Estimating commercial cooking contribution to urban PM_2.5 and O₃ with a refined emission inventory from a unified online-source framework

Abstract

Quantifying commercial cooking emissions is non-negligible for mitigating urban PM_2.5 and O₃ pollution, given their significant and spatiotemporally concentrated releases of PM_2.5 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, the accuracy of existing commercial cooking emission inventories remains unsatisfactory because generalized estimation parameters fail to represent the dynamic emission variations of this sector. Here, we develop a unified online-source framework (UOS) that simultaneously refines emission magnitudes and spatiotemporal allocations by integrating sample-based calibrated online oil fumes monitoring and point-of-interest data. Our framework corrected a 5.95- and 2.09-fold underestimation of VOCs and PM_2.5 emissions in Guangdong Province in 2023 compared to the legacy version, in which hourly-scale emission factors significantly increased up to 159.13 g/h for VOCs and 52.47 g/h for PM_2.5, respectively. Moreover, the spatial distribution was optimized to 70% of emission hotspots captured in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region relative to the 50% population-based allocation of the legacy inventory. With improved spatiotemporal performance in simulated PM_2.5 and O₃, the UOS framework demonstrated a substantially greater annual contribution of commercial cooking emissions to PM_2.5 (2.93 μg/m³) than to O₃ (1.02 μg/m³), as well as more pronounced contributions of both PM_2.5 (12.06 μg/m³) and O₃ (8.39 μg/m³) in high-emission areas during pollution episodes. This work offers a scalable methodology to develop accurate commercial cooking emission inventories, thereby providing a scientific foundation for making targeted emission-reduction policies in commercial cooking.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Commercial cooking / Emission inventory / Online oil fumes monitoring data / POI / Air quality modeling / Impact assessment

Highlight

	● Unifying multiple online sources refines high-resolution cooking emission profiles.
	● Refined VOCs/PM2.5 emissions show 5.95/2.09-fold increases over the legacy version.
	● Simulated error reductions are nearly twice higher in dense vs. low-dense area.
	● Commercial cooking contributes up to 12.06/8.39 μg/m3 to PM2.5/O3 during episodes.

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