EA003544B1 - Method for improving the filling ability of tobacco - Google Patents

Abstract

1. Method for improving the fillability of tobacco, as cut tobacco leaves or ribs and/or plant-based tobacco additives with cellular structure, by treatment of the tobacco material which has 8-16 wt. % initial moisture with a treatment gas consisting of nitrogen and/or argon at pressures of 50 to 1,000 bar, in either one autoclave or with cascade-type switching, in several autoclaves, followed by thermal after-treatment of the tobacco material discharged after decompression has occurred, characterised in that the decompression is carried out with at least one holding stage, whose pressure corresponds to 3 to 60%, preferably 3 to 30% of the original maximum pressure and that the heating of the system whilst it is under residual pressure is carried out in such a way that the tobacco discharge temperature lies within the range 10 to 80 degree C after pressure reduction is completed. 2. Method according to claim 1, characterised in that the initial moisture of the tobacco material lies within the range 10 to 14 wt. %. 3. Method according to claims 1 to 2, characterised in that the temperature increase of the system whilst it is under residual pressure is effected by a holding time. 4. Method according to claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the temperature increase is effected by circulation of the gas under residual pressure via a heat exchanger. 5. Method according to claims 1 to 4, characterised in that the temperature increase of the system whilst it is under residual pressure is effected by transfer of heated gas. 6. Method according to claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the pressure reduction from the maximum pressure in each case to the pressure of the holding stage is carried out within an interval of 20 seconds to 5 minutes. 7. Method according to claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the reduction of the residual pressure is carried out within an interval of 3 seconds to 3 minutes. 8. Method according to claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the high-pressure treatment or the sequence of high-pressure treatment and thermal treatment is carried out several times with the same tobacco material. 9. Method according to claims 1 to 8, characterised in that the thermal after-treatment of the tobacco material is carried out with saturated steam.

Description

The invention relates to a method of increasing the ability to dense packing of tobacco materials, such as chopped tobacco leaves, the veins of a tobacco leaf or herbal supplements in tobacco with a cellular structure, by treating tobacco material having an initial moisture content of 8-16 wt.%, With a treatment gas consisting of nitrogen and / or argon, at pressures of 50-1000 bar or in an autoclave, or when cascaded in several autoclaves and by subsequent heat treatment of the discharged tobacco material after decompression.

Loosening tobacco with inert gases under high pressures, also known as the GISOM swelling method, has shown its advantages over the treatment of tobacco under pressure with carbon dioxide, ammonia or volatile organic gases and is known, for example, from patent I8 4 289 148, according to which tobacco material with a moisture content is higher 20 wt.% Process at operating temperatures in an autoclave at a temperature of 0-50 ° C. The pressure is reduced for 0.5-10 minutes and in the examples given for 1.3 minutes, after which the unloaded tobacco is subjected to subsequent heat treatment, for example, with saturated steam, and at the same time it foams.

According to the patent ΌΕ 31 19 330 A1, in addition, at a working temperature below 50 ° C, tobacco material with a reduced moisture content of 10–15 wt.% Is introduced in order to achieve greater cooling of the discharged tobacco material with decreasing pressure. The time for pressure reduction in this case is 1.3-2 minutes.

Patent No. 34 14 625 C2 discloses a cascade method in which as a result of cooling the treatment gas before loading the reactor, cooling the autoclave or loading the cooled and liquefied treatment gas, the impregnation temperature becomes lower. The time for pressure reduction is 0.5-10 minutes, in particular 1-2 minutes. The minimum temperature of the unloaded tobacco should be below 0 ° C.

Similarly, according to patent ΌΕ 39 35 774 C2, with the cascade method of expansion by circulating the treatment gas in the cooler, the necessary low impregnation temperatures of 25-45 ° C are achieved.

Although these known puffing methods achieve good values in terms of increasing the packing capacity of tobacco and the degree of puffing, they are associated with relative costs due to the necessary cooling of the autoclave or autoclaves and the additional cooling of the treatment gas.

The basis of the invention lies in the task of improving the previous GISOM methods and, regardless of the cost-related cooling measures, of obtaining an equally good or improved degree of expansion.

