Sampling, pretreatment, and analysis of particulate matter and trace metals emitted through charcoal combustion in cooking activities

Abstract

Charcoal is widely used today for both indoor and outdoor cooking activities such as household cooking, grilling, barbecuing, and broiling. As such, its combustion has been designated as sources of a diverse range of pollutants containing particulate matter (PM) and a list of hazardous trace metals (TMs) in both indoor/outdoor ambient air. In this work, we review the current status of technical tools and approaches to measure the pollution of PM and TMs emitted due to charcoal combustion with respect to available sampling, pretreatment, and analytical techniques. The reported concentration levels of those pollutants were compared in reference to guideline values. Finally, the potential health hazards of PMs and TMs emitted from charcoal are evaluated. Based on this approach, a concise view is provided to describe the diversity, level, and health hazards of particulate and metallic pollutants emitted through the combustion of charcoal in cooking activities.