Framework to Estimate Total Particulate Mass and Nicotine Delivered to E-cig Users from Natural Environment Monitoring Data

A framework describing the joint effect of user topography behavior and product characteristics of one exemplar device on the total particulate mass (TPM) and aerosol constituent yield delivered to a user is presented and validated against seven user-specific ‘playback’ emissions observations. A pen-style e-cig was used to collect emissions across puff flow rates and durations spanning the range observed in the natural environment. Emissions were analyzed with GC-MS and used to construct empirical correlations for TPM concentration and nicotine mass ratio. TPM concentration was demonstrated to depend upon both puff flow rate and duration, while nicotine mass ratio was not observed to be flow-dependent under the conditions presented. The empirical model for TPM and nicotine yield demonstrated agreement with experimental observations, with Pearson correlation coefficients of r = 0.79 and r = 0.86 respectively. The mass of TPM and nicotine delivered to the mouth of an e-cig user are dependent upon the puffing behavior of the user. Product-specific empirical models of emissions may be used in conjunction with participant-specific topography observations to accurately quantify the mass of TPM and nicotine delivered to a user.