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PUBLICATIONS

Simmering Sauces! Elevated Formaldehyde Concentrations from Gas Stove Burners

Published

Author(s)

Dustin G. Poppendieck, Mengyan Gong

Abstract

Formaldehyde is listed as a human carcinogen, and can be formed as a primary by-product during combustion processes. Past studies have not detected elevated formaldehyde concentrations from gas stoves, perhaps due to the time averaging nature of previous sampling campaigns or because the burners were operated at a high setting.1 In this research we used a real-time formaldehyde monitor to show that simmering of a gas burner can increase indoor formaldehyde concentrations above the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) Acute Reference Exposure Level (REL). Average ambient kitchen formaldehyde concentrations with one or more simmering burners and no kitchen hood exhaust increased 60 ug m-3 to 100 ug m-3 above pre-simmering levels. Concentrations varied with time and location in the kitchen during burner operation. Peaks concentrations were up to 830 ug m-3 above pre-simmering, and didn’t necessarily occur in front of stove.
Proceedings Title
Indoor Air 2018
Conference Dates
July 22-27, 2018
Conference Location
Philadelphia, PA
Pub Type
Conferences

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

Cooking, Natural Gas, Combustion, Formaldehyde, Source, Peak Concentrations
Indoor air quality, Health, Environment and Buildings and Construction

Citation

Poppendieck, D. and Gong, M. (2018), Simmering Sauces! Elevated Formaldehyde Concentrations from Gas Stove Burners, Indoor Air 2018, Philadelphia, PA, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=926006 (Accessed October 8, 2025)

Issues

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Created July 21, 2018, Updated September 29, 2020
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