CZ20001828A3 - Biologically degradable cigarette filter - Google Patents

Abstract

A filter for tobacco products, in particular cigarettes, is made of a cellulose nonwoven fabric produced by an air-laid process and spirally rolled.

Description

The invention relates to a biodegradable filter according to the preamble of claim 1.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For cigarettes, a paper filter is the optimal solution from an environmental point of view. Despite this, the low success of clean paper filters is related to the more material-specific properties of the paper.

The main problem of paper filters is the different taste of smoke compared to conventional cellulose acetate filter cigarettes. Other problems include a distinctly different retention, a significantly worse hardness at the same retention, and a roughly porous structure of the filter cut surface as compared to cellulose acetate filters.

These problems lead to the smoker refusing paper filter cigarettes for taste, optical and tactile reasons.

The main reason for this can be seen in the different shape of the materials. The paper exists in a fleece or leaf form, cellulose acetate in a fibrous form. All attempts with different processing methods, for example, coarse or pleated paper of varying strength, in order to achieve the optical and tactile properties of cellulose acetate, have been avoided. Also, to date, there is no known way to change paper in its chemical retention properties to match acetate.

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As a result of these unresolved problems, double filter cigarettes are constructed today that contain one paper and one cellulose segment.

This design is expensive and not environmentally friendly due to complicated manufacturing techniques.

EP 0 032 044 B1 discloses a process for the production of fibrous webs with loosely stacked fibers, in which the dry fibers are applied to a carrier web in an air stream. The fibers do not undergo any transverse flow forces as they pass through and exit the forming head, thereby maintaining a substantially uniform basis weight in the transverse direction of the fiber web. In this way, fiber beds with a basis weight of more than 70 g / m @ ² can be produced. This known method is also referred to as the Air-Laid method. However, due to the fleckiness of the cotton-like material, no cigarette filters could be produced with it.

EP-A-0 711 512 discloses a cigarette filter which mainly consists of cellulose ester fibers. The filter material, i.e. the cellulose ester, may also contain other substances which may be referred to as secondary or secondary components. These other substances that may be available additionally include, but are not limited to, natural cellulose.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a monofilter which is clearly better biodegradable than cellulose acetate, yet retains the taste, appearance, hardness and retention properties of cellulose acetate indistinguishably for the consumer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The features of claim 1 serve to solve this problem.

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Surprisingly, it has been found that paper which is produced according to the so-called AirLaid method and which is further processed by the method according to the invention into filters fulfills the stated task.

In the Air-Laid method, the prepared cellulosic fibers do not suspend as in conventional paper-making processes in water and are not placed on a permeable screen to form sheets, where the fibers are then cross-linked with each other under grinding and fibrillation conditions. separately into the air stream, which transports them to a permeable endless sieve and jumbles it on it. This provides a solid cotton wool web which has no mechanical strength or fiber bond. The mechanical bond and hence the necessary strength required for further processing is obtained by adding a binder, such as polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl acetate, polymeric starches, dextrin or latex, to the air stream. The degree of density (g / cm ³ ) and hence bulk or thickness is adjusted by subsequent rolling. The basis weight (g / m ² ) is controlled by the screen speed or by feeding the fibers into the air stream.

Overview of the drawings

The invention is further described and explained by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the fiber strip produced by the Aair-Laid method, with longitudinal cutting lines; FIG. 2 shows a method of folding the cut strips of the fiber strip; FIG. 3 shows the spiral winding of the strips of FIG. 2.

EXAMPLES OF THE INVENTION φφ φφ ·

Giant. 1 illustrates an Air-Laid fiber web 10 having a basis weight of about 40-50 g / m ² , which, starting from the AA line, is cut into a plurality of n strips of fiber web, n = 5 for the illustrated embodiment. It is pointed out here that n can also be another number, for example 4 or 6, but n = 4 is the preferred number, which, however, cannot be represented very well in the spiral arrangement of FIG.

