Emission rates of ultrafine and fine particles generated from human smoking of Chinese cigarettes

Abstract

The household second hand smoke problem is still severe in China due to the large number of smokers and the prevalence of smoking at home. We selected ten Chinese cigarettes, including seven best-selling products of different brands and three types of products of the same popular brand, to measure the emission rates of ultrafine particles (UFPs: particulate matter with diameter less than 0.1 μm) and fine particles (PM2.5: particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) with the help of two habitual smokers. The emission rate of UFPs generated from smoking popular Chinese cigarettes was 2.51 ± 0.50 × 1012 #/min or 1.98 ± 0.30 × 1013 #/cigarette, and the emission rate of PM2.5 was 2.25 ± 0.39 mg/min or 17.63 ± 1.56 mg/cigarette. The emission rates of UFPs and PM2.5 from Virginia-type cigarettes were higher than those from blended-type and exotic flavor-type cigarettes of the same brand. The emission rates of UFPs and PM2.5 from Chinese cigarettes were higher than those from Western cigarettes. The measured UFPs and PM2.5 emission rates from human smoking of Chinese cigarettes can be used to assess the population exposure and design control measures in residences.