JPH0218058B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

Generally speaking, the present invention relates to a method for obtaining smoking products from tobacco plants. In another particular aspect, the present invention relates to a method for extracting protein, nicotine and green pigment from tobacco. The smoking products are those used in cigarettes or other tobacco industry products. Cigarettes and other tobacco industry products are mostly made up of two types of tobacco products: so-called "flue-cured" tobacco and "burley" tobacco. It is a mixture of tobacco species cultivated in the southern part of the state and used as the raw material for kamitobacco. For example, American cigarettes generally consist of two-thirds of Furyukiyua cigarettes and one-third of Baalii cigarettes. For the most part, the cultivation of Friyukiyua tobacco and Barley tobacco occurs in North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia states. Tobacco production using the Furyukiyua method is mainly carried out in areas near the Atlantic Coast, and production of Baari'i tobacco is carried out further in the hinterlands and highlands. The growth and harvesting of Furyukiyua tobacco and the growth and harvesting of Baari'i tobacco differ in many respects. In the case of tobacco produced by the Furyukiyua method, the lowest leaves are collected from the tobacco stalk as they mature and turn yellow. The collected leaves are bundled and hung on a stick suspended inside the hut, and the tobacco is made "Furiyukiyua".
do. That is, tobacco leaves are dried by air heated by heat exchange with hot air passed through flues. In contrast, Baalii tobacco is allowed to mature until almost all the leaves on the tobacco stalk turn yellow. After maturity, the entire plant is cut off near the base and the stems and leaves are allowed to wilt in the field for several days. The whole plant is then hung in a specially designed shed and air-dried using a slow curing process. Cultivation of tobacco, especially Furyukiyua tobacco, is a labor-intensive process. Therefore, it was necessary to plan to mechanize this method. For this purpose, the United States Department of Agriculture has developed a process known as the "homogenized Leaf-curing process," which is less expensive than conventional curing methods. In this homogeneous leaf curing method, yellowing leaves from conventionally grown tobacco plants are harvested and pulped. Add water to the pulp and stir for about 24 hours at a temperature of about 25°C. During this time, proteolytic enzymes already present in the leaves digest some of the proteins that remained in the leaves at the time of harvest.
Excess water is squeezed out of the pulp, which has already turned dark brown after digestion. This pulp is then dried and used as a tobacco filler in cigarette manufacturing.
As a raw material for use in reconstituted tobacco products used as tobacco products. This is quite similar to the low quality tobacco obtained as a product of conventional curing methods. The manufactured product has a reduced protein concentration, which is more likely to be smoked than tobacco obtained by conventional curing methods, given that proteins are one of the sources of undesirable products in cigarette smoke. The safety level has been increased somewhat. In conventional cultivation methods, it is especially important to allow the tobacco leaves to yellow naturally before being harvested for use in the homogeneous leaf curing process. Nevertheless, homogeneous curing methods do not make it possible to sufficiently remove green pigment substances from the leaves to the extent that the product is acceptable to the tobacco industry. Tobacco products such as cigarettes, pipe tobacco and cigars have slow-burning properties.
nicotine and tar, which are considered to be harmful to the health of smokers.
and other products are liberated into the smoke and inhaled into the smoker's mouth and lungs. With health considerations in mind, cigarette manufacturers have devised systems for reducing the nicotine and tar content of tobacco during combustion.
However, the greatest solution to reducing the nicotine and tar content cannot be achieved by developing new tobacco products with low tar and nicotine contents. Other attempts have been made to achieve this goal by changing the way cigarettes are constructed. That is, filters that reduce a certain content of tar have come into widespread use. However, this reduction is due to the so-called “bypass” system.
systems). The system uses perforated paper during cigarette manufacturing. Perforated paper draws in air through the pores in it, diluting the gases produced by tobacco combustion. Although the techniques described above have resulted in safe smoking products, they do not eliminate all of the undesirable constituents in tobacco smoke. Additionally, these methods have been criticized by smokers for reducing aroma components in tobacco smoke and thus reducing taste.
