Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Aerosol Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaerosci A controlled study for the characterization of PM 2.5 emitted during grilling ground beef meat Mehdi Amouei Torkmahalleh a,b, ⁎ , Soudabeh Gorjinezhad b , Melek Keles d , Hediye Sumru Unluevcek b , Cansu Azgin b , Elif Cihan c , Berfin Tanis c , Nurseli Soy c , Nergis Ozaslan c , Fatma Ozturk c , Philip K. Hopke d a Chemical and Aerosol Research Team, Nazarbayev University, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan b Chemical Engineering Program, Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus, Guzelyurt, Mersin 10, Turkey c Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Golkoy Campus, 14280 Bolu, Turkey d Center for Air Resources Engineering and Science, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 133699-5708, USA ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Grilling Beef meat PM OC/EC Metal Emission rate ABSTRACT Experiments were conducted in an on-campus house at Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus during January 2015. Low fat ground beef meat was grilled using an electric stove with no mechanical or natural ventilation. Five PM size fractions ranging from 3.3 μm to less than 0.43 μm were investigated in this study. The total particle emission rate and flux values were found to be 4.49×10 1 mg min -1 and 1.45×10 3 mg min -1 m -2 , respectively. Total OC emission rate and flux values were 2.3×10 1 mg min -1 and 7.33×10 2 mg min -1 m -2 , respec- tively, and total EC emission rate and flux values were determined to be 1.19 mg min -1 and 3.85×10 1 mg min -1 m -2 , respectively. Analyses of trace metal concentrations showed that Fe (0.429 mg m -3 ), Ti (0.270 mg.m -3 ), Sr (0.27 mg m -3 ), Ba (0.24 mg m -3 ) and Li (0.23 mg m -3 ) were the five most abundant trace elements in the PM produced during grilling ground beef. Pb, Mn, and V concentrations were found to be greater than the World Health Organization (WHO) exposure limit. 1. Introduction Cooking was reported to be one of the major producers of indoor particulate matter (PM) (Dennekamp et al., 2001; Hussein et al., 2006; Wan, Wu, To, Chan, & Chao, 2011; Massey, Kulshrestha, Masih, & Taneja, 2012). Among 20 indoor activities including cooking and smoking performed in 15 houses in Australia, cooking was found to generate the highest level of PM 2.5 emission rate (He, Morawska, Hitchins, & Gilbert, 2004a). Among 87 cooking scenarios conducted in Amsterdam, Netherland and Helsinki, Finland, the PM 2.5 concentration ranged from 1.9 to 3.4 mg m -3 (Brunekreef et al., 2005). Among the possible cooking activities, grilling, charbroiling, and frying have been found to be responsible for the highest particle emission (McDonald et al., 2003; Nasir & Colbeck, 2013; See & Balasubramanian, 2008; See & Balasubramanian, 2006; He et al., 2004a). Sources that may contribute to frying or grilling PM emissions and indoor PM concentrations include, but are not limited to the cooking oil, gas or electric stove, meat and vegetables (To & Yeung, 2011; Jorgensen, Strandberg, Sjaastad, Johansen, & Svendsen, 2013; Amouei Torkmahalleh et al., 2012; See and Balasubramanian, 2006; Evans, Peers, & Sabaliauskas, 2008; Olson & Burke, 2006). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2016.10.011 Received 12 October 2016; Received in revised form 17 October 2016; Accepted 18 October 2016 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Chemical and Aerosol Research Team, Nazarbayev University, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan. E-mail address: mehdi.torkmahalleh@nu.edu.kz (M.A. Torkmahalleh). Journal of Aerosol Science 103 (2017) 132–140 0021-8502/ © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Available online 29 October 2016 cross