Development of a test method to determine the effectiveness of UVC systems on commercial cooking effluent (RP-1614)

Public attention has been drawn to the commercial restaurant cooking emission since it can cause health and hygiene risks, reduction of the efficiency of the ventilation system, and even fire accidents. The attempt of including the Ultraviolet-C (UVC) lamps with Type I hood has the potential to reduce the grease deposition on the ductwork and pollution in the exhaust by oxidizing the emissions. A method of testing (MOT) has been developed to evaluate the performance of a commercial UVC hood in terms of abating grease deposition rates and particulate emissions, particle size distribution change, fuel loads due to resulting compounds, and stack emissions, and verified under different cooking scenarios. The data show that although the UVC system did initiate the oxidation and decomposition of the cooking emissions, the reaction was still less than sufficient within the limited residence time. Most of the contribution to the reduction of the deposition and emission was due to the installation of the secondary filter. However, a long-term test may be needed in the standard test method and future studies to improve the significance and reflect the effect of long-term exposure to UVC on the grease deposition.