There is therefore a need to develop tobacco products that have inherently low nicotine and tar content, yet retain important aroma components. Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a tobacco product suitable for use in cigarettes and other tobacco industry products that has a low content of protein, nicotine and tar, yet retains desirable aroma components. Another object of the invention is to achieve a method of manufacturing tobacco products suitable for use in cigarettes and other smoking products that requires less labor than in conventional methods. It will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description below that the above and other objects can be achieved by the present invention. The present invention relates to the treatment of tobacco, as well as immature tobacco, to obtain a deproteinized tobacco material suitable for use in cigarettes and other tobacco products, which has been removed of nicotine and green pigment and has a reduced tar content. provide a method. The method includes converting tobacco into a pulp that includes "solid protein containing coarse grains and fines" and liquid protein. The liquid protein is a solution of water-soluble protein and other water-soluble vegetable matter, from which the protein is removed and the nicotine is removed. The pigments are removed from the coarse grain-like substance and the fine powder-like substance and separated into green pigment and non-green pigment. The combination of a non-green dye, a protein-depleted solution, and a de-dyed senile material results in a tobacco product suitable for use as a filler tobacco in cigarettes and other tobacco products. The method of the present invention can be used to obtain deproteinized tobacco products from which nicotine and green pigment substances have been removed from the leaves of all types of tobacco plants. This method is suitable for large-scale processing of Friyukiyua tobacco or Barley tobacco, the tobacco most commonly used in cigarette manufacturing. In the method of the present invention, leaves of conventionally used "mature tobacco plants" can be utilized. However, the method is also suitable for the use of leaves of "under-mature tobacco plants", ie leaves that have not yet begun to undergo natural yellowing. In the latter case, and especially when the tobacco plant (abbreviated below simply as plant) is completely immature, the whole plant, ie leaves and stems, is used in the present invention. The fact that the method of the invention is applicable to immature plants has the advantage that only a relatively short period of plant growth is required before harvesting the plants used in the method. In regions where the growing season is sufficiently long, it may be possible to harvest more than one harvest of growing plants in a single growing season. Collecting leaves, or both leaves and stems (if the leaf source is a small plant) from a tobacco plant and crushing them;
or pulping to separate the liquid portion of the leaf from the solid portion. This liquid portion contains the water-soluble proteins present in tobacco. The protein is preferably removed from the liquid portion according to the method of Wildman and Kwanyuen, US Pat. No. 4,268,632. Rib roast 1,5 using the method of the US patent
-diphosphate carboxylase (ribulose1,
5-diphosphate carboxylase) or “Fraction” protein in the art.
products of commercial value known as
The fraction protein is isolated. In this method, leaves, or leaves and stems together (if the leaf source is a small plant), are harvested from a tobacco plant and mashed or pulped to separate the liquid portion of the leaf from the solid portion. Preferably, the pulping step is carried out in the presence of a reducing agent. The reason is that during the pulping process, the phenol oxidase enzyme present in the leaves comes into contact with leaf proteins. As a result, aromatic amino acids such as tyrosine, which form the main structural part of proteins, are oxidized. The oxidation denatures the protein, leading to browning visible to the naked eye and reducing the solubility of the protein in water. The reducing agent effectively acts as an antioxidant that suppresses oxidation. The presently preferred reducing agent for use in the present invention is 2-mercaptoethanol because it volatilizes and evaporates during the steps described below, leaving little or no residue in the isolate. However, other reducing agents may also be used. Examples include sodium bisulfite and dithiothreitol. If these reducing agent residues are to be fractionated, this can be done using conventional techniques. The amount of reducing agent sufficient to inhibit oxidation can vary depending on, for example, the reducing agent selected. In the case of 2-mercaptoethanol, undesired oxidation can be effectively suppressed by using about 5 ml of the liquid reducing agent per kg of plant material to be treated. The liquid portion of the plant material contains plant proteins in dissolved form. When the liquid portion of the pulp containing ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase is heat treated and then cooled, the protein crystallizes from the liquid. The mechanism of heat treatment that induces crystallization is not clear. However, it is believed that heat treatment denatures the protein in a way that makes it more susceptible to crystallization. The solid substances in the pulp include "coarse green pigment substances that are easy to separate" and "fine powder green pigment substances that are difficult to separate from the liquid and contain pigment substances, starches, and water-insoluble proteins." However, the heat treatment according to the invention as detailed below and further induction of fractional protein crystallization results in partial coagulation of the finely divided green pigment material, so that the material is not present during subsequent processing. easily removed. For example, the material can be removed by moderate centrifugal force. Therefore, the liquid portion is subjected to a heat treatment before being separated from the coarse solid material. Preferably, the entire pulp is heated before solid material removal. This is because it is better to heat the entire pulp before removing solid materials as described above than to perform heat treatment after removing coarse materials but before removing green pigment materials, which results in crystalline ribulose 1,5-diphosphate. This is because the yield of carboxylase is good. The heating step is performed at a temperature and time sufficient to induce crystallization of ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase. The crystallization occurs as octagonal crystals from the liquid portion of the pulp when the liquid is cooled. However, if the liquid portion is heated above the temperature at which the protein is denatured, ie, about 52° C., crystallization does not occur and a precipitate immediately forms as an insoluble mass. Although temperatures lower than 52°C may be used, it is preferred to use a temperature of at least about 48°C. Below this temperature, the green dye material does not solidify sufficiently to facilitate separation. Furthermore, if the temperature is 48°C or lower, the heating time required to induce crystallization of ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase becomes considerably long. Best results are obtained by heating the liquid portion to 50±1°C for about 15-20 minutes. The elapsed time between the steps of harvesting the leaves, pulping them and heating the pulp reduces the yield of crystalline ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase that can be achieved by the process of the invention. The steps should therefore take place in as short a time as possible.
