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What was HOMEChem?
HOMEChem—short for “House observations of microbial and environmental chemistry”—was a field campaign held in June 2018 at a University of Texas at Austin test house. Researchers staged activities including cooking, cleaning and occupancy, sometimes combining them into sequences and preparing a Thanksgiving-style meal. Instruments were set up in the house and nearby shipping containers.
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Chemistry World reported that 20 research groups took part, using analytical chemistry instruments valued at $4.5 million (£3.4 million). A 2019 retrospective from Science in School describes 65 scientists participating. The counts refer to different accounts of the project and should not be treated as interchangeable measures of the same group. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation funded the campaign. Chemistry World’s 2018 account and Science in School’s 2019 overview describe the project.
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Indoor air is not simply a container in which separate pollutants accumulate. Chemicals released by cooking, cleaning and other activities can mix, react with one another or interact with surfaces. HOMEChem was designed to examine those processes as well as to measure individual compounds.
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The campaign measured organic compounds, oxidants such as ozone and chlorine, reactive nitrogen oxides, and chemicals that settled onto surfaces. HOMEChem co-lead Marina Vance told Chemistry World that the project aimed to understand “how they interact with each other and drive chemistry and chemical reactions indoors,” rather than only measuring concentrations of particular compounds.
Surfaces matter because substances can settle on them and later take part in reactions. Science in School discusses residues such as third-hand smoke and reactions involving ozone, skin oils and chlorine compounds associated with cleaning. These examples help explain why indoor chemistry can extend beyond what is suspended in the air at a particular moment. They are not, by themselves, evidence that HOMEChem established specific health outcomes in its test house.
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What did the cooking experiments measure?
Science in School’s 2019 overview reports several notable measurements from staged HOMEChem cooking activities. These are approximate experiment peaks, not predictions for all kitchens.
| Staged activity | Reported measurement | What the account says |
|---|---|---|
| Stir-fry | About 350 µg/m³ PM10 | Particles came from both cooking oil and food. |
| Breakfast: frying eggs, sausages and tomatoes, and cooking toast | About 200 µg/m³ PM2.5 | A particle measurement during this particular breakfast experiment. |
| Thanksgiving-style meal cooked on a gas hob | About 200 µg/m³ NO2 | The overview attributes the nitrogen dioxide emissions to the gas hob. |
These values are reported in the Science in School overview. They should be read in the context of the activities that produced them. The overview also gives World Health Organization guideline values of 50 µg/m³ for a 24-hour mean of PM10 and 25 µg/m³ for a 24-hour mean of PM2.5. It does not establish that HOMEChem’s reported peaks use the same averaging period, so the figures are not a like-for-like comparison with those 24-hour guidelines.
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How far do the results apply to ordinary homes?
The Texas test house allowed researchers to stage activities and interpret measurements more clearly than in a less controlled field campaign, according to Chemistry World. That control is useful for examining how particular sources and activities affect indoor chemistry. It also limits what can be concluded: results depend on the activity, its emissions and the building conditions, so a measured peak in one staged experiment is not a universal household level.
The 2018 Chemistry World report described the field campaign as complete, with analysis and quality control still ahead. That was its status at the time, not a statement about the project’s current status. Science in School’s 2019 account later summarized findings and measurements from the work. The available coverage supports conclusions about the measured activities and indoor chemical processes, not a claim that the experiment quantified health effects for residents generally.
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What can people do while cooking or cleaning?
Science in School recommends ventilating often, especially during cooking and cleaning, and using a cooker hood while using a hob. Those are practical recommendations in the educational overview; HOMEChem was not a comparison of cooker hoods or other consumer products.
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Quick Recap
- Ventilate during cooking and cleaning when practical.
- Use a cooker hood while cooking on a hob.
- Do not assume a particular appliance removes a specific share of pollutants based on HOMEChem; the campaign did not test consumer products.
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