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Ultrafine Particles Emitted from Microwave Popcorn



Details

  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Microwave popcorn could release significant amounts of volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and air toxics when popping and opening bags. This study was designed to characterize ultrafine particles (UFPs, diameter < 100 nm) emitted from microwave popcorn. A microwave oven was enclosed in a chamber with ports for air sampling and a fan to control air exchange rate inside the chamber. Pre-packed popcorn was cooked in the microwave oven while UFP size distribution and number concentration were measured. The popcorn tested in this study covered six different flavors. The UFP emission rates of microwave popcorn ranged from 1.2×1011 to 2.4×1013 particles/hour. The UFP size distributions were unimodal, with the mode around 40 nm for two flavors and around 80 nm for the others. The bag-to-bag variation of UFPs emitted by microwave popcorn was greater than the flavor-to-flavor variation, indicating limited influence of flavor on UFP emission rate. Foil-lined popcorn bags increased UFP emissions during popping by a factor of 2-13 compared with brown paper lunch bags, suggesting innovative package might reduce exposure to UFPs from microwave popcorn. UFP emission rates were slightly lower when cooking with a new microwave oven than a used oven, although not statistically significant. A positive relationship between UFP emission rate and power setting of microwave oven was observed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • Publisher:
    American Association for Aerosol Research
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Grant
  • Genre:
    Abstract or Summary
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20055871
  • Citation:
    Proceedings of the AAAR 31st Annual Conference, October 8-12, 2012, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mount Laurel, NJ: American Association for Aerosol Research, 2012 Oct; :6IA.5
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2013
  • Performing Organization:
    University of California Los Angeles
  • Peer Reviewed:
    False
  • Start Date:
    20050701
  • Source Full Name:
    Proceedings of the AAAR 31st Annual Conference, October 8-12, 2012, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • End Date:
    20270630
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:944dcc54acb39eca309aa1aee25df337619ceba90746a4a6715a66140d038f91a395e24fcd2efe6975dcc163fc31b01d399b0c80191f1f8c4844e39ca52a509d
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 167.34 KB ]
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