Magnetic particulate matters in the ashes of few commonly used Indian cigarettes

Abstract

Physical aspects of tobacco samples, used in some commonly available Indian brands of cigarettes, with emphasis on their magnetic characterization before and after they get burnt into ashes, are described. The present work highlights the ultrafine nature of the cigarette ashes and provides a compositional insight of their constituent particulate matters as revealed by the XRD and SEM studies. Based on the EDX spectra, elemental distributions of different tobacco samples, before and after they get burnt, are presented. In this work, magnetic measurements of the un-burnt tobacco samples are reported. An attempt is made to shed light on the origin of magnetism observed in these samples.

Nanoparticles in road dust from impervious urban surfaces: distribution, identification, and environmental implications

“…45 These combustion related magnetite particles are usually spherical and their sizes vary depending on the combustion temperature and fuel type. 44,46,47 The occurrence of magnetite and hematite in coal fly ash may be due to the transformation of pyrite (FeS 2 ) and szomolnokite (FeSO 4 •H 2 O) during coal combustion. 44 A recent study on magnetic PM shows that the grain size of the emitted particles deceases from steel works, to coal combustion, to vehicle exhaust, and that magnetite is the dominant inorganic PM in these occurrences.…”

“…The non-spherical magnetite nanoparticles ( Fig. S8A and B †) could also be related to vehicle emission, 46,47 but biogenic magnetite cannot be excluded, especially for the case in Fig. S8A, † as biogenic magnetite is usually in the nano-scale with high crystallinity.…”