Therefore, in accordance with the invention, a method of the above type is proposed according to the restrictive part of a claim, which is characterized in that decompression is carried out with at least one exposure stage at which the pressure corresponds to 3-60%, preferably 3-30% of the initial maximum pressure, and that the heating of the system under residual pressure is carried out so that the temperature of tobacco unloading after a complete decrease in pressure is of the order of 10-80 ° C.

Unexpectedly, it turned out that at low values of tobacco moisture in the range of 8–16 wt.%, The previous technical solution to provide for a low processing temperature and a low discharge temperature does not lead to optimal swelling results. Moreover, only by heating the system under residual pressure in an unexpected way, good values are obtained for the expansion effect and the ability to dense packing, and the heat of compression is used favorably in accordance with the method and no additional cooling of the autoclave or autoclaves is necessary.

Preferably, the pressure is reduced from the corresponding maximum pressure to the pressure of the holding stage in the range of 20 s-5 min, and the residual pressure is reduced in the range of 3 s-3 min.

In addition, to achieve the unloading temperature of tobacco in accordance with the invention, it is advisable that the rise in temperature be influenced by the exposure time, the circulation of the gas under residual pressure in the heat exchanger and / or the flow of heated gas from the next autoclave.

In a further preferred embodiment of the method, high pressure treatment or a sequence of high pressure treatment and heat treatment are carried out repeatedly with the same tobacco material.

Particularly good results are achieved when the initial moisture content of the tobacco material is 10-14 wt.% And, in addition, the subsequent heat treatment of the tobacco material is performed with saturated steam.

Below the method according to the invention is illustrated using examples.

Example 1

For carrying out the method according to the invention, as well as for comparative experiments, high-pressure treatment was carried out with a treatment gas consisting of nitrogen in a laboratory autoclave with a 2-liter content used, and a casing for circulating liquid media served to set the required operating temperature. Increasing the pressure and gas supply produced from the bottom, lowering the pressure and venting the gas from the autoclave upwards. A compressor was used to set the final pressure, and the temperature of the tobacco in the upper segment or the upper half of the tobacco load was measured with a thermoelement.

The laboratory device for the subsequent heat treatment of tobacco consisted of a permeable conveyor belt or wire mesh, driven at a speed of about 5 cm / s. A ribbon of tobacco leaves between the guides was subjected to subsequent processing under a steam nozzle about 160 mm wide with a slotted opening about 8 mm 10 kg / h of saturated steam. Under the conveyor belt in front of the steam nozzle was a steam suction device.

The tobacco samples thus treated were flattened in flat cups and conditioned at a temperature of 21 ° C and a relative humidity of 60%. The capacity for dense packing of tobacco was determined using a Borgwaldt densitometer, and the specific volumes were counted in ml / g at a given humidity of 12% by weight and at a given temperature of 22 ° C. From the data of the untreated comparative sample and the loosened sample, the relative improvement in the capacity for dense packing of tobacco and the degree of swelling are calculated:

Y% = (P _e -Bb) -100% / Pb (P _in - the ability to densely stuffed raw tobacco, P _e - the ability to densely packed loose tobacco).

For the reception of tobacco in the autoclave served as a PVC pipe with inserted mesh bottom. The gas supply during the pressure increase was made to a final pressure of 700 bar. As tobacco, 300 g of tobacco νдτd1sha-Vleib with an initial moisture content of 12% was used. The results of the experiment are shown in the table below, and T _And means the discharge temperature of the processed high-pressure tobacco. In experiment No. 1, two stages of exposure were applied with increasing pressure, 2 minutes each at 400 and 100 bar, and in experiments No. 2 and No. 3, only one stage of exposure 2 minutes and 4 minutes at 50 bar. In comparative experiment No. 4, the pressure was lowered directly, that is, without an exposure stage for a time of decreasing pressure <1 min.

