Determination of 210Po content in cigarette smoke

using smoking machineMária Horváth1,2, Péter Bátor1, Edit Tóth-Bodrogi1, Tibor

Kovács1,2

1University of Pannonia, Institute of Radiochemistry and Radioecology

2Social Organization for Radioecological Cleanliness

13th October 2015.Kuşadasi, Turkey,

IntroductionSmoking causes 6

million people to die from lung cancer annually [1]

Components: a number of carcinogens, heavy metals, radioactive species

Po-210 mainstream, sidestream[1] WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2013 Enforcing

band on tobacco advertising promotion and sponsorship (World Health Organization, 2013)

Aim of this study The annual committed effective dose:

E = F1 *F2 *K *G *C *tWhere:

E: the committed effective dose from inhalation (Sv)

F1: the average transfer factor from the tobacco to inhaled

part (0.7)

F2: the inhalation smoke per the total smoke ratio

(0.2; 0.5; or 0.05-0.37) [2-4]

K: the inhalation dose conversion factor of Po-210

(3.3×10-6 Sv Bq-1)

G: the number of cigarettes smoked

(20 cigarettes day-1)

C: the concentration of Po-210 in one cigarette

(Bq cigarette-1)

t: the duration of smoking (365 days)

Preparation of experiment

[2] Papastefanou, C. Radiactivity in tobacco leaves, J.Environ.Radioactiv. 2001. 53, 67-73. [3] Skwarzec, B.; Ulatowski, J.; Struminska, D. I.; Borylo, A. Inhalation of 210Po and 210Pb from cigarette smoking in Poland. J. Environ. Radioact. 2001. 57, 221-230.[4] Carvalho, F. P.; Oliveira, J. M. Polonium in cigarette smoke and radiation exposure of lungs, Czech. J. Phys. 2006. 56, 697-703.

Po-210 of sidestream smoke

Po-210 of mainstream smoke

Design of experiments1. Building smoking machine

Existing smoking machines are not suitable for polonium measurements

2. Determination of absorber solution3. Selection of absorbtion method?4. Mapping sidestream and mainstream smoke

Smoking machineParameters used to smoke tobacco products

that include a 35-ml puff volume, a 60-s puff interval, 2-s puff duration and no blocking of the filter ventilation holes[5]

[5] Standard Operating Procedure for Intense Smoking of Cigarettes (World Health Organization, Geneva,2012)

Our first „smoking machine”We designed it based on the

mentioned ISO standard: it does 1 PUFF per minute lasting 2 seconds with a 35 ml volume. We managed to get the exact PUFF volume and flow by using a small water pump to remove exactly 35 ml water in 2 seconds from a closed water bottle. The resulting vacuum draws on the burning cigarette. Before the smoke fills the place vacated by the liquid it is bubbled through the acid solution and the smoke’s polonium content gets absorbed.

Selection of absorber solutionAbsorbent material (HNO3, HCl)?

5 % HNO3

30 % HNO3

2% HCl

5 % HCl

Po-209 didn’t appeared

it had the best chemical yield for the Po-209 tracer

Selection of absorbtion methodIs direct deposition possible or not?

The tar content the absorber soulution foamed during the deposition process and caused increasing thickness of the source, therefore decrease the efficiency. To avoid this phenomenon the soultion should be acidic leaching, before using the standard spontaneous deposition process.

~ 1 cigarette,33 mBq Po-209 tracer

Combined classical acidic leaching:• 1x20 ml cc. HNO3

• 1x20 ml cc. HCl + 2 drops of H2O2

• 1x20 ml dist. water

Preparation of stock solution

Spontaneous deposition:• 50 ml stock sol.• 0.1 g ascorbic acid• stainless steal with high Ni content• 80 °C• 3 hours

Semi-conductor (PIPS) detector alpha-spectrometer

(80 000 sec)

Selection of absorbtion method1.Cascade or one step?

Cascad or 1 step?

The first scrubber absorbed the 53 % of the 10 cigarette's Po-210 contain. We decided it is applicable using only one scrubber for the absorption.

Preliminary resultsThe smoking machine is suitable for the ISO

standard Absorber solution:

100 mL 2 Mol/L HCl acidDirect deposition isn’t working, it is

necessary to combined this process with classical acid leaching

Absorption method:One step

Design the new smoking machine

New smoking machine

Future plansDetermination of the Po-210 concentration of

mainstream and sidestream smoke

Determination of F2 factorE = F1 *F2 *K *G *C *t

F2: the inhalation smoke per the total smoke ratio

inhalation dose from passive smoking (???)

Thank you for your attention!