Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Approximation of personal exposure to fine particulate matters (PM2.5) during cooking using solid biomass fuels in the kitchens of rural West Bengal, India

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

More than 85% of the rural Indian households use traditional solid biofuels (SBFs) for daily cooking. Burning of the easily available unprocessed solid fuels in inefficient earthen cooking stoves produce large quantities of particulate matters. Smaller particulates, especially with aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5), largely generated during cooking, are considered to be health damaging in nature. In the present study, kitchen level exposure of women cooks to fine particulate matters during lunch preparation was assessed considering kitchen openness as surrogate to the ventilation condition. Two-way ANCOVA analysis considering meal quantity as a covariate revealed no significant interaction between the openness and the seasons explaining the variability of the personal exposure to the fine particulate matters in rural kitchen during cooking. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed the openness as the only significant predictor for personal exposure to the fine particulate matters. In the present study, the annual average fine particulate matter exposure concentration was found to be 974 μg m−3.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Albalak R, Frisancho AR, Keeler GJ (1999) Domestic biomass fuel combustion and chronic bronchitis in two rural Bolivian villages. Thorax 54:1004–1008

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Balakrishnan K, Ghosh S, Ganguli B, Sambandam S, Bruce N, Barnes DF, Smith KR (2013) State and national household concentrations of PM2.5 from solid cook fuel use: results from measurements and modelling in India for estimation of the global burden of disease. Environ Health 12:77

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee A, Mondal NK, Das D, Ray MR (2012) Neutrophilic inflammatory response and oxidative stress in premenopausal women chronically exposed to indoor air pollution from biomass burning. Inflammation 35:671–683

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bartington SE, Bakolis I, Devakumar D, Kurmi OP, Gulliver J, Chaube G, Manandhar DS, Savill NM, Costello A, Osrin D, Hansell AL (2017) Patterns of domestic exposure to carbon monoxide and particulate matter in households using biomass fuel in Janakpur, Nepal. Environ Pollut 220:38–45

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baumgartner J, Schauer JJ, Ezzati M, Lu L, Cheng C, Patz J, Bautista LE (2011) Patterns and predictors of personal exposure to indoor air pollution from biomass combustion among women and children in rural China. Indoor Air 21:479–488

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharya SC, Salam PA (2002) Low greenhouse gas biomass options for cooking in the developing countries. Biomass Bioenergy 22:305–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boman C, Nordin A, Boström D, Öhman M (2004) Characterization of inorganic particulate matter from residential combustion of pelletized biomass fuels. Energy Fuel 18:338–348

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Census of India (2011) http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-common/nsdi/houses_household.pdf Accessed 20.06.2016

  • Cynthia AA, Edwards RD, Johnson M, Zuk M, Rojas L, Jiménez RD, Riojas-Rodriguez H, Masera O (2008) Reduction in personal exposures to particulate matter and carbon monoxide as a result of the installation of a Patsari improved cook stove in Michoacan Mexico. Indoor Air 18:93–105

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dasgupta S, Wheeler D, Hug M, Khaliquzzaman M (2009) Improving indoor air quality for poor families: a controlled experiment in Bangladesh. Indoor Air 19:22e32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devakumar D, Semple S, Osrin D, Yadav SK, Kurmi OP, Saville NM, Shrestha B, Manandhar DS, Costello A, Ayres JG (2014) Biomass fuel use and the exposure of children to particulate air pollution in southern Nepal. Environ Int 66:79–87

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dutta A, Mukherjee B, Das D, Banerjee A, Ray MR (2011) Hypertension with elevated levels of oxidized low-density lipoprotein and anticardiolipin antibody in the circulation of premenopausal Indian women chronically exposed to biomass smoke during cooking. Indoor Air 21:165–176

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Elbayoumi M, Ramli NA, Md Yusof NFF, Yahaya ASB, Al Madhoun W, Ul-Saufie AZ (2014) Multivariate methods for indoor PM10 and PM2.5 modelling in naturally ventilated schools buildings. Atmos Environ 94:11–21

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eleanne DS, Van V, Kwakupoku A, Darby WJ, Patrick LK, Robin MW, Steven NC, Livesy A, Charles Z, Seth OA (2013) Personal exposures to fine particulate matter and black carbon in households cooking with biomass fuels in rural Ghana. Environ Res 127:40–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fullerton DG, Bruce N, Gordon SB (2008) Indoor air pollution from biomass fuel smoke is a major health concern in the developing world. Trans R Soci Trop Med Hyg 102:843–851

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goyal R, Khare M (2011) Indoor air quality modeling for PM10, PM2.5 and PM1.0 in naturally ventilated classrooms of an urban Indian school building. Environ Monit Assess 176:501–516

