Comparing Emissions from HnBs, E-Cigs and Cigarettes

A study by renowned anti-smoking expert Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos analyzes and compares carbonyl emissions from an HnB device, an e-cigarette and a regular cigarette.

Diane Caruana

June 27, 2018

The products used in this study were PMI’s IQOS, both regular and menthol variants, the Nautilus Mini e-cigarette, a tank-type atomizer tested with a tobacco-flavoured liquid at 10 W and 14 W and a Marlboro Red cigarette. Aerosol and smoke were collected in impingers containing 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine and Health Canada Intense and two more intense puffing regimes were used to measure levels of carbonyl.

When using 5g of e-cigarette liquid, in comparison to 20 cigarettes a 92.2 to 99.8% reduced level of carbonyls is noted. Whilst when comparing 20 heets sticks with the same amount of cigarettes an 81.7 to 97.9% level of reduced emissions were measured.

At Health Canada Intense regime, heated tobacco products emitted 5.0-6.4 μg/stick formaldehyde, 144.1-176.7 μg/stick acetaldehyde, 10.4-10.8 μg/stick acrolein, 11.0-12.8 μg/stick propionaldehyde and 1.9-2.0 μg/stick crotonaldehyde. Compared with the tobacco cigarettes, levels for HnB devices were found to be 91.6% lower for formaldehyde, 84.9% lower for acetaldehyde, 90.6% lower for acrolein, 89.0% lower for propionaldehyde and 95.3% lower for crotonaldehyde.

With regards to e-cigarettes, no levels of propionaldehyde and crotonaldehyde, and very low levels of the other carbonyls were detected. When using 5g of e-cigarette liquid, in comparison to 20 cigarettes a 92.2 to 99.8% reduced level of carbonyls is noted. Whilst when comparing 20 heets sticks with the same amount of cigarettes an 81.7 to 97.9% level of reduced emissions were measured.

HnB have lower emissions than cigarettes but higher than e-cigs

The researchers concluded that the IQOS HnB device emits substantially lower levels of carbonyls than a regular cigarette (Marlboro Red) but higher levels than a Nautilus Mini e-cigarette.

In 2017, lead researcher Dr. Farsalinos, replicated two renowned studies which made alarming claims about aldehyde emissions from e-cigarettes, and found inaccuracies in the way the levels were measured. Farsalinos had pointed out that unfortunately “the field of e-cigarette research has an unusually high number of studies reporting “strange” (to say the least) results.”

Read Further: NCBI