ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Chem.
Sec. Analytical Chemistry
Evaluation of Carbonyl Collection Methods in Electronic Cigarette Aerosol
Provisionally accepted
- Desert Research Institute (DRI), Reno, United States
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This study evaluated the performance of three carbonyl collection media that are frequently used in electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) studies, namely: 2,4-Dinitrophenyl hydrazine (DNPH) silica impregnated cartridges (C), a DNPH-coated glass fiber filter (DF), and an impinger with a DNPH solution (I). These collection methods were tested with a 'mod' and a 'pod' e-cigcigarettes that represent devices producing different amounts of e-cigcigarette aerosols. The tests were performed using two different puff topography regimes to investigate the effect of puff flow rate on carbonyl collection efficiency. Carbonyls emitted from the e-cigcigarettes were collected using I-I (two impingers in series), C (a single DNPH cartridge), and DF-C (a DNPH filter followed by a DNPH cartridge). Samples were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detector. Measured carbonyl levels varied between the three methods. For both devices, the highest values were measured with C and DF-C. Results from the 'pod' device measured with I-I were comparable with the other methods, but lower than the other two methods for the 'mod' device. For example, 1 LPM 'mod' acetaldehyde emissions measured with C (0.09±0.02 µg/puff) and DF-C (0.14±0.09 µg/puff) were significantly higher (p=0.06 and 0.04, respectively) than I-I method (0.05±0.02 µg/puff). The likely cause for the underestimation by the I-I method is the inefficient collection of particle phase bound carbonyls by the impingers and, possibly, wall losses in the inlet of the impinger. Based on our results, C provides the best approach for carbonyl collection in e-cigcigarette aerosols, while I-I that is used in the standard testing method can underestimate carbonyl emissions when measuring high concentration aerosols such as those produced by 'mod' devices.
Keywords: electronic cigarettes, E-cigarettes, carbonyl compounds, Formaldehyde, Acetaldehyde, carbonyl sampling methods evaluation, impingers method, DNPH cartridges
Received: 29 Aug 2025; Accepted: 23 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Martinez, Son and Khlystov. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Andrey Khlystov, a.khlystov@gmail.com
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