In-field Emissions from Cookstoves in Rural Indian Households

Assessing the climate-change implications and burden-of-disease contributions from solid-fuel burning relies on robust estimates of emissions. Laboratory measurements of solid-fuel burning in ‘improved’ cookstoves are utilized to predict their emissions and effects on both climate and human health, although in-field measurements have been shown to differ from laboratory measurements. This paper presents in-home measurements of one ‘improved’ cookstove – the Philips forced-draft advanced combustion stove – alongside measurements of traditional cookstoves in Haryana, India. When compared to traditional cookstoves, the Philips stove produced less fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and organic carbon per kilogram of dry fuel (p-values = 0.039 and 0.033 respectively), and burned less fuel (p-value = 0.011) and emitted less carbon monoxide, PM2.5, and organic carbon (p-values = 0.003, 0.030, and 0.038 respectively) per minute. Increases in fine particulate matter and organic carbon for dung-burning cookstoves, seen in laboratory measurements from Haryana, were not observed for Philips stoves. The traditional cookstoves, and the Philips stove, all fail to meet the World Health Organization cookstove particulate emission-rate targets, with the geometric mean of the Philips stoves being, on average, a factor of approximately 30 too polluting, and the traditional stoves >100, for indoor stoves. Reductions in emission rates were not well typified by laboratory water boiling tests (WBTs) and in-field fuel consumption rates differed greatly from the WBT. WBTs of dung and wood underestimated particulate emission factors from traditional cookstoves by factors of 2.4-6.0 for the Chula, depending upon fuel type, and by a factor of 23.1 for the Haro/Angithi stoves