JPH0634693B2 - Cigarette filter - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a cigarette filter.

From the past, it has been found that tar, nicotine, etc. generated from the combustion gas of cigarettes contain mutagenic substances that are considered to be carcinogenic factors, and filters are used as a means to remove some of them. Most of the brands sold by Japan Monopoly Corporation also have this filter. This filter is made of fine fibers, and is made of cellulose fibers such as triacetyl cellulose and rayon.

However, such a filter for tobacco made of cellulose fiber is not sufficiently satisfactory in its ability to remove tar and nicotine, and further improvement has been desired. Further, there is a problem in that a filter made of cellulose fibers for cigarettes will continue to smolder if left to stand while the cigarettes are lit, and improvement in this respect has also been desired.

In view of the above problems, the present inventors have conducted extensive studies to provide a tobacco filter having excellent tar and nicotine removal ability and self-extinguishing property, and as a result, chitin-based fibers have been found to The present invention has been achieved by finding that the material has desirable performance.

That is, the present invention is a cigarette filter made of a fiber made of deacetylated chitin as a raw material.

The cigarette filter of the present invention has a feature that it is more likely to adsorb tar and nicotine during use, and more easily adsorb mutagens, as compared with a filter made of triacetyl cellulose or rayon. It has the feature of excellent flame retardancy. That is, it has an adsorbing capacity of 1.5 to 2 times or more as compared with the conventional one for adsorbing tar and nicotine. In addition, the mutagenicity of the adsorbed component was greater than that of the conventional one. Furthermore, since it is flame-retardant, even if the cigarette was left with the fire on, the conventional one continued to smolder, but the fire extinguished naturally.

Deacetylated chitin in the present invention refers to a substance mainly composed of poly (N-acetyl-D-glucosamine),
It is obtained by treating the cereals, insects, etc. with hydrochloric acid and caustic soda to separate and purify the protein and calcium content, and then treating with high concentration caustic soda.

The method for producing fibers from the deacetylated chitin, which is the material for the tobacco filter of the present invention, is not particularly limited,
A method in which chitin is dissolved in a solvent to form a dope, and this dope is wet-spun to form fibers and then deacetylated by alkali treatment, or chitin is deacetylated in advance to form a dope, which is also wet-spun. The method of fiberizing is preferably used. The thickness of the fiber is not particularly limited, but a fine fiber of 0.3 to 20 denier is preferably used.

As a solvent for preparing the dope used for wet spinning, an appropriate solvent may be selected because it depends on whether it is deacetylated in advance or not. However, in the case of chitin having few free amino groups, for example, trichloroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid, etc. A mixed solution of acetic acid and a carbon halide compound, dichloroacetic acid, a mixture of dichloroacetic acid and a carbon halide compound, a mixture of N-methylpyrrolidone and lithium chloride, trifluoroacetone, hexafluoroisopropyl alcohol and the like are preferably used, while free. In the case of chitosan having many amino groups, an acetic acid aqueous solution or the like is preferably used. The dope is put into a pressurized tank and extruded from the spinneret into a coagulating liquid using a metering pump such as a gear pump to be made into fibers. The coagulation liquid is also selected according to the type of chitin, but in the case of free chitin with few amino groups, water, alcohols such as methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, propyl alcohol, butyl alcohol, etc., ketones such as acetone, etc. are preferable. In the case of free chitosan having many amino groups, an alkaline aqueous solution, alcohols such as methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, propyl alcohol, butyl alcohol, and ketones such as acetone are preferably used. The coagulated and regenerated fibers are subjected to chemical treatment, heat treatment, stretching, washing, etc., if necessary, and dried as fibers.

To make a tobacco filter from these fibers, for example, a method of bundling a number of fibers into a tow shape and cutting it to the required length, or making a non-woven fabric from cut short fibers, and winding it into a cylindrical shape A conventionally known method such as a method of cutting the packed product into a required length can be adopted. The weight of fiber used for one cigarette may be about 0.1 to 0.2 g as in the case of ordinary commercial products. Generally, the outside is wrapped with paper and used.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to examples.