Table 1

The results of the experiment

No Low pressure operation Operating temperature ° C 60 80 Ta ° C δ% Ta ° C δ% one Exposure step every 2 min at 400 and 100 bar sixteen 83 - - 2 Shutter speed 2 min at 50 bar 15 93 20 90 3 Exposure step 4 min at 50 bar 33 93 41 90 four No (Compare) -25 80 -3 81

The above experiments No. 1-3 with different values of pressure and holding time and two values of the working temperature of the autoclave show, compared with experiment No. 4 with a direct decrease in pressure, that the values of the holding time in the selected holding stage (pressure) show a clear increase in the discharge temperature from -25 and -3 ° C to +33 and + 41 ° C and, in contrast to the previous technical solution, provide an improved improvement in the ability to dense packing, despite the high discharge temperature.

Example 2

Analogously to example 1, the treatment under high pressure with 150 g of tobacco was carried out at an operating temperature of the autoclave of 40 ° C. During temperature lowering in experiment no. 5, an exposure stage of 2 minutes at 50 bar was applied and, during an exposure stage, the gas was circulated by means of a circulation pump through a heat exchanger at a temperature of 80 ° C. The gas supply with increasing pressure and during circulation was carried out in this case from above, the gas was evacuated at the stage of holding and lowering the pressure downwards. A sealing ring between the upper limiter of the tobacco loading capacity and the lid of the autoclave provided direct gas entry into the tobacco loading capacity.

table 2

The results of the experiment

No Low pressure operation Working temperature 40 ° С Ta ° C δ% five Exposure stage 2 min at 50 bar, circulation through the heat exchanger (80 ° C) ten 79 6 No (Compare) -105 69

Example 3

The work was carried out analogously to example 2, and during a pressure decrease, a holding stage of 1 min at 50 bar was constantly regulated and the heated gas was introduced from the second labeled autoclave donor into the treatment tank. Before overflowing, the donor had a pressure of 100 bar and a working temperature of 80 ° C with a content of 4 liters. The gas supply with increasing pressure and overflowing was carried out in this case from below, gas was withdrawn in the holding stage and pressure was lowered to the top.

Table 3

The results of the experiment

No Low pressure operation Working temperature 40 ° С Ta ° C δ% 7 Exposure stage 1 min at 50 bar, overflow from the donor, pressure 100 bar Operating temperature 60 ° С sixteen 89

The above examples 2 and 3 show that, in contrast to example 1, in which heating during the exposure time in the selected exposure stage and at the selected pressure implies an increased operating temperature, circulation in accordance with example 2 through a heat exchanger or heat transfer from the donor in accordance with example 3 in a constant exposure stage and at constant pressure and also at the operating temperature of the absorbing gas, designated as the acceptor of the treatment tank at 40 ° C., results in an elevated discharge temperature. In particular, the variant of overflow from the donor tank according to example 3 leads to a clear increase in the improvement in the capacity for dense packing in comparison with comparative experiment No. 6 of example 2.

To interpret unexpected results, it can be assumed that the heating of high-pressure treated tobacco under residual pressure leads to a preliminary loosening in the autoclave, which results in an additional improvement in the ability to dense packing, which cannot be obtained by known methods. To confirm this assumption, in the following example 4, a pressure treatment was carried out, in this case without subsequent heat treatment with saturated steam, in order to check the possible effect of pre-loosening, and the treated samples were directly conditioned. Although the improvement in the ability to dense packing without subsequent heat treatment is small, however, the following example 4 reveals an additional effect of the ability to dense packing when heated under residual pressure.

Example 4

150 g of tobacco were subjected to high pressure treatment at an operating temperature of the autoclave of 60 ° C, and the tobacco was not subjected to additional processing after the pressure was completely reduced. With a decrease in pressure, an exposure stage followed for 1 min at 50 bar with the flow of heated gas from the second autoclave as in Example 3, with the donor having a pressure of 200 bar and an operating temperature of 80 ° C before flowing. In comparative experiment No. 9, the pressure was reduced directly and without exposure.

Table 4

The results of the experiment

No Low pressure operation Working temperature 60 ° C Ta ° C Δ% eight Exposure stage 1 min at 50 bar, overflow from the donor, pressure 200 bar Operating temperature 80 ° С nineteen 21 9 No (Compare) -69 eight

The above results confirm the assumption of even a small pre-loosening before subsequent heat treatment with saturated steam when heated under residual pressure of tobacco treated with high pressure.

