AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Physical Characteristics of Ultrafine Particles Generated by Electronic Cigarettes
CHA-CHEN FUNG, Zhongshu Li, Mei Zheng, Yifang Zhu, UCLA
Abstract Number: 141 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract Recent studies have shown the electronic cigarettes (ECs) generate a substantial amount of ultrafine particles (UFPs). A variety of factors, such as puff duration and ingredients, may contribute to the characteristics of emitted UFPs. Tobacco and Menthol flavored ECs at 0 mg/ml and 24 mg/ml nicotine strengths from one brand were tested to determine the effect of puff duration, EC flavor, and nicotine concentration on UFP characteristics. The puff duration (from 2 to 5 seconds) had a strong positive linear relationship (R^2=0.99) with the total particle number concentration (PNC) generated for all the different flavor and nicotine combinations tested. The effects of EC flavor and nicotine concentration on PNC and particle size distribution were more complicated. The tobacco EC generated higher PNC and smaller particle mode (25 nm) compared to menthol EC (33 nm). The 0 mg/ml nicotine concentration generated lower PNC than the 24 mg/ml for the tobacco EC. This effect was reversed for the menthol EC. There are clear interactions between EC flavor and nicotine concentration that affect the UFPs generated. More detailed chemical analysis is needed to understand these interactions.