The analysis of emissions from e-cigarette and heat-not-burn devices presents several technical challenges. These include: ensuring that testing conditions are relevant to the mechanism of operation and to known or expected consumer use; design of representative sampling conditions; and ensuring that the testing, measurement or analytical method is fit for purpose.

As well as the declared chemical constituents that are intentionally present, a number of additional constituents may be found in the aerosol that are associated with impurities, contamination or thermal degradation. In order to inform product understanding and to assure due diligence, testing methods are required to screen the chemical constituents of e-cigarette and heat-not-burn device emissions.

The presentation will include approaches to ensure representative sample collection and will demonstrate the advantages and limitations of Cambridge Filter Pad collection, sorptive trapping and liquid impinger techniques. The presentation will also illustrate the limitations associated with conventional gas chromatographic analysis and opportunities to overcome key technical constraints. Analyses to date have demonstrated complex chromatograms, with more than 50 constituents detected in e-cigarette emissions and 150 constituents detected in heat-not-burn emissions, at or above a threshold of 5 ng/puff.