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Indoor distribution and personal exposure of cooking-generated PM2.5 in rural residences of China: A multizone model study

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  • Indoor/Outdoor Airflow and Air Quality
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Abstract

The fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emitted during cooking is a significant contributor to household air pollution in rural China, resulting in millions of premature deaths annually. Since cooking is an internal pollution source, the indoor concentration of cooking-generated PM2.5 can vary among different rooms in multizone rural residences. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of indoor PM2.5 from cooking in rural residences by utilizing on-site investigations to gather information on cooking behavior and dwelling layout in three Chinese villages, and subsequently simulating indoor spatiotemporal concentrations of cooking-generated PM2.5 using a multizone model. Our findings indicate that the type of zone significantly influences the zonal concentration of PM2.5, with the highest concentrations found in kitchens (i.e., 13.9 to 188.0 µg/m3) and lowest in non-adjacent zones to the kitchen (i.e., 0.01 to 7.5 µg/m3) among all the modeled conditions. More importantly, the study also assesses the resulting personal exposures for occupants with different time-spent patterns, revealing that the main cook at home and preferring to stay in the adjacent rooms to the kitchen are at the highest risk for personal exposure. The highest personal exposure levels of cooking-generated PM2.5 are 28.5 ± 30.1 µg/m3, which is 34 times that of occupants who stay away from the kitchen. The study provides a deeper scientific insight into the indoor spatial distribution and personal exposure to cooking-generated PM2.5 in rural residences, which is crucial for developing effective interventions to mitigate the detrimental health impacts of household air pollution in rural areas.

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Abbreviations

ACH :

air change rate (h−1)

ACH r :

air change rate of the whole residence (h−1)

ACH Kit :

air change rate of the kitchen (h−1)

A f :

floor area of the residence (m2)

A/K :

concentration ratio of PM2.5 between the adjacent zone and kitchen

C aj :

indoor concentration of cooking-generated PM2.5 in the adjacent zone to the kitchen (µg/m3)

C naj :

indoor concentration of cooking-generated PM2.5 in the non-adjacent zone to the kitchen (µg/m3)

C Kit :

indoor concentration of cooking-generated PM2.5 in the kitchen (µg/m3)

C AJ_room :

simulated zonal PM2.5 concentration of an adjacent room to the kitchen (µg/m3)

ELA :

effective leakage area (m2)

ER :

emission rate of PM2.5 from cooking activity (mg/min)

EP c :

daily personal exposure concentration of cooking-generated PM2.5 (µg/m3)

EP T :

total personal exposure concentration to PM2.5 (µg/m3)

H :

height of the residence (m)

N :

number of adjoining rooms to the kitchen

n :

room number

N/K :

concentration ratio of PM2.5 between non-adjacent zone and kitchen

NL :

normalized leakage area (dimensionless)

Q :

volumetric flow rate of air entering the indoor environment (m3/h)

R Kit :

state describing the occupant whether or not in the kitchen

R aj :

state describing the occupant whether or not in the adjacent zone

R naj :

state describing the occupant whether or not in the non-adjacent zone

V :

volume of the indoor environment (m3)

Y b :

year built

AJ zone:

adjacent rooms to the kitchen

ANOVA:

analysis of variance

ASHRAE:

American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers

CF-O:

clean fuel-opening scenario

CF-RH:

clean fuel-range hood scenario

GDB:

global burden of disease

GDP:

gross domestic product

HAP:

household air pollution

HSCW:

Hot Summer Cold Winter Zone

Kit:

kitchen

NAJ zone:

non-adjacent rooms to the kitchen

PM2.5:

particles with aerodynamic diameters smaller than 2.5 µm

RRPCS, NJUSAUP:

Centre of Rural Revitalization Praxis at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Nanjing University

SDGs:

Sustainable Development Goals

SC:

Severe Cold Zone

SF-C:

solid fuel-chimney scenario

UN:

the United Nations

WHO:

the World Health Organization

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the special fund of Beijing Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Quality Evaluation and Control (No. BZ0344KF20-09), China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, 210093, China

    Shanshan Shi, Junling Yang & Yushu Liang

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  1. Shanshan Shi
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  2. Junling Yang
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  3. Yushu Liang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Shanshan Shi and Junling Yang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Shanshan Shi and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shanshan Shi.

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Indoor distribution and personal exposure of cooking-generated PM2.5 in rural residences of China: A multizone model study

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Shi, S., Yang, J. & Liang, Y. Indoor distribution and personal exposure of cooking-generated PM2.5 in rural residences of China: A multizone model study. Build. Simul. 16, 1299–1315 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-023-0997-1

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