Study on emission characteristics of tracer pollutants in cooking oil fumes

In this study, the following 5 kinds of tracer pollutants of cooking oil fumes were selected: palmitic acid, stearic acid, cholesterol, stigmasterol and β-sitosterol, and an effective method of their extraction, separation, enrichment and determination was established considering the conditions of the low-altitude exhaust and the condensation of cooking fumes. Five tracer pollutants were determined both in the PM2.5 and gas phases from college canteen exhaust and in waste oil condensed from fumes of different edible oils in households. It was found that the amount of palmitic acid was higher than that of stearic acid in the same sample; the emission characteristics of 5 substances in condensed grease samples from different oils varied considerably; compared with palmitic acid and stearic acid, 3 sterols (cholesterol, stigmasterol and β-sitosterol) are more characteristic as tracers of cooking oil fumes. The results provide technical and methodological references for the contribution and traceability analysis of catering source exhaust in air pollution source apportionment.