Air Quality Modeling of Cooking Stove Emissions and Exposure Assessment in Rural Areas

Yucheng He, Sanika Ravindra Nishandar, Rufus David Edwards () and Marko Princevac
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Yucheng He: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
Sanika Ravindra Nishandar: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
Rufus David Edwards: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Program in Public Health, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
Marko Princevac: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: Cooking stoves produce significant emissions of PM 2.5 in homes, causing major health impacts in rural communities. The installation of chimneys in cooking stoves has been documented to substantially reduce indoor emissions compared to those of traditional open fires. Majority of the emissions pass through chimneys to the outdoors, while some fraction of the emissions leak directly into the indoor air, which is defined as fugitive emission. Indoor PM 2.5 concentrations are then the result of such fugitive emissions and the infiltration of outdoor neighborhood pollutants. This study uses a combination of the one-contaminant box model and dispersion models to estimate the indoor PM 2.5 household concentration. The results show that the contributions of outdoor infiltration to indoor PM 2.5 concentrations increase with higher packing densities and ventilation rates. For a case study, under WHO recommended ventilation conditions, the 24 h average mass concentration is ~21 μg/m 3 , with fugitive concentration accounting for ~90% of the total exposure for highly packed communities. These results help to identify the potential benefits of intervention strategies in regions that use chimney stoves.

Keywords: dispersion model; health risk assessment; particulate matter; indoor air quality; cook stove; biomass burning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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