KR20230112071A - A new filter for cigarettes comprising moisturizer - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a cigarette filter comprising a lyocell tow comprising bundles of lyocell fibers, a moisturizer and a binder, a smoking article comprising the same, and a method for manufacturing the cigarette filter.

Description

A new filter for cigarettes comprising moisturizer}

The present invention relates to a novel filter for cigarettes containing a moisturizer and a smoking article to which the same is applied.

In the prior art, a technique such as adding a moisturizer to a cigarette filter was utilized in order to increase the amount of smoke, which is one of the smoking satisfaction factors. However, since these moisturizers release steam at high temperatures, and cellulose acetate (CA), a conventionally used cigarette filter material, has a property of dissolving at such high temperatures, it is difficult to apply and use both moisturizers and cellulose acetate at the same time.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problem, there is a method of using a paper filter using paper base paper by adding a moisturizer such as glycerin, propylene glycol, etc. to the paper filter to increase the amount of smoke during smoking, rather than a cellulose acetate cigarette filter.

However, even in the case of a paper filter to which a moisturizing agent is added, the following unique problems occur.

i) In the case of using paper base paper, an off-flavor peculiar to paper occurs.

ii) A filter conditioning period of at least 2 weeks is required.

iii) It is difficult to realize uniform suction resistance due to the nature of using paper stock and crimped paper.

iv) The appearance of the filter section is not beautiful because it is manufactured using crimped paper.

Accordingly, in order to overcome the problems and/or limitations of the existing technologies as described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel filter for cigarettes containing a moisturizer and/or a smoking article including the same, which is prepared by adding a moisturizer by applying a cigarette filter using Lyocell fibers instead of a cellulose acetate filter or a paper filter.

However, the problem to be solved by the present invention is not limited to the problems mentioned above, and other problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a filter for cigarettes is provided, including a lyocell tow containing a bundle of lyocell fibers, a moisturizer, and a binder.

According to one side, in a smoking article comprising a tobacco medium part, a filter part and a wrapper,

The filter part includes a lyocell tow containing lyocell fibers, a moisturizer and a binder,

The moisturizing agent includes at least one of propylene glycol (PG) and glycerin, and is dispersed in the lyocell tow in a brush type or a spray type.

According to another aspect, as a method for manufacturing a cigarette filter,

Preparing a lyocell tow containing a lyocell fiber bundle (S1);

preparing a mixed solution by mixing a moisturizer and a binder (S2); and

Dispersing the mixed solution in the lyocell tow (S3); includes,

The moisturizing agent includes at least one of propylene glycol (PG) and glycerin,

The binder is hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC), hydroxypropyl

At least one selected from the group consisting of cellulose (HPC), ethyl cellulose (EC), methyl cellulose (MC), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyvinyl acetate (PVAc), starch, dextrin, and polyester binders,

The polyester-based binder includes at least one selected from the group consisting of alkylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms, arylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms, and heteroarylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms,

The step (S3) provides a method for manufacturing a cigarette filter, characterized in that the lyocell tow is dispersed in a brush type or a spray type.

According to one aspect of the present invention, Lyocell fibers having a cellulose network structure are towed to form a filter rod and applied to a cigarette filter, which is similar to manufacturing a cellulose acetate (CA) filter, and has a beautiful appearance of the manufactured filter. In addition, the filter manufactured through towing of lyocell fibers shows uniform resistance to attraction with less variation in resistance to attraction compared to paper filters.

In addition, Lyocell is hydrophilic, and the thin tow of Lyocell is composed of fiber strands and has a high specific surface area, so it has the advantage of faster absorption of the hydrophilic moisturizer compared to paper filters and stabilization of resistance to aspiration. Unlike cellulose acetate, there is no glass transition temperature (Tg), and the moisturizer can be preserved in the form of a filter rod even at high temperatures of 300 ° C. or higher at which the moisturizer releases steam, so there is an excellent effect that the moisturizer and the Lyocell material can be used together.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the above effects, and should be understood to include all effects that can be inferred from the detailed description of the present invention or the configuration of the invention described in the claims.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a non-combustion heated smoking article including a filter according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a combustion type smoking article including a filter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, since various changes can be made to the embodiments, the scope of the patent application is not limited or limited by these embodiments. It should be understood that all changes, equivalents or substitutes to the embodiments are included within the scope of rights.

Terms used in the examples are used only for descriptive purposes and should not be construed as limiting. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, terms such as "comprise" or "having" are intended to specify that a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification exists, but it should be understood that the presence or addition of one or more other features or numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof is not excluded in advance.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art to which the embodiment belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the related art, and are not interpreted in an ideal or excessively formal meaning unless explicitly defined in the present application.

In addition, in the description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same components regardless of reference numerals, and overlapping descriptions thereof will be omitted. In describing the embodiment, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known technology may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the embodiment, the detailed description will be omitted.

In addition, in describing the components of the embodiment, terms such as first, second, A, B, (a), and (b) may be used. These terms are only used to distinguish the component from other components, and the nature, order, or order of the corresponding component is not limited by the term.

Components included in one embodiment and components including common functions will be described using the same names in other embodiments. Unless stated to the contrary, descriptions described in one embodiment may be applied to other embodiments, and detailed descriptions will be omitted to the extent of overlapping.

Throughout the specification, 'smoking article' may refer to an article capable of generating aerosol, such as cigarettes (cigarettes) and cigars. A smoking article may include an aerosol-generating material or an aerosol-forming substrate. Smoking articles may also include solid materials based on tobacco raw materials, such as leafy tobacco, cut filler, and reconstituted tobacco. Smoking substances may contain volatile compounds.

