LAUSR

Abstract Inhalation of cooking oil fumes can be detrimental to human health. This study aims to evaluate the emission characteristics of different cooking oils and attempts to identify a cooking oil that emits the least fine particulate matter (PM) during heating. The yield of particles of six different size increments were examined for six commonly used cooking oils: vegetable, canola, corn, olive, peanut, and coconut oils. Both the chemical and structural properties of the oils were analyzed to explain for variance in the quantity of particle emissions and distribution of particulate sizes among oils. The study further compared the oil particle accumulation in a typical cooking facility with and without a smoke exhaust hood. Of the oils examined, coconut and olive oil produced the most particles at low temperatures; peanut and canola oil produced the most particles at high temperatures. Fume inhalation can be greatly decreased through ventilation at both the half power and full power tested. The inhalation of particulate matter expelled from the heating of cooking oils does not exceed government regulation levels for typical household cooking, but inhalation for extended lengths of time might exceed U.S. and Australian regulation guidelines.