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jetter JJ, Kariher P (2009) Solid-fuel household cook stoves: characterization of performance and emission s. Biomass Bioenergy 33:294–305

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Joseph S (1990) Guidelines for planning, monitoring and evaluating cook stove programmes, UNFAO: Community Forestry Field Manual 1. Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/u1310e/u1310e00.htm Accessed 20.06.2016

  • Massey D, Kulshrestha A, Taneja A (2013) Particulate matter concentrations and their related metal toxicity in rural residential environment of semi-arid region of India. Atmos Environ 67:278–286

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Massey D, Masih J, Kulshrestha A, Habil M, Taneja A (2009) Indoor/outdoor relationship of fine particles less than 2.5mm (PM2.5) in residential homes locations in central Indian region. Build Environ 44:2037–2045

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCracken JP, Schwartz J, Diaz A, Bruce N, Smith KR (2013) Longitudinal relationship between personal CO and personal PM2.5 among women cooking with woodfired cookstoves in Guatemala. PLoS One 8:e55670

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mondal NK, Mukherjee B, Das D, Ray MR (2010) Micronucleus formation, DNA damage and repair in premenopausal women chronically exposed to high level of indoor air pollution from biomass fuel use in rural India. Mutat Res 697:47–54

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Monteiller C, Tran L, MacNee W, Faux S, Jones A, Miller B, Donaldson K (2007) The pro-inflammatory effects of low-toxicity low-solubility particles, nanoparticles and fine particles, on epithelial cells in vitro: the role of surface area. Occup Environ Med 64:609–615

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mukhopadhyay R, Sambandam S, Pillarisetti A, Jack D, Mukhopadhyay K, Balakrishnan K, Vaswani M, Bates MN, Kinney PL, Arora N, Smith KR (2012) Cooking practices, air quality, and the acceptability of advanced cook stoves in Haryana, India: an exploratory study to inform large-scale interventions. Glob Health Action 5:19016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NAAQS, India (2009) http://cpcb.nic.in/National_Ambient_Air_Quality_Standards.php Accessed on 20.06.2016

  • NAAQS, USEPA (2012) https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants/naaqs-table

  • Nayek S, Padhy PK (2017) Daily personal exposure of women cooks to respirable particulate matters during cooking with solid bio-fuels in a rural community of West Bengal, India. Aerosol Air Qual Res 17:245–252

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaumer T, Czasch C, Klippel N, Johansson L, Tullin C (2008) Particulate emissions from biomass combustion in IEA countries. http://www.vbt.uni-karlsruhe.de/index.pl/themen/mahe_wirbel/literatur/Wood-Single-Aspects/Emissions/Partikulate-Emissions-from-Biomass-Combustion-in-IEA-Countries_Nussbaumer_IEA_2008.pdf Accessed 24.06.2016

  • Nussbaumer T (2003) Combustion and co-combustion of biomass: fundamentals, technologies, and primary measures for emission reduction. Energy Fuel 17:1510–1521

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parikh J, Balakrishnan K, Laxmi V, Biswas H (2001) Exposure from cooking with biofuels: pollution monitoring and analysis for rural Tamil Nadu, India. Energy 26:949–962

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pope CA III, Burnett RT, Thun MJ, Calle EE, Krewski D, Ito K, Thurston GD (2002) Lung cancer, cardiopulmonary mortality, and long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution. JAMA 287:1132–1141

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pope CA III, Burnett RT, Turner MC, Cohen A, Krewski D, Jerrett M, Gapstur SM, Thun MJ (2011) Lung cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality associated with ambient air pollution and cigarette smoke: shape of the exposure-response relationships. Environ Health Persp 119:1616–1621

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prasad R, Singh A, Garg R, Hosmane GB (2012) Biomass fuel exposure and respiratory diseases in India. Biosci Trends 6:219–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ray MR, Mukherjee S, Roychoudhury S, Bhattacharya P, Banerjee M, Siddique S, Chakraborty S, Lahiri T (2006) Platelet activation, upregulation of CD11b/CD18 expression on leukocytes and increase in circulating leukocyte-platelet aggregates in Indian women chronically exposed to biomass smoke. Hum Exp Toxicol 25:627–635

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reddy MS, Venkataraman C (2002) Inventory of aerosol and Sulphur dioxide emissions from India. Part II—biomass combustion. Atmos Environ 36:699–712

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Risom L, Møller P, Loft S (2005) Oxidative stress-induced DNA damage by particulate air pollution. Mutat Res Fund Mol Mech Mut 592:119–137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roden CA, Bond TC, Conway S, Pinel ABO, MacCarty N, Still D (2009) Laboratory and field investigations of particulate and carbon monoxide emissions from traditional and improved cook stoves. Atmos Environ 43:1170–1181

