Olivia Edgerton

DES40A

Research Project

The Juul Raw Materials: Healthier, But Not Quite Sustainable

The leading cause to preventable death in the United States is cigarette smoking. Around 480,000 people per year die due to cigarette smoking. Cigarette smoking has continued to decline in our country, but we still remain with 15% of adults in the United States engaging in smoking (CDC). Many people work towards making smoking alternatives called, “e-cigs” to help those who smoke be healthier with their choices. The Juul is a new version of the electronic cigarette that is made up of many different materials that the company states are, “the highest quality manufacturing materials and flavor ingredients” (Juul). With the small flash drive design, it’s easy to carry around and quick to use. The Juul focus on improving individual’s lifestyles, but is also a small glimpse of progress to a healthier environmental cigarette product. The Juul does promote a cigarette litter free environment and less toxic emissions, but it also still has major issues such as the use of plastic and zero decomposable products. The Juul’s main goal is to provide smokers a product that is safer for the individual, but through this progression society is slowly moving towards a better alternative for the environment as well.

The concept of the Juul began with two college smokers, James Monsees and Adam Bowen, whom both were able to recognize the issue of cigarettes. Both of these men were concerned about the health and social impact that cigarettes had and wanted to work towards a better product. Bowen and Monsees worked to create an attractive alternative to a cigarette that implemented a unique design while also having a high nicotine level, and healthier material. Monsees and Bowen did this by creating a device that is smokeless, efficient, and unique. With the internal temperature control system, the Juul avoids burning and regulates heat without having to use a flame. There is no information regarding the desire for these men to create a sustainable product because most of their focus on e-cigarettes came from the concern of the roaring negative health effects. This product was explicitly explained that it was not to create a new smoking generation, but to promote a healthier alternative. (support.juulvapor) The Juul is unique from other e-cigarettes because of its efficiency. The nicotine salts within the Juul Pods are strong due to the ability for the e-cigarettes to get enough vapor without reaching combustion (support.juulvapor). The Juul’s Nicotine salts come with multiple flavors to endure satisfaction to their customers while also collecting their nicotine from the tobacco leaf itself (support.juulvapor).

The Juul and Juul’s raw materials are manufactured both in San Francisco and internationally. The team works to make sure that all parts of the Juul’s production comply with U.S safety and quality standards such as, “Restriction of Hazardous Substances and Electromagnetic Compatibility” (support.juulvapor). Researching the Juul’s material and production within the Juul website, it is clear many questions are ignored due to the product having health risks. There is still much more research that needs to be done on these products as well as companies being more honest about the product.

The main reason Juul’s are more environmentally friendly is because the Juul is reusable. Cigarette butts are littered all over the world and are not biodegradable. Cigarette butts take 26 years to break down, but the chemicals inside the cigarette remain in the environment for much longer (info-electronic-cigarette). Having the option to recharge and refill cuts down waste, but e-liquids for the pods still need to be replaced. Knowing the way to properly discard these cartridges would help promote a healthier environment (info-electronic-cigarette). Where both the cigarette and the Juul harm the environment, the Juul is moving in a positive direction.

The reusable aspect of the Juul includes an aluminum shell that encompasses a lithium ion battery, a USB magnet, a circuit board and a pressure sensor (support.juulvapor). All of these components of the Juul are separate from the “pods” which are not reusable. These components all play a role in promoting a more sustainable cigarette because it is rechargeable. Having a durable metal being used as the main component of the Juul is a vital reason why this product is reusable. The metal is strong which means it is able to last long.

The Juul’s aluminum shell is what covers most of the materials within the product. Aluminum is a “lightweight, strong and flexible metal.” (rusal.ru). Aluminum also holds properties that help it be not only be durable, but have high thermal and electric conductivity (rusal.ru). Although production of aluminum impacts the environment through its emission of greenhouse gases, it is still one of the most environmentally friendly metals because of its recyclability. Production of aluminum still uses a great amount of energy that requires a lot of water and electricity, so although it may be better than other metals, it still is not completely sustainable.

Being able to recycle helps prevent waste. More than 38% of the worlds litter comes from 4.5 trillion cigarette butts (ecigone). The Juul incorporated a lithium ion battery with the purpose of simplicity and ease, but these rechargeable devices also allow for continuous use of the Juul without needing to purchase another or throw it away. The lithium batteries also require less energy to keep them charged than other common batteries. The batteries in Juul’s are able to be recycled through a program called Green Smoke and Mistic (ecigone). These company asks for shipments of used 50 or more e-cigarette cartridges or batteries in exchange for new ones. There are no recycling options for the Juul itself, but it is a step in the right direction having recyclable options for the Juul parts. In addition, there are also no easy way to recycle Juul products. These companies that offer a solution ask for an abundant number of pods ranging from around 50 pods per shipment (ecigone). As this does erase a lot of waste and littering issues, it is still not fully promoting a clean environment, but more so promoting people to smoke more to collect more pods. The lithium battery contributes to environmental pollution. According to the U.S federal regulations these batteries are hazardous to the environment due to their large lead, cobalt, and nickel content (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Lithium ion batteries also present hazards under hot or cold temperature. The Juul is meant to be stored in between 41 degrees Fahrenheit and 113 degrees Fahrenheit (support.juulvapor).

