Indoor concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide from burning solid fuels for cooking and heating in Yunnan Province, China

Wei Jie Seow, George S Downward, Hu Wei, Nathaniel Rothman, Boris Reiss, Jun Xu, Bryan A Bassig, Jihua Li, Jun He, H Dean Hosgood, Guoping Wu, Robert S Chapman, Linwei Tian, Fusheng Wei, Neil E Caporaso, Roel Vermeulen, Qing Lan

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    The Chinese national pollution census has indicated that the domestic burning of solid fuels is an important contributor to nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ) and sulfur dioxide (SO2 ) emissions in China. To characterize indoor NO2 and SO2 air concentrations in relation to solid fuel use and stove ventilation in the rural counties of Xuanwei and Fuyuan, in Yunnan province, China which have among the highest lung cancer rates in the nation, a total of 163 participants in 30 selected villages were enrolled. Indoor 24-hour NO2 and SO2 samples were collected in each household over two consecutive days. Compared to smoky coal, smokeless coal use was associated with higher NO2 concentrations (geometric mean (GM) = 132μg/m(3) for smokeless coal and 111μg/m(3) for smoky coal, P = 0.065) and SO2 (limit of detection = 0.06mg/L; percentage detected [%Detect] = 85.7% for smokeless coal and 38.9% for smoky coal, P < 0.001). Among smoky coal users, significant variation of NO2 and SO2 air concentrations was observed across different stove designs and smoky coal sources in both counties. Model construction indicated that measurements of both pollutants were influenced by stove design. This exposure assessment study has identified high levels of NO2 and SO2 as a result of burning solid fuels for cooking and heating. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)776-783
    Number of pages8
    JournalIndoor Air
    Volume26
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Oct 2016

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    This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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