UFPs Generated During Cooking with an Electric Stove
Yijia Zhao
Institute for a Sustainable Environment
Since airborne particulate matter (PM) has great adverse effects on
human health, indoor pollution has increasingly become a significant
and popular area of study. Previous research suggests that more than
90% of emitted particles during frying are in the ultrafine particle (UFP)
range, which can cause much more problems on human health.( Wallace
et al, 2004)
Recently, our study is aimed to reveal ultrafine particles, emitted from
different kind of cooking oils. Aerosol technology, which includes
Wide-size Particle Spectrometer, Aethalometer, Piezobalance and
DustTrak, is applied for testing the size distribution of particles, the ratio
of black carbon, and the total mass of particles. We have found that as
the temperature of cooking oils increase, the total mass of particles and
the percentage of black carbon increase. Thus, it is advisable for people
to cook below the smoke temperature of oils.
2013, Environmental Science and Policy, Honors Program, Alan Rossner