According to the invention, the five strips 1 - 5 of the fiber web which are obtained by means of longitudinal sections in the fiber web 10 of FIG. 1 are initially folded into a V-shape, as shown in FIG. 2. the ends of the V-shaped folded fiber strips 1 - 5 are brought together and the strips are brought together by a suitable device in such a way that the V-shaped peaks 14 of the folded fiber strips are arranged in a region around the central axis of the cigarette filter to be produced, In fact, the individual strips 1 - 5 of the fibrous web after the spiral winding according to FIG. 3 are so close together that they give the impression of a homogeneous effect , a closed filter that looks like the end of the mouth of the cellulose acetate filter. In other words, due to the fleckiness of the material, it is no longer recognized that only a few layers of strips of fiber web have been spirally twisted together, as shown in Figure 3.

The webs of fibers 1 - 5 wound in accordance with FIG. 3 are held together in a conventional manner by filter covering paper 12, so that the paper filter according to the invention has the appearance of a cellulose acetate filter upon completion.

Examples

The cigarette samples shown in the following table were made and compared:

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LL American Blend with 50% BT * 59 mm | 25 mm | E E Airlaid 70 g / m ² 1.1 mm thick 145 I what 03 / what n · O oo what CN CD LU 7.80 acetate 2.1 y / 36000 SK 140 105 3.8 0.4 67.3 O WHAT Q American Blend with 30% BT * 59 mm 25 mm 7,80 mm Airlaid 50 g / m ² 0.8 mm thick 120 63 IN r- " 0.66 51.5 38 O acetate 3.0 y / 35000 HK 123 65 in* h- 0.64 51.2 40 CQ American Blend 63 mm 21 mm 7,80 mm Airlaid 50 g / m ² 0.8 mm thick 110 LO IO 12.9 0.85 36.1 40 < acetate 3.0 y / 35000 HK 107 what LD 12.7 00 O 35.4 oo cigarette | smes Idélka prazce Filter ID The average of cigarettes filter material Filter weight (mg) filter pull resistance (mm water column) run (mg / cig.) Inicotin (mg / cig.) Filter leakage (%) Filter ventilation (%)

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The following specifications were used as filter materials:

acetate 3,0y / 35000 HK with spray 7% triacetin acetate 2,1y / 36000 SK with spray 7% triacetin

Air-Laid B + D 48 g / m ² , latex binder and thickness approx. 0.8 mm E 70 g / m ² , latex binder and thickness approx. 1.1 mm

In these figures, HK = highly curled and SK = super-curled.

Result:

Analytically and physically determined data were determined according to valid DIN / ISO regulations and show no differences in the accuracy of the measurements. The taste evaluation was carried out by 15 instructed smokers and did not lead to any significant differences in pairwise comparison.

Biodegradation of the cigarette filter material takes place over a comparable period of time, as is the case with commercially available material for (cigarette) cellulose filters. This means a significant improvement over cellulose acetate. Evaluation of biodegradation is carried out according to the industry-standard Sturm test described by R. N. Sturm in J. Americ. Oil Chemists' Soc. 50 (1973) May, pp. 159-167 in the article Biodegradability of Nonionic Surfactans: Screening Test for Predicting Rate and Ultimate Biodegradation.

Claims (14)

PATENT CLAIMS A filter for tobacco products, in particular cigarettes, characterized in that it is made of cellulose fleece made according to the Air-Laid method. Filter according to claim 1, characterized in that the basis weight of the cellulose web is between 20 and 100 g / m ² . Filter according to claim 2, characterized in that the basis weight of the cellulosic web is between 40 and 70 g / m ² . Filter according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the thickness of the cellulosic web is between 0.5-1.5 mm. Filter according to claim 4, characterized in that the thickness of the cellulosic web is between 0.7-1.2 mm. Filter according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that 5-30% binder is added to the cellulosic web. Filter according to claim 6, characterized in that the cellulosic web comprises 20% binder. Filter according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the binder is latex. Filter according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the binder is polyvinyl alcohol. Filter according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the binder is polyvinyl acetate. 9 9 • 999 99 9 9 9 9 9 9 9999 9 999 9 · 9 9 • 9 Filter according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the binder is a copolymer of vinyl acetate and ethylene. Filter according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the binder is a water-soluble starch. Filter according to claim 12, characterized in that the binder is a water-soluble polymeric starch. 14. The filter of claim 13 wherein the binder is dextrin.