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Temperature Dependence of Emission Product Distribution from Vaping of Vitamin E Acetate
ALEXA CANCHOLA, Kunpeng Chen, Megan Woods, C.M. Sabbir Ahmed, Jin Y. Chen, Ying-Hsuan Lin, University of California, Riverside
Abstract Number: 500
Working Group: Health-Related Aerosols
Abstract
The recent wave of e-cigarette or vaping-associated lung injuries (EVALI) demonstrated the potential dangers of inhalation of toxic substances from vaping. Vitamin E acetate (VEA) oil, an illicit diluent of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in vape cartridges, is believed to be the main culprit in the myriad of EVALI cases seen. Recent studies have found that thermal degradation of VEA during vaping can result in the formation of toxic products such as ketene and duroquinone (DQ). In addition, the wide range of vaping behaviors – including the e-cigarette model used, puff duration, puff interval, etc. – have been demonstrated to affect the size and volume distribution of aerosols emitted from VEA vaping. However, the impact of applied power and resulting heating coil temperature on the chemical composition of emitted aerosols has not been fully assessed. We hypothesize that elevated temperature of the coil during vaping could enhance thermal degradation of VEA, causing a shift in emission product distribution and toxicity in vapers. To assess the temperature-dependence of VEA emission products, we generated vaping aerosols at voltages ranging between 3.3 to 4.8 V (140 to 280 °C), measured the coil temperatures, and analyzed the size-segregated emission product distribution using a microorifice uniform deposit impactor (MOUDI) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). We found that increases in coil temperature are positively correlated with increases in VEA transformation. As temperature increases, production of intermediate products like DQ decreases (-0.067 ± 0.012 (µg-DQ-produced mg-VEA-consumed-1) V-1), while production of lower molecular weight alkenes and oxygen-containing compounds (carbonyls and alcohols) increases. The results from this study highlight the dynamic nature of vaping emissions and will help to inform the public regarding the risk of exposure to toxic vaping emission products and potential vaping-related health concerns.