Preferably, the operation is carried out at or near the cultivation field where the leaves are harvested for that purpose. Leaf pulping may be accomplished by mashing or other suitable methods. The heat treatment can be carried out continuously or batchwise.
In the case of a batch method, the pulp is placed in a container and heat is transferred to the pulp without heating the pulp portion, or at least its liquid portion, to protein denaturation temperatures. As mentioned above, the temperature is approximately 50±1℃.
It is suitable to heat the pulp for 15-20 minutes. In continuous systems, the pulp is pumped through a corrugated tube immersed in the heated liquid, avoiding excessive agitation. The temperature of the heated liquid is such that the volume of pulp is heated to 50±1° C. for about 15 to about 20 minutes by heat exchange. The pulp then passes through a corrugated tube and comes into contact with a liquid at a temperature below 50°C to lower the pulp temperature. After the heat treatment, the liquid portion and solid portion of the pulp are separated. Conveniently, fractionation is carried out by first squeezing the pulp in order to squeeze out the liquid portion from the pulp. The liquid thus obtained is a "green liquid" containing a green pigment substance. Approximately 48℃
A "brown sap" is produced by heating it to solidify it and then simply separating the green pigment material, for example by moderate or moderate centrifugation. To obtain ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase, the brown juice is cooled and stored at a temperature below crystallization temperature, which is usually room temperature. Particularly good build-up was obtained by cooling the brown juice liquid to about 8°C for about 24 hours. The crystallized ribulose 1,5-diphosphate is separated from the supernatant by filtration or centrifugation. The supernatant contains fraction protein and a portion of the uncrystallized fraction protein.
These proteins can be recovered by acidification of the supernatant followed by precipitation. The best build-up was obtained with acidification at a pH of about 4.5. When the pH is set to 4.0 or 5.0, protein precipitation is less. In the above text, the method was mainly described in which the entire pulp is heated before separation of the liquid portion.
However, as already mentioned, the heating step can be carried out after the liquid part containing the suspension of green pigment material has been separated from the pulp. Furthermore, if fractionation of fraction proteins is not desired, the heat treatment described above can be omitted and the liquid portion can be acidified to precipitate or fractionate the water-soluble proteins, thus separating them from fraction proteins. Eliminates fractionation with fraction proteins. The clear brown fluid obtained after deproteinization is now largely free of all proteins, but contains all of the other water-soluble natural products that were present in the tobacco plant. This fluid is treated with a base to adjust the pH to above 7.0 and then steam distilled to remove nicotine. When the fluid after steam distillation is dried, a brown residue having a softness almost similar to that of molasses is obtained. This residue is stored for other uses as described below. The pulp is squeezed and the liquid portion is separated and treated as described above. The residue is a coarse green material containing about 70% water, which is suspended in a suitable solvent to extract the green pigment material. Methanol or acetone may be used for this purpose. Sufficient amount (volume) of 100% methanol when using methanol
is added to maintain a methanol concentration of approximately 90% even if the methanol is diluted by the water remaining in the green residue. When using acetone, use acetone in an amount that will dilute the acetone concentration to 80% with the residual water in the green residue. When the green residue is suspended in the chosen solvent, the green color is rapidly and completely extracted leaving a fluffy pulpy material with a tan to near-white color. A dye substance solution can be easily separated from the sensitized substance by squeezing, straining, or other appropriate methods. The residual solvent is removed from the sticky residue by evaporation to produce a dry, decolorized residue with a pleasant odor. This material is further processed as described below. The green sludge obtained by fractionation from the liquid portion is decolorized in essentially the same manner as for the coarse residual material described above. That is, when the green sludge is suspended in methanol or acetone or other suitable solvent to extract the pigment material, a nearly white dry product remains. It consists of water-insoluble proteins and starch in tobacco leaves. The pigment material obtained from the coarse solids and green sludge is recovered by separating the decolorized solids from the extract and evaporating methanol and acetone. The result is a suspension