CHARACTERIZATION AND PROBLEMS OF INDOOR POLLUTION DUE TO COOKING STOVE SMOKE

Findings from the five groups of matched houses, each using either cat tle dung, wood, coal, kerosene or liquid petroleum gas (LPG) as cookin g fuels are presented with emphasis on cross comparison of indoor poll ution levels during the cooking period. The houses using LPG were cons idered as controls. The characterization of pollution was made by meas urements of total suspended particulates (TSP), carbon monoxide, nitro gen dioxide, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide and particle sizing of TSP, which were further analysed for the evaluation of levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). A correlation between the pollutants as a function of fuel type has also been looked for. The study revealed that 50-80% of the TSP emissions from biomass and coal-burning cooking stoves were in a respirable fraction of less-than-or-equal-to 2 mum s ize and that a large amount of the PAHs (> 75%) belonged to this fract ion only. Air quality in biomass-using houses was the worst among the users of the five aforementioned fuels and levels were relatively high . The findings stress that a conserted effort towards a solution shoul d be made as a large fraction of the world's population regularly uses biomass as a prime domestic fuel. The problems associated with cookin g stoves in India and immediate research needs are outlined.