EP1255457B1 - Method for improving the filling ability of tobacco - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a method for improving the Fillability of tobacco, such as cut tobacco leaves or ribs or tobacco additives, by treating the up to about 15% by weight of starting moisture Tobacco material with one of nitrogen and / or argon existing treatment gas at pressures from 50 to 1,000 bar followed by continuous or step-like compression from a continuous or step-like Decompression, the compression and Decompression steps in either an autoclave or with cascade-like switching in several autoclaves take place, and subsequent thermal aftertreatment of the discharged tobacco material.

Such processes, also known as INCOM inflation processes are known, have compared to the pressure treatment of Tobacco with carbon dioxide, ammonia or volatile organic gases proved to be advantageous. So describes DE 31 19 330 A1 describes such an expansion process with Autoclaves prevailing working temperatures from 0 to 50 ° C, one to increase the filling capacity or Bloating degree the use of a tobacco material with a Moisture of up to 15% by weight and an aftertreatment with Provided water vapor. It was based on the fact that a lower tobacco moisture content of 10 to 15% by weight a desired stronger cooling of the discharge Leads tobacco material while relaxing.

DE 34 14 625 C2 also discloses a cascade process, after which by various measures such as cooling the Treatment gas before loading the reactor, Cooling the autoclave or using a supercooled and liquefied treatment gas a low Working temperature in the impregnation of the tobacco causes shall be. The tobacco moisture can be arbitrary and for example in a range from 10 to 30% by weight lie, however it is explicitly demanded that the Autoclave temperature or its cooling water temperature is not May exceed 50 ° C.

This is also in connection with DE 39 35 774 C2 a cascade-like expansion process, in which a Circulation of the treatment gas is provided via a cooler to the required low impregnation temperatures of 25 or 45 ° C.

Already with the above-mentioned expansion processes good values in terms of increasing the filling capacity of Tobacco or the degree of swelling are achieved, they are because the required cooling of the autoclave (s) and because of the additional cooling of the treatment gas relatively expensive.

The invention is based, so far the task INCOM process to improve and with equally good or better values in terms of filling capacity or bloating effect those previously considered necessary and uneconomical cooling measures during compression avoid.

According to the invention is therefore a method of the beginning mentioned type according to the preamble claim proposed, which is characterized in that the Compression at a reactor temperature above 55 ° C is carried out.

Surprisingly, it has been shown that in the case lower Tobacco moisture in the range of up to 15 wt .-% the previous one Teaching that requires a low treatment temperature is not leads to optimal blowing results. Rather, only by increasing the treatment temperature at the Compression astonishingly good values in terms of Bloating effect or the filling ability can be achieved.

In terms of procedure, this also leads to the advantage that the heat of compression does not have to be dissipated, that is no additional cooling of the autoclave (s) is required.

The process according to the invention is shown in the following example compared to the prior art explained. The test results show that for different Tobacco moisture different influence of Working temperature to the degree of swelling. According to the previous one In the case of a tobacco moisture content of 18% by weight, a lesson is taught Increase the working temperature above 40 ° C to one Worsening of the bloating effect. In contrast, show up in Tobacco moisture content of less than 15% by weight, significant improvements, if the high pressure treatment at working temperatures of 60 and 80 ° C is carried out. Amazingly, they are achievable degrees of swelling at low tobacco moisture and higher working temperatures even partially above values obtained under conventional conditions.

example

The high pressure treatment was carried out in a laboratory autoclave a used content of 2 l performed. A Jacket for the circulation of liquid media was used for Setting the desired working temperatures. The Pressure build-up took place from below, the pressure decrease upwards. Several valves enabled the intended Circuit schematics. A compressor was used for adjustment the final pressure. A thermocouple measured the tobacco temperature in the upper segment of the tobacco fill.

The laboratory device for thermal aftertreatment existed from a permeable conveyor belt Wire mesh, baffles to form the tobacco fleece in the desired width, a steam nozzle with slot-like Outlet opening and one arranged under the belt Dampfabsaugvorrichtung. The aftertreatment was carried out with Saturated steam.

The most important treatment parameters are shown in Table 1 below. High-pressure treatment Thermal after-treatment gas supply from underneath steam output approx. 10 kg / h gas discharge up Gap nozzle approx. 8 mm quantity of tobacco 300 g Gap width approx. 160 mm tobacco container PVC pipe / sieve tray transport approx. 5 cm / s

The tobacco samples were spread in flat plastic dishes and conditioned in a standard atmosphere at 21 ° C and 62% relative humidity. The filling capacities were determined using a Borgwaldt densimeter, and the specific volume in ml / g was converted to a nominal moisture of 12% by weight and a nominal temperature of 22 ° C. From the data of the untreated comparison or base and the expanded samples, the relative filling capacity improvement, also called the degree of swelling, is calculated according to the following formula, in which F _B denotes the filling capacity of the base and F _E denotes the filling capacity of the expanded tobacco: Δ % = (F e -F B ) * 100% / F B

The experiments were carried out with tobacco moisture levels of 8, 12 and 14 and carried out as a comparison 18 wt .-%. The Working temperatures were set to 40 by thermostatting 60 and 80 ° C set. The final pressure was 700 bar, the Pressure reduction was carried out in a time interval of approximately 0.5 min carried out. All attempts were based on one uniform mixture of Virginia tobacco and the described aftertreatment method with saturated steam.

The results of the tests are shown in Table 2 below, those of the comparative test in Table 2a below. In the tables, T _{A means} the tobacco temperature immediately before removal from the autoclave as the discharge temperature and Δ% the relative improvement in filling capacity or the degree of expansion. Working temperature ° C tobacco moisture
8% by weight tobacco moisture
12% by weight tobacco moisture
14% by weight T _A ° C Δ% T _A ° C Δ% T _A ° C Δ% 40 -61 59 -53 70 -48 76 60 -48 70 -25 79 -18 83 80 -15 78 -3 81 0 73 Working temperature ° C Tobacco moisture 18% by weight T _A ° C Δ% 40 -41 80 60 -12 76 80 1 54

The comparison of the above tables clearly shows that positive effect of higher working temperatures of 60 and 80 ° C on the improvement in filling capacity when using tobacco Moisture of less than 15 wt .-% is used.

Claims (3)

1. A method for improving the filling capacity of tobacco, such as cut tobacco leaves or ribs or tobacco additives, by treating the tobacco material that has an initial moisture content of up to roughly 15 % by weight with a treatment gas comprising nitrogen and/or argon at pressures of 50 to 1,000 bar during a continuous or staged compression, followed by a continuous or staged decompression, whereby the compression and decompression steps occur in either an autoclave or, in the case of a cascade-type circuit, in several autoclaves, and subsequent thermal aftertreatment of the discharged tobacco material,
   characterised in that the compression is carried out at a working temperature of above 55°C.
2. A method according to Claim 1,
   characterised in that compression is carried out at a working temperature of 60 to 90°C.
3. A method according to Claim 1,
   characterised in that the initial moisture content of of the tobacco material lies in the range from 8 to 14 % by weight.