Daisey, J.M., K.R.R. Mahanama and A.T. Hodgson. 1998. Toxic volatile organic compounds in simulated environmental tobacco smoke: Emission factors for exposure assessment. J. Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 8: 313-334.
Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is suspected to be a major source of exposure to many of the compounds identified as toxic air contaminants. However, we lack emissions factors for many of the ETS air toxics for the brands of cigarettes, which currently dominate the market and therefore cannot adequately estimate contributions of ETS to such exposures. This study provides up-to-date emission factors for selected air toxics and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in simulated ETS and uses them in a mass balance model to evaluate the potential contribution of ETS to air toxics in indoor air and, therefore to indoor exposures to air toxics.
Emission factors (µg/cigarette) were determined
for 21 VOCs (including two aldehydes), nicotine and particulate matter in a
room-sized (20-m3) environmental chamber with stainless-steel walls, operated
under static conditions, using diluted sidestream smoke (no exhaled mainstream
smoke) to simulate ETS. Experiments were conducted for Kentucky Reference Cigarette
1R4F and for each of six commercial cigarette brands with major market shares.
The variabilities in the ETS emission factors among brands of cigarettes were
relatively small, ranging from 16 to 3`% (expressed as the coefficient of variation)
among the six brands.
The concentrations of most of the VOCs did not change over the 4-hour periods
of the experiments. However, concentrations of 3-ethenylpyridine, phenol, o-cresol
and m,p-cresol showed consistent decreases over time, indicating removal by
means other than the very low infiltration rate (0.03 h-1), e.g., deposition
to the chamber surfaces. Emission factors for these compounds were calculated
to take these losses into account and the rate constants for these losses were
estimated.