of oil heating, in the case of an experimental kitchen chamber with an open window or closed window/door. Local make-up airflow through upward make-up air supply or downward make-up air supply was further investigated to determine the effectiveness for reduction of the exposure level. When the air-supply velocity at the outlet of the upward make-up air supply or downward make-up air supply mode was well defined, the individual exposure level could be reduced by 2–3 orders of magnitude, as compared to the baseline case when all the make-up air was from open window. Intake fraction of cooking-generated particles could be as low as ∼10⁻⁵ and ∼10⁻⁶ under the two modes. This finding has illustrated that well-organized local make-up airflow could largely reduce an individual’s exposure to the cooking-generated particles in Chinese residential kitchen.