consisting of spherules of water-insoluble green pigment material suspended in water. The water portion contains water-soluble yellow pigment material. The water is evaporated to recover the latter, the water-soluble yellow pigment material, for use in other applications. The separation of the green pigment material from the coarse green residue or from the green sludge can be carried out separately or by combining the solvent extraction for decolorization of both solids. It is known that the water-soluble yellow pigment material isolated as described above from the green pigment material is oxidized during the conventional curing process in tobacco to give a material of quinoid type structure. Accordingly, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a similar material is obtained by oxidizing the material, or at least a portion thereof. The pH is brought to about by adding a sufficient amount of ammonium hydroxide or other volatile base, preferably of a boiling point similar to or lower than that of water, or by bubbling ammonia gas into the aqueous solution containing the yellow pigment material. Adjust to 10.5 and perform oxidation. Air or oxygen is then bubbled through the solution until it turns brown. The brown solution is then heated to drive out the volatile base containing the ammonia and nicotine. The resulting brown solution is stored for other uses as described below. The green dye material obtained by evaporating the methanol or acetone solvent from the solution of the dye material is further processed in a preferred embodiment of the invention to separate the green dye material and the water-insoluble orange-yellow dye material. To carry this out, the tar-like material obtained by evaporating the solvent from a solution of the dye material is suspended in a 2N potassium hydroxide solution containing 20% methanol and then placed in a closed container or other reflux apparatus for approximately Heat to 60°C to dissolve the material. After all of the material has dissolved, the solution is cooled to 25 DEG C. and the dissolved material is subjected to liquid-liquid extraction using a non-polar solvent to extract the orange-yellow pigment material from the solution. Suitable solvents include non-polar aliphatic solvents such as petroleum ether, pentane, hexane or heptane; chlorinated solvents such as chloroform or dichloromethane; aromatic solvents such as benzene or toluene and alicyclic solvents such as cyclopentane or cyclohexane. The orange-yellow dye material is extracted from the solution by a non-polar solvent and recovered by evaporation of the used non-polar solvent. Although the green pigment is not extracted by non-polar solvents, potassium hydroxide
It remains dissolved in methanol solution. This orange-yellow dye material is stored for further use as described below. As a result of the several steps described above, tobacco is separated into components that are substantially free of protein, nicotine and green pigment substances. By recombining these materials, a tobacco free of nicotine, green pigment, and protein is obtained, which can be used in cigarettes or other smoking products. This utilizes a rotating container with a temperature of approximately 70 to approximately
This is achieved by placing the "bleached coarse solid material" in the rotating container equipped with a heating device and a sprayer sufficient to maintain the temperature at 80°C. The container is equipped with an air shield ring device that circulates through the container. When an unoxidized orange-yellow water-insoluble dye substance and a water-soluble yellow dye substance are dissolved in a suitable solvent such as ethyl alcohol and the solution is sprayed at a controlled spray rate onto the decolorized residue, these substances is absorbed into the bleached residue and begins to exhibit the brown character of conventional cured tobacco. Next, a brown solution of a water-soluble material obtained by oxidizing the yellow pigment material portion is sprayed onto the solid material, using a spray rate controlled so that the solid material can absorb the solution. This provides additional color enhancement as well as additional flavor and aroma components. Finally, the molasses-like brown residue obtained by removing the water-soluble proteins from the liquid portion is redissolved in water and added to the residue to impart additional color, aroma and flavor to the reconstituted tobacco product. Agitation of the reconstituted tobacco product is continued until a moisture content level of about 15% to about 20% is reached. The product thus obtained is similar in color and texture to reconstituted tobacco products obtained from conventionally cured tobacco and can be used, for example, as filler in cigarette manufacturing. As shown in Table 1, the tobacco products obtained by applying the process of the present invention to Baari'i tobacco and Furyukiyua tobacco have reduced nicotine, reducing sugar and petroleum ether extract or tar contents.

