Cooking Stove Emission Transmission in the Rural Environment

YUCHENG HE, Sanika Nishandar, Marko Princevac, Rufus Edwards, University of California, Riverside

     Abstract Number: 612
     Working Group: Biomass Combustion: Outdoor/Indoor Transport and Indoor Air Quality

Abstract
Open fire stove emitted particulate matter (PM) is one of the major contributors to the ambient pollution in the rural area, where the residential energy demand is intense. This study intends to quantify the contribution of the stove combustion emissions to the outdoor neighborhood particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration. This study deployed Quick Urban & Industrial Complex (QUIC) and AERMOD to predict the fate of aerosols upon release to the outdoor environment, especially the distribution in a building wake. The study region is divided by different house packing densities to analyze the impact of building configuration on the pollutant trapping rate. In addition, the sources of emissions are categorized as local and upstream neighborhood sources. The results demonstrated that upstream households contributed ~30% of pollution concentration to the downwind neighborhood. The pollutants in the vicinity of houses tend to infiltrate back into the houses and worsen the indoor air quality. The QUIC model stands out due to its ability to capture the PM distribution in the proximity of buildings. The flow patterns that develop around buildings are evaluated. Interventions, such as the implementation of cleaner stoves and cleaner fuels, to improve local air quality are proposed and analyzed in the study. In this presentation, we will discuss factors including emission rates, modeling methods, meteorological conditions, and household configurations that are influential to aerosol dispersion.