AAAR 37th Annual Conference October 14 - October 18, 2019 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Investigating Aerosol Emissions from Cooking Oils
SUMIT SANKHYAN, Sameer Patel, Marina Vance, University of Colorado Boulder
Abstract Number: 524 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract Cooking is one of the main contributors to aerosol emissions in home environments. Cooking fumes, especially those produced by heating oils at high temperature, contain ultrafine and optically absorbing carbonaceous aerosols. These emissions have been linked to various respiratory and cardiovascular ailments.
The objective of this study was to investigate the aerosol emission rates from a variety of commonly used cooking oils with a range of smoke points using an electric heat source at various temperatures (below and above the smoke point). Oils tested include avocado oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, olive oil, coconut oil, and lard, each with and without the addition of salt. Air pollutant emissions were characterized in terms of particle size and concentration, relative concentrations of black and brown carbon (BC and BrC), and total non-methane hydrocarbons (TNMH).
Aerosol size distributions were characterized using a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (TSI) and an Aerodynamic Particle Sizer (TSI). Black carbon and brown carbon concentrations were investigated using a 5-wavelength aethalometer (Aethlabs). TNMH were measured using a flame ionization detector (Baseline-MOCON). Source apportionment of BC and BrC for different types of oil emissions was done using power-law fitting approach for angstrom exponent (α). Comparative analysis of oils in terms of PM, TNMH, BC and BrC content was done to put forward recommendations for oil usage based on cooking temperatures. This study will aid in bringing indoor air quality field measurements into perspective by isolating cooking emissions from other potential indoor sources.