Essentra adds dedicated e-cigarette test laboratory

Essentra Scientific Services (ESS) has increased the capacity of its laboratory at Jarrow, UK, with the addition of a new facility dedicated to testing electronic cigarettes.

‘The new laboratory complements Essentra’s full-service e-cigarette offering, and ensures it can continue to respond to the industry’s growing demand for reliable and high quality testing and analysis,’ Essentra said in a press note.

Commenting on the opening of the new facility, the director of scientific development, Mike Taylor, said the investment in the new laboratory reflected Essentra’s commitment to help customers stay at the forefront of industry trends and meet the latest regulatory and product quality requirements.

“Essentra Scientific Services has over five years’ experience in the field of e-cigarette testing and, as demand for these services grows, separating our facilities in order to create a new, purpose-built laboratory specifically for smokeless nicotine devices was the logical next step.”

ESS’ laboratory in Jarrow is said to operate a range of industry leading research and testing equipment, including a gas chromatography machine with a triple detector system. ‘Used exclusively for e-cigarette testing, the machine enables measurement of multiple analytes from a single vaping test,’ the press note said. ‘A thermal conductivity detector measures the sample for water, while a second detector analyses it for propylene glycol and glycerol, and also measures the nicotine level. The third detector uses mass sensitive detection to analyse the sample for diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which are compounds that can be present in e-cigarette vapour, but should not be.

‘The scope of Essentra’s UKAS accreditation has recently been extended to include e-liquids, and the new laboratory also offers analysis using a wide variety of puff volumes, frequencies durations profiles as well as catering for flavoured e-cigarettes. Testing for a comprehensive range of compounds can also be carried out, or bespoke methods developed on request.

In addition to its improved e-cigarette testing service, ESS, which is part of Essentra plc’s Filter Products business, has more than 50 years’ experience in the analysis of traditional tobacco products.