[Table] Tobacco from which texture has been removed Further, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, reconstituted tobacco can be obtained by controlling the proportions of the substances sprayed on the bleached residue obtained as a product of the process of the present invention. Various properties can be imparted to the product. For example, the product may be modified to reduce the content of terpenoids, sterols, carotenoids and other hydrocarbons. It is possible to produce reconstituted tobacco with a low content of fatty acids and lipids or with a low content of polyphenols and organic acids.
It is also possible to reconstitute tobacco to have a low or high reducing sugar content. Another advantage of the method of the invention is that tobacco can be grown with less labor than conventional tobacco cultivation. For example, there is no need to grow tobacco plants to full maturity before harvesting. That is, if the plant is allowed to grow, but harvested mechanically before its maturity and processed according to the method of the present invention, a product suitable for use as a filler in cigarettes and other tobacco products can be obtained, and it can also be harvested by conventional methods. This saves time and effort corresponding to the time and effort required for tobacco cultivation. Finally, in the process of the present invention, if protein is removed from tobacco as described in Wildman and Kuanin, U.S. Pat. Water-soluble proteins of value can be isolated from tobacco leaves. Although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention may be modified in view of the above-mentioned points without departing from the scope and technical idea of the present invention. It should be.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A method for processing tobacco leaves to obtain a tobacco product free of proteins, nicotine and tar, suitable for use in smoking products, comprising: (a) (b) separating the liquid portion and the coarse solid material; (c) separating the liquid portion from the coarse solid material; (c) separating the liquid portion from the coarse solid material; (d) Separating water-soluble proteins and nicotine from the liquid portion; (e) Separating the pigment substance from the coarse solid substance and the fine powder; (f) Separating the pigment substance from the green pigment. (g) a coarse solid substance from which the above pigment has been removed, “a liquid portion from which proteins and nicotine have been removed”;
and a non-green pigment component. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the liquid portion is heated to a temperature lower than the temperature at which proteins in the liquid portion are denatured. 3. Crystals of ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase contained in the liquid portion such that when the liquid portion is heated and then cooled, the ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase crystallizes upon cooling. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the heating is carried out for a sufficient period of time to induce oxidation. 4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the crystallized ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase is separated from the liquid portion and an acid is added to the liquid portion to precipitate residual water-soluble proteins. 5. The method according to claims 2 to 4, characterized in that the liquid portion is heated before separating the coarse solid material. 6 Claim 1 characterized in that the liquid portion is heated to facilitate separation of the fine powder substance.
5. The method according to any one of 5 to 5. 7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that the fine powder material is separated by heating before separating the coarse solid material and the liquid portion. 8 Claims 1 and 6 characterized in that when separating water-soluble proteins from a liquid part, an acid is added to the liquid part to precipitate the water-soluble proteins.
or the method described in any one of 7. 9. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that heating is performed at 48 to 52°C. 10 Claims 1 to 1, characterized in that nicotine is separated from the liquid part by steam distillation.
9. The method according to any one of 9. 11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the pigment substance is separated from the coarse solid substance and the fine powder substance by solvent extraction. 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the solvent is methanol or acetone. 13 Claims 1 to 1 characterized in that the pigment substance is separated into "a water-insoluble fraction containing a water-insoluble green pigment substance and an orange-yellow pigment substance" and "a water-soluble fraction containing a yellow pigment substance"
2. The method according to any one of 2. 14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that at least a portion of the water-soluble yellow pigment substance is oxidized as an aqueous solution. 15 Adjust the pH of the solution to about 10.5 by adding ammonium hydroxide, bubble an oxygen source selected from air or oxygen into the solution until the solution turns brown, then heat the brown solution to remove the volatile base and nicotine. 15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that the two are separated. 16. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that the water-insoluble fraction is separated into a green pigment substance and an orange-yellow pigment substance. 17 To separate the orange-yellow pigment substance and the green pigment substance, the water-insoluble fraction is dissolved in a 2N potassium hydroxide solution containing methanol, and the resulting solution is extracted with a non-polar solvent to separate the orange-yellow pigment substance. 17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that: 18 The nonpolar solvent is an aliphatic solvent, a chlorinated solvent,
18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that the solvent is selected from aromatic solvents and alicyclic solvents.