Individual Pollutant Exposure and Particulate Removal Effect of an Organized Make-Up Air System with Ceiling-Mounted Openings in Residential Kitchens

Mechanical ventilation achieved by range hoods and make-up air systems has been proven effective in enhancing pollutant capture efficiency, suppressing the diffusion of indoor pollutants, and thereby improving indoor air quality in residential kitchens. However, the impacts of specific make-up air strategies, particularly the air-supply distance and air-jet angle, on airflow organization and pollutant control performance remains insufficiently explored. In this study, an organized make-up air system with ceiling-mounted supply openings was investigated using computational fluid dynamics to evaluate both overall and local pollutant control effectiveness under varying air-supply distances and air-jet angles. The results indicate that, compared with the conventional window-based natural make-up air mode (i.e., relying solely on opening windows for air supplementation), the proposed system reduces indoor PM2.5 concentrations by more than 44%. Using the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method, the optimal air-supply distance and air-jet angle were identified as 1.6 m and 60.9°, respectively, based on the layout of the studied kitchen. Under this optimal configuration, the individual intake fraction decreased by 62%, and the capture efficiency of the range hood exceeded 90%. In addition, the pollutant control performance of the make-up air system was found to be significantly influenced by kitchen layout and obstruction from furniture walls.