An effective ventilation system to reduce PM2.5 during cooking in apartments

PM2.5 during cooking has become a hazardous issue. A ventilation operation algorithm that integrates kitchen range hood and ventilation systems, such as heat recovery ventilators and auxiliary air supply systems, was developed to remove PM2.5 during cooking. This integrated ventilation algorithm was applied to a real apartment and used to evaluate improvements in indoor air quality. When the rangehood only operated, PM2.5 mass concentration in the kitchen and living room reaching up to 4.33 and 1.45 mg/m³ respectively. However, the ventilation system operated according to this algorithm was observed that PM2.5 concentration in the kitchen was reduced by about 50%, and dispersion into the living room was reduced by more than 80%. The integrated operation algorithm enabled the integrated kitchen range hood and ventilation system to remove PM2.5 five times faster than when only ventilation was used at a rate of 2.0/h. These results suggest that PM2.5 emitted from cooking can be effectively reduced, and the living room per the kitchen concentration ratio was less than 1 that means this system is able to prevent PM dispersion into the living room. The range hood efficiency was also shown to increase from 50% to 98%, and additional air supply was verified by an effective system for improving range hood performance.