Indoor Air Pollution at Restaurant Kitchen in Delhi NCR

Abstract

This paper enlightens the emissions of particulate and gaseous pollutants in the indoor environment of restaurant kitchen in Delhi, National Capital Region (NCR). The common cooking fuels used in the restaurant kitchen are coal based tandoor and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). This study investigated the emissions of particulate matter (PM₁₀ and PM_2.5) and gaseous pollutants (CO and CO₂) at sources of tandoor and LPG in the month of July 2019. The distance between samplers and source were around 2–3 m. Particulate matter (PM) samples were collected by using Mini Vol Air Metrics sampler on Whatman 47 mm size of glass fiber filter paper for the period of 8 h and analyzed by gravimetric method. The flow rate maintained for collection of PM was 5 lpm. Gaseous pollutant like CO and CO₂ were collected for the period of 8 h and analyzed by NDIR method. The average concentrations of PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 in both Tandoor and LPG were 803 ± 256 and 412 ± 147 and 461 ± 60 and 290 ± 64 µg/m³ respectively. The average concentration of CO and CO₂ in both Tandoor and LPG were 5 ± 2 and 1636 ± 113 and 3 ± 1 and 1688 ± 236 in mg/m³ respectively. The temperature and relative humidity in both Tandoor and LPG varied from 33 to 38 °C and 49–70% and 32–35 °C and 72–90% respectively. Till date no standard has been formulated in India for indoor air pollutants. The average concentrations of particulate and gaseous pollutants inside the restaurant kitchen were higher for coal based tandoor as compared to LPG. The present study revealed that indoor air pollution in the restaurant kitchen was influenced by cooking fuels and meteorological parameter.