Emission of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons and particulate matter from domestic combustion

PAHs and particulate matter (PM) emission were monitored for three common fuel-stove systems in Southeast Asia. Smoke samples were taken iso-kinetically from the flue pipe of a hood and analysed for PAHs using HPLC/FLD and UV. On the moisture and ash free basis, the charcoal fuel-stove system produced the least emission factor of 18 PAHs (27 mg/kg charcoal) and 11 genotoxic PAHs (2.6 mg/ kg as well as the least emission rate (11 mg/h) and concentration in the smoke (50 mu Lg/m(3)). As compared to the wood fuel, the coal briquette burning produced lower emission factor of the genotoxic PAHs (12.7 mg/kg vs 15 mg/kg), but higher total 18 PAHs (180 mg/kg vs 126 mg/kg) which mostly consisted of more volatile compounds. The wood fuel high burning rate, however, produced the highest PAHs emission rate (244 mg/h) and concentration (1130 mu g/m(3)) which resulted in higher exposure level. Wood fuel burning released the highest PM with the largest amount of adsorbed PAHs. Average daily cooking of a household of 2-3 releases 45 mg of genotoxic PAHs for the wood fuel use, 17.8 mg for coal briquettes and 3.9 mg for charcoal. The exposure to total 11 genotoxic PAHs during the cooking period for the three fuels was 156 mu g.h/m(3), 29 mu g.h/m(3) and 9 mu g.h/m(3), while exposure to benzo(a)pyrene alone was 8100, 1320 and 680 ng.h/m(3), respectively.