Measured Pollutant Performance of Island Overhead Kitchen Exhaust

Cooking is one of the most substantial sources of indoor air pollution in most residences.
This is mitigated most often by exhaust devices located near cooking surfaces. In this study,
we measured the efficacy of one type of kitchen ventilation device: an island overhead
kitchen exhaust. Laboratory tests using tracer gas capture were performed on a full-scale
mock-up of a kitchen with a cooktop in an island. The results show that the Capture
Efficiency (CE) varies greatly from about 10% to nearly 100%. CE generally increased with
exhaust flow rate, but results did not show clear trends when changing hood mounting
height or the power input to the cooktop burners. Burner power had an effect on measured
capture efficiency of the same magnitude as exhaust flow rate. As with earlier work on wallmount
exhaust hoods, these results indicate that standardized testing will have to clearly
specify mounting heights, power input (and or temperatures) and the geometry of the
tracer gas emitter.