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Abstract: Cooking exhausts may contribute significant organic compounds to the atmosphere. It has been shown that trans,trans-2,4-decadienal (tt-DDE) is an important toxic compound in cooking oil fumes (COF). In this study, the emissions of tt-DDE were quantified in both gaseous and particulate phases of three kinds of restaurant exhausts (Chinese, western and barbecue). Samples of exhausts were collected with a sampling system meeting the criteria of US EPA Modified Method 5. The tt-DDE was analyzed by HPLC–MS/MS. The results indicate that the emission factors of tt-DDE in terms of μgcustomer−1 were in sequence: barbecue (1990)>Chinese (570)>western (63.8). The average proportion of tt-DDE in the particulate phase of the exhausts was 83% for the 16 investigated restaurants. Evidently, the majority of tt-DDE in the exhausts was in the particulate phase. There was no evident correlation found between phase distribution of tt-DDE and exhaust temperature in the restaurants investigated. The efficiencies of removal of particulate tt-DDE by air pollution control devices (APCDs) were assessed. The removal efficiencies of electrostatic precipitator (ESP), ESP and activated carbon in series, and wet scrubber were 64.2%, 86.3% and 71.3%, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]