The following examples 5 and 6 show other embodiments of the method according to the invention, in which high pressure treatment or high pressure treatment and subsequent heat treatment are carried out repeatedly with the same tobacco material.

Example 5

150 g of tobacco in the first stage at an operating temperature of the autoclave of 60 ° C was subjected to high pressure treatment as in Example 3 by flowing heated treatment gas from the donor to the holding stage with constant pressure. Before flowing, the donor had a pressure of 300 bar and a working temperature of 80 ° C; The shutter speed was set at 1 min with 200 bar.

The tobacco material from the first stage, loosened and conditioned after test No. 10, was used as the initial material for a further processing cycle, consisting of high pressure treatment and subsequent heat treatment. The high pressure treatment was carried out with 100 g of tobacco and at the working temperature of the autoclave 60 ° С and with decreasing pressure a holding stage of 1 min at 100 bar was provided. The donor's capacity had a pressure of 200 bar before flowing, at an operating temperature of 80 ° C. The results of this experiment and experiment number 10 shows the table. five.

Table 5

The results of the experiment

No Low pressure operation Working temperature 60 ° C Ta ° C Δ% ten Exposure stage 1 min at 200 bar, overflow from the donor, pressure 300 bar. Operating temperature 80 ° С 26 86 eleven Exposure stage 1 min. At 100 bar, overflow from the donor, pressure 200 bar Operating temperature 80 ° С 24 116 (processing of loosened tobacco from experiment No. 10)

Example 6

Acted as in Example 5, but in this case, two identical pressure treatment cycles were performed one after another and after that the final subsequent heat treatment. The results are as follows.

No Low pressure operation Working temperature 60 ° C Ta ° C Δ% 12 Exposure stage 1 min. At 100 bar, overflow from the donor, pressure 200 bar Operating temperature 80 ° С thirty 103 (double pressure increase followed by heat treatment)

While the loosened tobacco material of stage 1 of example 5 was used for new processing in stage 2, in this example 6, the pressure treatment cycle was carried out twice after each other and only then the pressure-treated tobacco material was introduced for subsequent heat treatment. Both methods are based on the principle of multiple loosening by repeating from a sequence of subsequent high-pressure treatment and heat treatment, and only high-pressure repeated treatment and a final secondary heat treatment.

Example 5 shows that the effect of the first stage of loosening by reprocessing in stage 2 can be further enhanced and tobacco material with a very high filling capacity can be obtained. Example 6 due to the rejection of the post-processing operation is simpler, but it does not reach the maximum value of Example 5.

Claims (9)

CLAIM 1. A method of improving the ability to densely stuff tobacco, for example, chopped tobacco leaves, tobacco leaf veins or herbal supplements in tobacco with a cellular structure, by treating tobacco material having 8-16 wt.% Of the initial moisture with a treatment gas consisting of nitrogen and / or argon, at pressures of 50-1000 bar or in an autoclave, or when cascaded in several autoclaves and by subsequent heat treatment of the unloaded tobacco material after decompression, characterized in that decompression is produce at least one exposure level, the pressure of which corresponds to 3-60%, preferably 3-30%, of the initial maximum pressure, and that the heating of the system under residual pressure is carried out in such a way that the discharge temperature of the tobacco after a complete decrease in pressure is within 10-80 ° C. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the initial moisture content of the tobacco material is in the range of 10-14 wt.%. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the exposure time is affected by an increase in the temperature of the system under residual pressure. 4. The method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the increase in temperature is influenced by the circulation of a gas under residual pressure through a heat exchanger. 5. The method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the rise in temperature of the system under residual pressure is influenced by the flow of heated gas. 6. The method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the reduction of pressure from the corresponding maximum pressure to the pressure of the holding stage is carried out in the interval of 20 s - 5 minutes. 7. The method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the decrease in residual pressure is performed in the range of 3 s - 3 minutes 8. The method according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the processing under high pressure or the sequence of processing under high pressure and heat treatment is carried out repeatedly with the same tobacco material. 9. The method according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the subsequent heat treatment of the tobacco material is produced with saturated steam.