The Juul also contains a circuit board and a pressure sensor. Both of these devices are used to help mechanically support the use of the Juul. The circuit boards can be found in electronics and are used to connect electrical components through. Circuit boards contain lead which is an environmental hazard (made how). Pressure sensors work to measure the pressure of liquids or gases within a product. (Wikipedia/Pressure_sensor).

The USB magnet is added to the Juul in order to help hold the product connected to the charging dock (support.juulvapor). This magnet can be harmful to computers and should be kept away from credit cards, and items with magnetic strips (support.juulvapor). Magnets are made by combining aluminum, nickel, and cobalt (van.physics.illinois). All of these materials impact the environment through their release of toxins and greenhouse gasses.

The part of the Juul that is not reusable are called the “pods.” These pods are made out of, “heat resistant, food grade plastics, and contain a stainless-steel vapor path, an industry standard silica wick, and nichrome coil heater.” These pods are sold separately for when you run out of the nicotine filled liquid inside of the pod. The food grade plastics are plastics that are government regulated. These plastics meet pure standards that do not harm humans. All of the other materials are used to help create the “smokeless smoke”. This component is what makes the Juul healthier than the cigarette. “"Cigarettes combust when burning tobacco, which creates smoke. JUUL uses a temperature regulation system to heat nicotine-based liquid to an ideal level and is designed to avoid burning” (juullabs). The ability to have smokeless smoke not only prevents secondhand smoking, but it also less harmful to the environment to have no “side stream smoke” (info-electronic-cigarette). One issue with these pods is that when they are disposed many of them still contain nicotine fluid which ends up contaminating the ground (huffingtonpost). Another is that although there isn’t smoke being spread in the air, nicotine aerosol contains carcinogens and other toxins which are being blown in the air (huffingtonpost).

The Juul is a small progressive product that begins to look at smoking in a more environmentally friendly way. It is clear most e-cigarette producers are not focusing on the environmental impacts of cigarettes as much as they focus on the health risks, but it seems these issues go hand in hand. The more toxic the material one is putting in their system, the likelihood of it being as toxic for the environment is high. It is important for Juul users to take the time to research recycle opportunities or to learn the best way to recycle lithium batteries and aluminum. If people take the initial step to educate themselves on proper recycling than e-cigarettes will be a positive change in the tobacco industry. A major hurdle that this industry has it to actually be able to get these long-time smokers to use an e-cigarette. Many smoker’s, my father included, do not believe that nicotine vapor can compare to the strength of a normal cigarette. Not only that, but many cigarette smokers don’t realize that the butt of a cigarette aren’t biodegradable. Educating people on the harmful impacts that smoking has on the environment is one of the biggest steps people can take in promoting a healthier lifestyle, both for the environment and for oneself.

Julianna Truong

Professor Cogdell, TA: Taylor Section 02

Des40A

14 March 2018

JUUL Electronic Cigarettes- Embodied Energy

There are many processes that go into the manufacturing of JUUL electronic cigarettes. From raw materials, each component of the electronic cigarette embodies energy to produce those components. For such a small device, the energy tat is required to produce these electronic cigarettes is in actuality surprisingly high. This high energy and fuel usage comes from having to process and manufacture each and every little part that goes into a functioning JUUL electronic cigarette. The main components that make up the JUUL e-cigarettes and the JUULpods are an aluminum shell, heat resistant and food-grade plastic, a stainless steel vapor path, USB magnets, a circuit board, a nichrome coil heater, a lithium ion battery, a silica wick, and a pressure sensor, and vape juice. The processes used to transform the raw materials into these components are thermal energy, kinetic energy, chemical energy, and electricity. These forms of energy require a large amount of fossil fuels to produce the components of this electronic cigarette. As the JUUL Company does not delve into how they manufacture their electronic cigarettes specifically, much of the manufacturing of their product is generalized and assumed.

To begin, the raw bauxite ore needs to be processed into pure aluminum, and then melted again and casted into the aluminum shell of the JUUL electronic cigarette. The bauxite ore is processed and alumina is extracted, then a process called smelting is done to turn it into aluminum (Energy Needed to Produce Aluminum). The process to extract aluminum from bauxite is through electrolysis. This process of extracting aluminum requires a lot of electricity, amounting to about 3% of the world’s electrical supply (Electricity Consumption in the Production of Aluminum). Aluminum produced from aluminum scrap takes less energy than producing aluminum from raw bauxite ore. Since the aluminum shell has a certain shape, I assume that melting the aluminum and casting it in a mold is the process used to manufacture it.

The next component in the JUUL electronic cigarette is heat resistant, food grade plastic made with thermal and chemical energy. Food grade plastic a plastic that is safe to be in contact with food humans would consume. Plastic is made from hydrocarbons derived fossil fuels such as petroleum and natural glass (GWC). Plastic is created through chemical and thermal processes. Most plastic is made through polymerization or polycondensation (Creative Mechanisms). In reactors, petroleum distillates are combined with a catalyst. Then heat is added to combine small molecules into larger molecules, resulting in plastic. Different changes in the processes give the plastics different characteristics, from hard to flexible. Therefore, the embodied energy for the production of plastics is chemical and thermal, and even kinetic when machines move to press the plastic into certain shapes after the plastic itself has been produced. The JUULpods are made with food grade, heat resistant plastic as it contains the vape juice or e-juice, the liquid used in electronic cigarettes.

