AAAR 35th Annual Conference October 17 - October 21, 2016 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
The Impact of Device Settings and Vaping Patterns on the Size Distribution of Particles Generated from Electronic Cigarettes
QINGYU MENG, Yeongkwon Son, Gediminas Mainelis, Rutgers School of Public Health
Abstract Number: 371 Working Group: Electronic Cigarettes - Particle Generation
Abstract The use of E-cigarettes continues to increase, and adverse health effects associated with E-vapors exposure have already been reported. However, the pattern of personal exposure to E-vapor and resulting particle deposition patterns in human lungs are not well understood.
The goal of this work was to investigate and better recognize personal exposures to E-vapor. E-cigarette users were recruited from Rutgers campuses and their vaping patterns were measured and used to program an E-cigarettes smoking machine. The resulting particle concentration and particle size distributions from 10 nm to 5 micro-meter were measured using an optical particle counter and a portable aerosol mobility spectrometer under various combinations of E-cigarette coil heating power (6.48 watt, 14.7 watt, and 29.7 watt) and different E-juice (propylene glycol vs. vegetable glycerin).
The puff volume, puff duration, and puff peak flow across the 16 subjects were 70.6 +/- 46.2 mL, 3.2 +/- 1.2 s, and 30.6 +/- 15.7 mL/s, respectively. The count median diameter (CMD) ranged from 53 nm to 74 nm to 78 nm, when the device power increased from 6.4 watt to 14.7 watt and to 29.4 watt. Longer puff duration created larger particles. Propylene glycol generated smaller particles than vegetable glycerin, with an average of 10 nm differences in CMD. Total particle number concentration increased from 1.2 * 10^6 to 5.8 * 10^7 when coil heating power increased from 6.4 watt to 29.4 watt. Vegetable glycerin generated 5 – 10 times more particles than propylene glycol. The total particle number counts were highly corrected with puff duration (r = 0.62).
This study demonstrated the impact of device power, vaping patterns, and E-juice on the size distribution of particles generated from E-cigarettes. Since the physical and chemical properties of vapors affect the deposition and toxicity of E-vapor, our study provides insights into product regulations for E-cigarettes.