The global disposal of five trillion cigarette butts every year is a major environmental challenge. Although there is a reasonable body of knowledge on aqueous emissions from cigarette butts, the environmental impact of cigarette butts due to airborne emissions is not well studied. This research quantified airborne cigarette butt emission rates for the first time. More specifically, this research measured the chemical emission rates into air from cigarette butts in a walk-in chamber. Consistent cigarette butts were generated using a custom-built smoking apparatus. Eight target chemicals were quantified in the experiment, including nicotine. Three-hour air samples were collected on sorption tubes from the chamber up to 24 h after 18 cigarette butts were placed in the walk-in chamber. Samples were analyzed using thermal desorption (TD) gas-chromatograph-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The average emitted mass of the target chemicals over the first 24 h ranged from 2 0g/butt to 98 0g/butt. The 24 h emitted mass for nicotine from a cigarette butt (62 ng/butt) in this study could be up to 25 % of the literature reported emitted mass from a burning cigarette (241 ng/cigarette to 3370 ng/cigarette). Hence, the long-term emitted nicotine mass from a butt could be comparable to the nicotine mass emitted from mainstream and side stream smoke of a cigarette if the cigarette butt were left longer than 24 h in a room or at higher temperature. Cigarette butts are likely to be sources of nicotine for prolonged periods (greater than 24 h), which may be a concern for butts disposed in indoor spaces like cars. The emission rates and relevant risk to receptors will be dependent upon environmental factors including temperature, relative humidity, and water saturation. Airborne cigarette butt emissions warrant further study.
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机译：每年全球处置五万亿个烟头是一项重大的环境挑战。尽管对烟头产生的水排放物有合理的了解，但是对烟尘由于空气传播的排放物对环境的影响还没有得到很好的研究。这项研究首次量化了机载烟头的排放速率。更具体地说，这项研究测量了步入式吸烟室中烟头向空气中排放的化学物质的速率。使用定制的吸烟仪产生一致的烟头。实验中对八种目标化学物质进行了定量，包括尼古丁。在将18个烟头放置在步入式隔间中之后，直到24小时，从隔间上的吸附管上收集了三个小时的空气样本。使用热脱附（TD）气相色谱-质谱（GC-MS）分析样品。在最初的24小时内，目标化学物质的平均排放量为2 0g /对接至98 0g /对接。在这项研究中，烟头在24小时内释放出的尼古丁质量（62 ng /烟头）可能占文献报道的燃烧着的香烟（241 ng /支香烟至3370 ng /支香烟）排放质量的25％。因此，如果将烟头在室内或在较高温度下放置24小时以上，那么从烟头中长期排放的尼古丁质量就可以与从主流烟和侧流烟中排放的尼古丁质量相提并论。烟头可能是长时间（大于24小时）的尼古丁来源，这可能是放置在汽车等室内空间中的烟头需要考虑的问题。排放速率和对受体的相关风险将取决于环境因素，包括温度，相对湿度和水饱和度。机载烟头排放物有待进一步研究。
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