Household air pollution from various types of rural kitchens and its exposure assessment

- Realtime PM2.5/CO levels are reported during cooking & non-cooking hours.
- Cowdung use in indoor kitchen produces four time more pollutants than LPG kitchen.
- Biomass fuel users have highest exposure index i.e. increasing risk to vulnerable population.
- Levels of PM2.5 and CO far exceed national outdoor and WHO IAQ guidelines.
- Evaluation of hazard quotient reveals greater health risk amongst SBF users.

Exposure to household air pollutants has become a leading environmental health risk in developing countries. Considering this, real-time temporal variation in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations were measured in various types of rural household kitchens. Observed average concentrations of PM2.5, CO, percent relative humidity (%RH) and temperature (T) in five different kitchen types were 549.6 μg/m3, 4.2 ppm, 70.2% and 20 °C respectively. Highest CO and PM2.5 concentration were found in household performing cooking in indoor kitchens (CO: 9.3 ppm; PM2.5: 696.5 μg/m3) followed by outdoor kitchens (CO: 5.8 ppm; PM2.5: 539.5 μg/m3). The concentration of PM2.5 and CO varied according to the fuel type and highest concentration was observed in kitchens using cowdung cakes followed by agricultural residue > firewood > biogas > Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Results revealed that the pollutants concentration varied with kitchen type, fuel type and the location of kitchen. An exposure index was developed to calculate the exposure of cook, non-cook and children below 5 years. Analysis of exposure index values shows that cooks, who use solid biomass fuel (SBF) in indoor kitchen, are four times more exposed to the harmful pollutants than the cooks using clean fuel. Further, using indoor PM2.5 concentrations, hazard quotient was calculated based on evaluation of intake concentration and toxicological risk, which also shows that SBF users have higher health risks (hazard quotient > 1) than the clean fuel (LPG) users.

386