Example 1, Comparative Examples 1, 2 Chitin powder (Kyowa Yushi Co., Ltd.) was pulverized into 100 mesh, and 1
After treatment with N-HCI for 1 hour at 4 ° C, further 3
The calcium content and protein contained in the chitin powder were removed by heating at 90 ° C. in a 3% NaOH solution for 3 hours, followed by repeated washing with water and drying. The chitin thus obtained was dissolved at room temperature in a dimethylacetamide solution containing 7% by weight of lithium chloride so that the concentration of chitin was 7% by weight. The solution was filtered through 800 mesh wire mesh, left to defoam, put in a tank, transported by a gear pump under pressure, extruded into water as a coagulating liquid from a nozzle with a diameter of 0.07 mm, 200 holes, and 10 m after coagulation. It is wound up with a bobbin with holes at a speed of / min and further with a 25% caustic soda solution.
It was treated at ℃ for 1 hour. This bobbin was thoroughly washed with warm water to obtain a deacetylated chitin fiber having a single yarn weave of 1.6 denier. The degree of deacetylation in this case was 50%.

50 deacetylated chitin fibers obtained as described above
00 pieces were bundled, the outside was wrapped with paper and compressed to form a tow having an outer diameter of 8 mm and a circular cross section, and then this tow was cut into a length of 17 mm to obtain a cylindrical body. Insert this cylinder into a glass tube with an inner diameter of 8 mm, and connect one cigarette with no filter (brand "short piece") to one side of the tube and the aspirator to the other side across the tube. Then, the cigarette was inhaled, the cigarette was ignited, and the combustion was completed in about 2 minutes while adjusting the aspirator. For comparison, a cylindrical body was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that triacetate filament (Comparative Example 1) or rayon filament (Comparative Example 2) was used in place of the deacetylated chitin fiber, and the same as Example 1. Burning was carried out for about 2 minutes by the method. The same test was repeated 10 times for each. After burning the cigarette, the obtained filter was immersed in 10 ml of methanol to elute the adhering component, and the absorbance of the solution was measured by a spectroscope. The results are shown in Table 1.

Furthermore, the solvent removed from these extracts was dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide and subjected to a mutagenicity test (Ames test). Salmonella TA-98 and TA-10
Using 0, the extraction residue of the filter obtained from one cigarette was diluted to 1/20, 1/50, 1/100 and the number of mutagenic colonies was examined for their concentrations. The results are shown in Table 2.

As is clear from the results of Table 1 and Table 2, the filter of the present invention has a residue remaining when smoking one cigarette about twice as much as the filter of the comparative example, and the mutagen of the residue. Performance is also high.

Example 2 and Comparative Example 3 The chitin fiber produced in Example 1 was treated in a 10 M / 1 NaOH solution at 85 ° C. for 5 hours. Next, after neutralization and washing, the degree of deacetylation of the fiber surface was measured by infrared analysis to find that it was 82%, indicating that the surface was sufficiently chitosanized. Using this fiber, a cylindrical body having a similar shape was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1, and a tobacco suction experiment was conducted. The number of cigarettes sucked was 1, 10, and 20. After the suction, the absorbance of the methanol extract and the mutagenicity test were performed in the same manner as in Example 1.

For comparison, a similar test was performed using a chitin fiber cylinder (Comparative Example 3) obtained by the same operation except that the NaOH treatment was not performed among the above operations.

The results are shown in Table 3, Table 4 and Table 5.

From the above results, the one using the deacetylated chitin of the present invention is about twice as effective in removing harmful substances as the one using chitin. That is, the life of the cigarette filter is extended.

Example 3 and Comparative Example 4 A chitin fiber was produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a nozzle having a diameter of 0.05 mm and a 200 hole was used. %
Deacetylated chitin fiber was obtained. Using this fiber, a cylindrical body having a similar shape was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1, and a tobacco suction experiment was conducted. The number of cigarettes sucked was 20. After the suction, the absorbance of the methanol extract and the mutagenicity test were performed in the same manner as in Example 1.

For comparison, a similar test was conducted using a chitin fiber cylinder (Comparative Example 4) obtained by the same procedure except that the NaOH treatment was not performed.

The results are shown in Tables 6 and 7.

From the above results, it is understood that the one using deacetylated chitin is more than twice as effective in removing harmful substances as the one using chitin.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cigarette filter made of a fiber made of deacetylated chitin as a raw material.