Burger grease weighs heavy on socal air

Commercial charbroilers emit more particulate matter into the air than diesel truck engines, researchers at the University of California, Riverside, said. Commercial cooking equipment is the second-largest source of particulate matter in Southern California's South Coast Air Basin. Researchers co-funded by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District are evaluating potential controls. "Emissions from commercial charbroilers are a very significant uncontrolled source of particulate matter ... more than twice the contribution by all of the heavy-duty diesel trucks," Bill Welch, principal development engineer for the study at UC Riverside's Center for Environmental Research and Technology said Wednesday in a university release. "For comparison, an 18-wheeler diesel-engine truck would have to drive 143 miles on the freeway to put out the same mass of particles as a single charbroiled hamburger patty."