Congratulations to Chiranjivi Bhattarai who successfully defended his Master of Science in Atmospheric Chemistry thesis on June 27th, 2018, at the Desert Research Institute!
Chiranjivi has joined the OAL in fall 2014, and conducted detailed study of "Physical and Chemical Characterization of Fresh and Aged Biomass Burning Emissions" under supervision of Dr. Andrey Khlystov. Results of this study will be published in the journal Aerosol Science and Technology in August 2018.
Today, DRI team (DAS Executive Director Marc Pitchford and OAL scientists Drs. Andrey Khlystov and Vera Samburova) traveled to Carson City to meet with the officials from the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Khlystov presented results of OAL's study on the hazardous levels of toxic aldehydes in e-cigarette flovorings and the new OAL's findings on emissions from very popular JUUL e-cigarettes. While having relatively low carbon monoxide and formaldehyde emissions, JUUL pods subject users to very high concentrations of nicotine, a known addictive substance. Active discussion followed the presentation, and a visit by NV DHHS representative to DRI is expected in the near future. Nevada leads the nation in juvenile e-cigarette use, causing serious concern among state health officials. E-cigarette emissions research done by the OAL at DRI helps to educate and empower the lawmakers.
Dave Campbell, Associate Research Scientist at the DRI's Division of Atmospheric Sciences and the Organic Analytical Lab member, participated in a 5-week long monitoring campaign near Paramount, CA, sponsored by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and conducted in collaboration with Aerodyne Research Inc.
Dave used Steam-Jet Aerosol Collector - long Pathlength Absorbance Spectroscopy (SJAC-LPAS) instrument developed by Dr. Khlystov to perform real-time on-line measurements of hexavalent chromium concentration in the air, while riding aboard Aerodyne Mobile Laboratory (click Continue reading to see images).
In the Organic Analytic Laboratory at DRI our main specialty is sampling and detailed chemical analysis of organic air pollutants. Our team has more than 20 years of experience in this area.
E-cigarette research is new for us, but involves similar sampling and analytical techniques. Having seen advertisements for e-cigarettes that claimed they are safe because liquids contain only FDA approved ingredients, we decided to apply our expertise to see what is in e-cigarette vapors. This resulted in publication of the first set of results concerning the role of flavorings in aldehyde formation during vaping.
Following the publication of our paper, we received a lot of attention from media, the blogosphere, and individual vapers. This shows the importance of the problem and we are pleased to have made a contribution to the ongoing discussion of the pros and cons of vaping.
While the news coverage was generally accurate, we noticed some misunderstanding...