Natural ventilation reduces cooking-related PM 2.5 peaks indoors

Su, Y., Dai, Y., Shi, Z. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7157-543X, Jiang, Y., Kong, L. and Pfrang, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9023-5281 (2026) Natural ventilation reduces cooking-related PM 2.5 peaks indoors. ACS ES&T Air, 3 (2). pp. 590-599. ISSN 2837-1402 doi: 10.1021/acsestair.5c00427

Abstract/Summary

Indoor cooking generates intense, short-duration fine particulate matter (PM2.5) peaks with acute health risks. To quantify the efficacy of natural ventilation configurations, we conducted approximately two months of continuous monitoring in a modern UK one-bedroom apartment, comparing three ventilation scenarios during cooking: fully opened (all windows and internal doors open), door-opened only (internal doors open but windows closed), and fully closed (all windows and internal doors closed). Air quality sensors were calibrated against a reference instrument (Fidas 200E) both before and after the field deployment. During the study period, outdoor PM2.5 mass concentrations ranged from 0.4 to 31.0 μg m–3, averaging 6.3 μg m–3. Indoor concentrations were substantially higher than average outdoor levels, with the fully opened scenario yielding the lowest exposure at 14.9 μg m–3 in the living room/kitchen and 15.4 μg m–3 in the bedroom. Relative to the fully opened scenario, PM2.5 concentrations increased by 58.4% (living room/kitchen) and 55.8% (bedroom) under door-opened only conditions, and under fully closed conditions by 28.9% and 27.9%, respectively. These findings demonstrate that simultaneous opening of windows and internal doors during cooking can substantially reduce acute PM2.5 exposure, offering a simple, low-energy strategy to mitigate short-term health risks in naturally ventilated apartments

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/128411
Identification Number/DOI	10.1021/acsestair.5c00427
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	American Chemical Society (ACS)
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