Effect of fuels on cooking fume emissions

Emissions of cooking fumes across a wide range of settings were investigated for two commonly used fuels in Hong Kong-town gas and electricity. The effect of cooking process on the emissions of fumes was controlled by repeating cooking processes using these two fuels. The measurement results showed that the cooking process and energy source could have an effect on the concentrations of PM10 and total volatile organic compound (TVOC) in kitchens and the concentrations of extractable organic material in kitchen exhausts. Gas cooking produced higher concentrations of PM10, TVOC and extractable organic material than electric cooking for stir frying, pan frying and deep frying in the domestic kitchens but inclusive results were obtained for deep frying, griddle frying and char-broiling in the commercial kitchens. Paired-sample t-tests revealed that the concentrations of TVOC generated from gas cooking were significantly higher than those generated from electric cooking at the 5% level, but not for PM10 when measurements in the domestic and commercial environments were combined. Analyses of variance indicated that the emissions of extractable organic material depended significantly on the cooking fuel and the cooking process in domestic kitchens and commercial kitchens.