Air pollutant exposure concentrations from cooking a meal with a gas or induction cooktop and the effectiveness of two recirculating range hoods with filters

Abstract

This study compares air pollutant concentrations resulting from cooking with gas or induction cooktops, with or without either of two recirculating range hoods with filters. A meal of pasta, plant-based “meat” sauce and stir-fried broccoli was cooked three times for each cooktop and hood combination in a 158 m³ room. Time-resolved measurements were made of nitrogen oxides (NO_X), carbon dioxide (CO₂), size-resolved particles, and speciated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during cooking and 30 minutes after cooking. Cooking with induction used half as much energy, produced no discernible NO_X, and significantly reduced ultrafine particles (UFP, diameter < 100 nm) and CO₂ compared to gas cooktops. Induction produced statistically higher PM_2.5 when calculated using size-resolved particle measurements from one pair of instruments, but the difference was not discernible when calculating from another pair. With gas cooktops, roughly half of the PM_2.5 was in particles smaller than 0.3 μm and thus below the lower quantitation threshold for many optical particle instruments; optical devices may thus substantially under-report PM_2.5 from gas cooking. VOCs did not significantly differ between gas and induction. Both recirculating range hoods substantially reduced all particle sizes when cooking with either fuel, and the reductions were larger for gas cooking. One of the range hoods also substantially lowered some of the VOCs.