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Satsangi PG, Yadav S, Pipal AS, Kumbhar N (2014) Characteristics of trace metals in fine (PM 2.5) and inhalable (PM 10) particles and its health risk assessment along with in-silico approach in indoor environment of India. Atmos Environ 92:384–393

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shen G, Xue M (2014) Comparison of carbon monoxide and particulate matter emissions from residential burnings of pelletized biofuels and traditional solid fuels. Energy Fuel 28:3933–3939

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shen G, Tao S, Chen Y, Zhang Y, Wei S, Xue M, Wang B, Wang R, Lu Y, Li W, Shen H (2013) Emission characteristics for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from solid fuels burned in domestic stoves in rural China. Environ Sci Technol 47:14485–14494

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shrestha IL, Shrestha SL (2005) Indoor air pollution from biomass fuels and respiratory health of the exposed population in Nepalese households. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 11:150–160

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Siddiqui AR, Lee K, Bennett D, Yang X, Brown KH, Bhutta ZA, Gold EB (2009) Indoor carbon monoxide and PM2.5 concentrations by cooking fuels in Pakistan. Indoor Air 19:75–82

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sinha SN, Kulkarni PK, Shah SH, Desai NM, Patel GM, Mansuri MM, Saiyed HN (2006) Environmental monitoring of benzene and toluene produced in indoor air due to combustion of solid biomass fuels. Sci Total Environ 357:280–287

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith KR, Peel JL (2010) Mind the gap. Environ Health Persp 118:1643–1645

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith KR, Mehta S, Maeusezahl-Feuz M (2004) Indoor smoke from household solid fuels. In: Ezzati M, Rodgers A, Lopez AD, Hoorn SV, Murray CJL, Eds. Comparative quantification of health risks: global and regional burden of disease attributable to selected major risk factors. Geneva: World Health Organization 2:1435–1493

    Google Scholar 

  • Tielsch JM, Katz J, Thulasiraj RD, Coles CL, Sheeladevi S, Yanik EL, Rahmathullah L (2009) Exposure to indoor biomass fuel and tobacco smoke and risk of adverse reproductive outcomes, mortality, respiratory morbidity and growth among new-born infants in South India. Int J Epidemiol 38:1351–1363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Titcombe ME, Simcik M (2011) Personal and indoor exposure to PM2.5 and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the southern highlands of Tanzania: a pilot-scale study. Environ Mon Assess 180:461–476

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Van Vliet ED, Asante K, Jack DW, Kinney PL, Whyatt RM, Chillrud SN, Abokyi L, Zandoh C, Owusu-Agyei S (2013) Personal exposures to fine particulate matter and black carbon in households cooking with biomass fuels in rural Ghana. Environ Res 127:40–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Venkataraman C, Habib G, Eiguren-Fernandez A, Miguel AH, Friedlander SK (2005) Residential biofuels in South Asia: carbonaceous aerosol emissions and climate impacts. Science 307:1454–1456

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • WHO (2006) www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/147851/E87950.pdf Accessed 20.06.2016

  • Williams A, Jones JM, Ma L, Pourkashanian M (2012) Pollutants from the combustion of solid biomass fuels. Prog Energy Combust Sci 38:113–137

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yip F, Christensen B, Sircar K, Naeher L, Bruce N, Pennise D, Lozier M, Pilishvili T, Farrar JL, Stanistreet D, Nyagol R (2017) Assessment of traditional and improved stove use on household air pollution and personal exposures in rural western Kenya. Environ Int 99:185–191

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang J, Smith KR, Ma Y, Ye S, Jiang F, Qi W, Liu P, Khalil MAK, Rasmussen RA, Thorneloe SA (2000) Greenhouse gases and other airborne pollutants from household stoves in China: a database for emission factors. Atmos Environ 34:4537–4549

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zuk M, Rojas L, Blanco S, Serrano P, Cruz J, Angeles F, Tzintzun G, Armendariz C, Edwards RD, Johnson M, Riojas-Rodriguez H (2007) The impact of improved wood-burning stoves on fine particulate matter concentrations in rural Mexican homes. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 17:224–232

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The fellowships provided in the form of Junior Research Fellow (JRF) and Senior Research Fellow (SRF) by the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi to the first author is gratefully acknowledged. Supports from the studied households of the study area are also acknowledged heartily. We also thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their helpful comments and suggestions on this MS.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Studies, Institute of Science, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, Birbhum, West Bengal, 731 235, India

    Sukanta Nayek & Pratap Kumar Padhy

Authors
  1. Sukanta Nayek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pratap Kumar Padhy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pratap Kumar Padhy.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nayek, S., Padhy, P.K. Approximation of personal exposure to fine particulate matters (PM2.5) during cooking using solid biomass fuels in the kitchens of rural West Bengal, India. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 15925–15933 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1831-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-1831-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation