Evaluation of performance of household solar cookers.

Household solar cookers were evaluated according to ASAE (American Society of Agricultural Engineers) Standard S580.1 - Testing and Reporting Solar Cooker Performance. Per ASAE S580.

A Laboratory Comparison of Emission Factors, Number Size Distributions, and Morphology of Ultrafine Particles from 11 Different Household Cookstove-Fuel Systems.

Ultrafine particle (UFP) emissions and particle number size distributions (PNSD) are critical in the evaluation of air pollution impacts; however, data on UFP number emissions from cookstoves, which are a major source of many pollutants, are limited. In this study, 11 fuel-stove combinations covering a variety of fuels and different stoves are investigated for UFP emissions and PNSD. The combustion of LPG and alcohol (∼10 particles per useful energy delivered, particles/MJ), and kerosene (∼10 particles/MJ), produced emissions that were lower by 2-3 orders of magnitude than solid fuels (10-10 particles/MJ).

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Fine Particulate Matter Emitted from Burning Kerosene, Liquid Petroleum Gas, and Wood Fuels in Household Cookstoves.

This study measures polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compositions in particulate matter emissions from residential cookstoves. A variety of fuel and cookstove combinations are investigated, including: (i) liquid petroleum gas (LPG), (ii) kerosene in a wick stove, (iii) wood (10 and 30% moisture content on a wet basis) in a forced-draft fan stove, and (iv) wood in a natural-draft rocket cookstove. The wood burning in the natural-draft stove had the highest PAH emissions followed by the wood combustion in the forced-draft stove and kerosene burning.

Mutagenicity and Pollutant Emission Factors of Solid-Fuel Cookstoves: Comparison with Other Combustion Sources.

Background: Emissions from solid fuels used for cooking cause ~4 million premature deaths per year. Advanced solid-fuel cookstoves are a potential solution, but they should be assessed by appropriate performance indicators, including biological effects.

Objective: We evaluated two categories of solid-fuel cookstoves for eight pollutant and four mutagenicity emission factors, correlated the mutagenicity emission factors, and compared them to those of other combustion emissions.

In vitro exposures in diesel exhaust atmospheres: resuspension of PM from filters versus direct deposition of PM from air.

One of the most widely used in vitro particulate matter (PM) exposures methods is the collection of PM on filters, followed by resuspension in a liquid medium, with subsequent addition onto a cell culture. To avoid disruption of equilibria between gases and PM, we have developed a direct in vitro sampling and exposure method (DSEM) capable of PM-only exposures. We hypothesize that the separation of phases and post-treatment of filter-collected PM significantly modifies the toxicity of the PM compared to direct deposition, resulting in a distorted view of the potential PM health effects.