Abstract
Community kitchen tandoor (CKT) is a clay-based hollow cylindrical device commonly used in South Asian and Middle Eastern countries for baking flatbreads and cooking meat. These CKTs, generally fuelled by charcoal or wood, contribute significantly to the pollution loads in ambient air along with occupational exposure hazards. CKTs, being a part of the informal sector, lack emissions and safety guidelines. This study surveys 139 restaurants in CKT hotspots of New Delhi, India, to understand tandoor design and operational parameters and to assess PM2.5 and CO exposure concentrations at representative field restaurants. PM2.5 and CO exposure concentrations from traditional CKT was found to be several-folds higher than safe indoor air quality levels. Further, the traditional CKT was evaluated for different improved fuels (like briquettes and pellets) in the laboratory for PM2.5 and CO microenvironment concentrations. It was found that the fuel improvements in traditional CKT could not improve microenvironment concentrations to the desired levels; hence, an automated pellet-fed forced-draft improved tandoor with an improved combustion chamber design is demonstrated. The results of the laboratory trial of improved tandoor were compared with traditional tandoor (using pellets) and have shown 84% and 94% reductions in PM2.5 and CO concentrations, respectively, indicating significant benefits to the environment and health. We recommend implementing such improved CKT, on a large scale, combined with other identified control options, as a potential candidate under air pollution mitigation strategies in cities’ action plans under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
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The datasets used and/or analysed during the present work based on data collected from the study location are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thankfully acknowledge the Director National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) for supporting the research work. The manuscript is checked for similarity via licenced iThenticate software (KRC No.: CSIR-NEERI/ KRC/2022/JAN/ERMD-DZC/1).
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The present work was partly supported by a research grant from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), New Delhi, under grant no. GAP-02-2265.
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AG, NL, and RW conceived the idea and designed the study.
MMN and HK collected the field data and performed data analysis.
MMN and RW compiled the results and wrote the draft manuscript.
AG, RW, MMN, and NL improved the discussion and results.
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The primary survey in the present study was limited to a questionnaire on cooking practices of the tandoor using restaurants in the field. No personal information on the human subject was collected and presented in the manuscript. This is purely an observational study without involving invasive trials on human subjects.
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Verbal informed consent was obtained prior to filling the questionnaire designed to seek details of traditional tandoor.
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Highlights
• Design of improved forced draft tandoor with extensive laboratory testing.
• First study to report PM2.5 and CO microenvironment concentrations of tandoor in the exposure zone at laboratory and field settings.
• Study impulses formulating universal tandoor testing, rating procedures.
• Switching to improved tandoor can reduce health and climate burden of conventional fuel fired tandoors.
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Naved, M.M., Wathore, R., Kumbhare, H. et al. Community kitchen tandoors (CKT)-a potential candidate for air pollution mitigation strategies?. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 56317–56329 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26176-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26176-1