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CORESTA Congress, Berlin, 2016, Smoke Science/Product Technology Groups, ST 13

Determination of harmful components in mainstream cigarette smoke by FT-NIR spectrometry equipped with Cambridge filter pads

REN Jianxin(1); WANG Zhiguo(1); LIU Wei(1); DU Wen(1); ZHONG Kejun(1); LIU Huimin(2); HU Qingyuan(3)
(1) Hunan Industrial Co., Ltd. of CNTC, Technonlgy Center, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China; (2) Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute of CNTC, Zhengzhou, Henan, P.R. China; (3) China National Tobacco Quality Supervision & Test Center, Zhengzhou, Henan, P.R. China

The yields of harmful components in cigarette smoke are basic parameters to evaluate the harm of cigarettes. However, the existing detection methods for most harmful components in mainstream cigarette smoke are complicated and time consuming. Therefore a simple, fast and efficient method that can simultaneously determine the yields of several harmful components in mainstream cigarette smoke was developed. The method presented is based on FT-NIR spectrometry equipped with Cambridge filter pads, which collect the particulate matter of cigarette smoke. Partial least square (PLS) method was adopted to establish prediction models between the NIR spectra of the filter pads and the yields of smoke components, including tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, crotonaldehyde, phenol, HCN, NH3, B[a]P and NNK. The yields of the nine components could be obtained within one minute after cigarette smoking through one run. The average prediction relative errors (APRE) of the established models were about 5% for components of milligram yield (tar, nicotine, CO), 10% for components of microgramme yield (crotonaldehyde, phenol, HCN, NH3) and below 15% for components of nanogram yield (B[a]P and NNK). Compared with conventional methods, this technique is much safer, more economically efficient, and environmentally friendly due to detecting the NIR spectra of the pads directly. In addition, it may be possible for the method to be further developed and applied to the quantitative determination of the other harmful components in mainstream cigarette smoke for ensuring the consistency of cigarette quality.