Next, stainless steel is produced for the stainless steel vapor path using an assortment of elements: iron ore, chromium, silicon, nickel, carbon, nitrogen, and manganese through thermal and kinetic processes. The raw materials are melted in a furnace that requires 8 to 12 hours of heat (madehow). The machines then roll the alloy into slabs and sheets to be further processed into different things, a kinetic process powered by electricity. Steel is re-melted for different purposes depending on the product, being casted into mold or extruded into wire. Since stainless steel is used in the vapor path of the JUUL electronic cigarette, we can assume that the steel was casted into a specific shape using a mold.

Next component in the JUUL electronic cigarette is the USB magnets used to connect to a USB port to charge the device. Natural magnets are derived from an iron ore magnetite, known as a lodestone (madehow). We can assume that the extraction of this ore is labor intensive, require heavy machinery as with the mining of many other compounds and ores form the earth. Stainless steel alloys can also be turned into magnet through a thermal process. The Alnico alloy magnets are made with aluminum, nickel, and cobalt. The alloys are combined in a furnace and the burning of fossil fuels produces thermal and chemical energy. Ceramic magnets can also be made with barium fertite or strontium fertite under heat and pressure (madehow). The process also requires fossil fuels to be burned to get the furnace hot enough to smelt metal.

The other components are the circuit board and the nichrome coil heater. Circuit boards are made with fiberglass epoxy resin bound onto copper foil with etched or plated patterns also made with copper (madehow). To elaborate, fiberglass is made mainly from silica sand, limestone, and soda ash. These materials are then put into a furnace for melting and are then fed through electrically heated bushings called spinnerets to produce fibers. The nichrome coil heater is made of nichrome, an alloy consisting of nickel and chromium. The alloy is melted at 1400 degrees Celsius and can be extruded to produce wires (Chemistry Learner). These processes are mainly chemical and thermal. The kinetic energy comes from the humans and machines that do careful detail work to produce functioning circuit boards.

Moving on to the lithium ion battery, the production starts with a lithium ingot. The 11-pound ingot is pressed with a machine powered with electricity causing it to move (kinetic energy) and flatten the lithium into a thin sheet. In a laminator, the sheet is further thinned with rollers, again powered with machines running on electricity. The lithium ingot turns into a roll of lithium at 665 feet long that can be used to make 210 batteries. The lithium wound into spools and is then put into a vacuum oven where the layers are adhered together at 176 degrees for 90 minutes. People then use a voltmeter and measure each battery to check if it holds the required voltage. The batteries after processing can be used in different modules, which we can assume is a different sized lithium ion battery for the small compact size of the JUUL electronic cigarette.

The most important part of the electronic cigarette is the nicotine vape juice. Since people who use the product want an alternative to a traditional cigarette, they want to be able to use nicotine without as many health risks compared to smoke. Vape juice, or e-liquid is made from a vegetable glycerin base, propylene glycol, and pharmaceutical grade nicotine (Floorwalker). Nicotine comes the tobacco plant. The tobacco leaves are crushed mixed with solvents such as alcohol, ether, petroleum ether, kerosene, or water and distilled. Vegetable glycerin is produced from plant oils such as palm oil, soy oil, or coconut oil. Vegetable glycerin is extracted using a process called hydrolysis (Edward). Hydrolysis is the chemical breakdown of a compound with the reaction to water. Propylene glycol is also known as antifreeze (Draxe). Propylene glycol is produced starting off as a byproduct of propene, and is then processed into propylene oxide. Then, propylene oxide goes through hydrolysis to produce propylene glycol. All of the processes required to produce each ingredient in vape juice consists of chemical and kinetic energy.

The JUUL electronic cigarette requires vast amounts of energy to produce. The parts of the electronic cigarette that was the most energy intensive were the components that required metals or metal alloys, which required a furnace and high temperatures to melt. This meant burning a lot of fossil fuels producing thermal, chemical energy. Almost the entire electronic cigarette was made of metals, except the plastics and the nicotine juice. These two components of the electronic cigarette used mostly thermal and chemical processes and chemical energy to produce. Energy to transport and acquire the raw materials to be manufactured into each component could not be found. However, JUUL does state that their electronic cigarettes are domestically manufactured in the United States as well as manufactured internationally under supervision. We can also assume that raw materials come from around the world and therefore need to be shipped and in from other countries by airplane and motor vehicles. There was also no information that could be found in regards to the recycling of the JUUL electronic cigarette, the silica wick, or the production of the pressure censor. Overall, the JUUL electronic cigarette is energy intensive and requires fossil fuels and other fuel to heat the furnaces for melting and extracting metals, create electricity to power the machines to manufacture components, and also chemical energy to produce plastics, glycerin, and nicotine.

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