Reduced Carbon Monoxide Emission in Ghee Lamp than Peanut Oil Lamp

Abstract

Lighting the lamp is an ancient tradition of Indian culture. Various cultures such as Indian, Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, etc. widely use ghee for religious purposes. In India, Ghee is an essential component of most of the rituals. Ayurveda suggests different types of vegetative oils and ghee (clarified butter) for Ayurvedic preparations. Both ghee and peanut oil are commonly used in food preparations. Besides for eating, both ghee and peanut oil lamps are also commonly used for lighting lamps in India. Hence, evaluating the emissions from these lamps is of interest. In the present comparative study we have evaluated the emission of air pollutants: Particular Matter (PM1, PM2.5, PM10), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Ozone, Carbon Monoxide (CO), and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) from peanut oil and ghee lamps. We found that there was no significant difference between oil and ghee lamps for all emissions except for CO, where there was a significant reduction (15.93%, p= 0.0183) in ghee lamps compared to peanut oil lamps. Lower CO from ghee lamps than that from peanut oil lamps might be due to differences in the combustion efficiency resulting from chemical structure differences. Thus, the present finding of reduced CO emission from ghee lamps supports its wide use as a component in Indian religious purposes, Vedic-rituals of Yagya or Havan and meals.