Hood performance and capture efficiency of kitchens: A review

Effective emission control within kitchens, particularly in commercial and industrial production kitchens, has always been a cause of great concern for industry professionals, hospitality operators, and end users. This work presents a literature review of hood performance and capture efficiency of kitchen ventilation systems. As a key performance indicator for hoods, the capture efficiency has been studied extensively; however, there is still a need for a standard test method that can be used in both laboratory and field analyses. A variety of factors affecting the hood performance is discussed such as disturbing airflows, hood geometric features and locations, and exhaust airflow rates. The most accurate method to determine the airflow rate is found to be the convection load-based design method. In this paper, advanced air distribution systems, such as ventilated ceiling systems, thermal displacement ventilation systems, and attachment ventilation systems, are also reviewed. The analysis results form a basic framework for the development of novel solutions and can be beneficial to industry professionals in the food service and ventilation engineers.