Cooking is one of important emission sources of fine particles (PM2.5). This study using the catering enterprises of Shanghai as an example, presents a method to estimate the PM2.5 emission inventory from cooking according to the number of stoves, cooking time, and number of customers. Based on in situ measurements, the concentrations of PM2.5 emissions ranged from 0.1 mg ·m-3 to 1.8 mg ·m-3, which exceeded the limit (1.0 mg ·m-3 for lampblack) in the national standard. Organic carbon dominated the PM2.5 emitted from cooking, accounting for more than 50%. Extremely high ratios of organic carbon to elemental carbon were observed, ranging from 58.8 to 752.3, which could be used as an indicator of cooking emissions. The emission factors of PM2.5 in the catering industry are closely related to the scale of the catering enterprises. The emission factors of large-and medium-sized enterprises are obviously higher than those of small and micro enterprises. The PM2.5 emissions of catering enterprises are mainly attributed to high emission loads of large enterprises and those for a large number of small and medium enterprises. The PM2.5 emission inventory of cooking in Shanghai was calculated according to the three emission factors above, and the results were very close. Therefore, the method for estimating the PM2.5 emission inventory for cooking presented in this study is helpful for other Chinese cities to calculate their PM2.5 emission inventory from cooking.
Keywords: PM2.5; Shanghai; catering industry; emission calculation method; emission factor.