Secondary Organic Aerosol from Typical Chinese Domestic Cooking Emissions

Cooking has been proven to be a significant source of primary organic aerosol, especially in megacities. However, the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) derived from cooking emissions is still poorly understood. In this work, four prevalent Chinese domestic cooking types involving complicated cuisines and various cooking methods were chosen to conduct a lab simulation for SOA formation using a Gothenburg potential aerosol mass reactor (Go: PAM). After samples had been aged under OH exposures of 4.3-27.1 x 10(10) molecules cm(-3) s, the domestic cooking SOA was characterized by mass growth potentialities (1.81-3.16), elemental ratios (O/C = 0.29-0.41), and mass spectra. Compared with other organic aerosol (OA), domestic cooking SOA is a kind of less oxidized oxygenated OA (LO-OOA) with a unique oxidation pathway (alcohol/peroxide pathway) and mass spectra (characteristic peaks at m/z 28, 29, 41, 43, 44, 55, and 57). This study is expected to identify the cooking SOA under actual cooking conditions, which could contribute to the formulation of pollution source control as well as the health risk assessment of exposure to cooking fumes.

Automated summary

This study simulates the formation process of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) derived from cooking emissions, and identifies domestic cooking SOA as a kind of less oxidized oxygenated OA with unique oxidation pathway and mass spectra characteristics.