American Association for Aerosol Research - Abstract Submission

AAAR 36th Annual Conference
October 16 - October 20, 2017
Raleigh Convention Center
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

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Chemical Characterization and Dithiothreitol Reactivity of Fine Particulate Matter Derived from Fourth Generation E-Cigarette Usage

RACHEL LONG, Ilona Jaspers, Phillip Clapp, Barbara Turpin, Jason Surratt, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

     Abstract Number: 643
     Working Group: Linking Aerosol Oxidative Potential with Chemical Composition and Biological Endpoints

Abstract
Advanced electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), or advanced personal vaporizers (APVs), have larger battery capacities than older e-cigarette models, and allow for greater user control of output wattage. It remains unclear how particle-phase composition and toxicity of APV emissions change as a function of wattage. This study physically and chemically characterized particle-phase constituents in APV emissions derived from typical e-liquid vehicles propylene glycol (PG) and glycerol (VG) at settings between 40 and 100 watts. APV emissions were injected into a 1-m3 Teflon chamber to measure real-time particle size distributions and to collect fine particles for offline chemical analyses and determination of their oxidative potential using the acellular dithiothreitol assay. Higher particle numbers were present at higher wattages, with the majority being < 100 nm. Particle-phase composition was dominated by VG at all wattages, with many low-abundance polyols also present, suggesting gas-phase radical chemistry. APV-derived particles have lower oxidative potentials compared to other particle types such as diesel exhaust and secondary organic aerosol.