Further, throughout the specification, 'upstream' or 'upstream direction' means a direction away from the mouth of a user who smokes the smoking article 100, and 'downstream' or 'downstream direction' means a direction closer to the mouth of a user who smokes the smoking article 100. For example, in the smoking article 100 shown in FIG. 1 , the tobacco medium 120 is located upstream or upstream of the cigarette filter 110 .

Furthermore, in the present specification, even if the smoking article 100 is described as an example of a combustion type cigarette or a non-combustion heated cigarette used together with an aerosol generating device (not shown) such as an electronic cigarette device, it is not limited thereto, and all of the above concepts may be included.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a filter for cigarettes is provided, including a lyocell tow containing a bundle of lyocell fibers, a moisturizer, and a binder.

When the cigarette filter of the present invention includes a moisturizer, the type of moisturizer may include at least one of propylene glycol (PG) and glycerin. By including such a moisturizing agent, it is possible to more effectively increase the amount of smoke compared to conventional smoking articles, so that the user can further improve the satisfaction of smoking.

The content of the moisturizing agent included in the cigarette filter may be 1 mg to 5 mg per 1 mm of filter length, preferably 3 mg to 5 mg, when expressed based on the length of the cigarette filter.

Meanwhile, the moisturizing agent may be expressed based on the weight of the lyocell tow, and may be included in an amount of 0.1 mg to 0.5 mg per 1 mg of the weight of the lyocell tow.

When the content of the moisturizer is included below the lower limit, the effect of increasing the amount of mist due to the addition of the moisturizer may be insignificant, and when included in excess of the upper limit, the moisturizer flows out after filter manufacturing, and packaging contamination may occur in the procurement of filter logistics.

As a frame (support) forming the cigarette filter of the present invention, it may include a lyocell tow including a lyocell fiber bundle, and the binder serves to connect a plurality of fiber bundles forming the frame and the tow formed by them.

In the case of a cellulose acetate (CA) filter, which is mainly used as a support for a conventional cigarette filter, when a moisturizing agent such as glycerin mentioned above is added, a problem in that the CA material is dissolved at a high temperature occurs. In particular, when heated at a temperature of 200 ° C. or higher, such as in an electronic cigarette, the cellulose acetate filter material containing the humectant melts and a damping phenomenon occurs (CA melts from 80 to 90 ° C.), and the appearance and sensory characteristics of the filter are affected. Disadvantages exist. In particular, similar to the lyocell filter in the present invention, when 2 mg/mm of glycerin (moisturizing agent) is added to the cellulose acetate filter, there is a problem that the liquid phase flows down in the filter tray.

In addition, in addition to the cellulose acetate filter, paper base paper may be used as a support for the cigarette filter, but there is a problem in that a peculiar odor originating from the paper base paper occurs and a separate period of at least two weeks is required as a filter conditioning period. In addition, since the paper filter is manufactured using crimped paper, it is difficult to implement a uniform suction resistance compared to a cellulose acetate filter or a lyocell filter, and there are disadvantages in that the appearance of the filter cross section is not beautiful.

On the other hand, the lyocell tow included in the cigarette filter according to an embodiment of the present invention is composed of a bundle of hydrophilic lyocell fibers, has a high specific surface area, and has the advantage of fast absorption of the hydrophilic moisturizer. Due to its insoluble property even at high temperatures, it can be maintained in the form of a filter rod even at high temperatures where the moisturizer is vaporized, can realize uniform suction resistance (small suction resistance deviation), and does not cause problems such as off-flavor of paper filters. Compared to filters, it can be said that it is more suitable as a filter for cigarettes containing a moisturizer.

In the present invention, the binder serving to connect the plurality of fiber bundles and the tow they form is specifically, hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), ethyl cellulose (EC), methyl cellulose (MC), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), ethylenevinyl acetate (EVA), polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) ), starch, dextrin, and polyester-based binders, wherein the polyester-based binder may include at least one selected from the group consisting of alkylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms, arylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms, and heteroarylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms.

In addition, the filter according to an embodiment of the present invention, in addition to the tow and the binder including the fiber bundle, further includes triethyl citrate (TEC) to enhance the tobacco taste, or to improve the layer separation in the mixed solution during filter manufacture. It may further include an emulsifier and the like. When the layer separation phenomenon is improved through an emulsifier or the like, more uniform spraying of the mixed solution to the lyocell tow is possible.

The triethyl citrate may be included in an amount of 3 to 7% by weight relative to the weight of the lyocell tow constituting the cigarette filter, and as the specific type of the emulsifier, one or more of a fatty acid carboxylic compound, a sorbitan ester compound, a sorbate compound, and an ethoxy-based compound may be used.

Meanwhile, the addition of a humectant such as propylene glycol or glycerin can be realized by uniformly dispersing a solution containing a moisturizer and a binder in the lyocell tow.

In this case, the dispersion of the solution may be performed in a brush type or a spray type, but is not limited thereto. For example, various spraying methods such as uniformly spraying a moisturizer solution on the surface of lyocell by adding general cellulose acetate (CA) tow plasticizer, or applying a 1-fluid and 2-fluid spray may be utilized. On the other hand, the brush type means a method in which the liquid phase is sprayed in such a way that the liquid phase is bounced through rotation of a brush roller, and the spray type means a method in which the liquid phase is sprayed through a spray nozzle method. On the other hand, in terms of preventing fume formation and more uniform spraying, a brush-type spraying method may be preferable.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, in a smoking article including a tobacco medium part, a filter part and a wrapper,

The filter part includes a lyocell tow containing lyocell fibers, a moisturizer and a binder,

The moisturizing agent includes at least one of propylene glycol (PG) and glycerin, and is dispersed in the lyocell tow in a brush type or a spray type.

In this case, the filter unit may be divided into two or more segments, and may be divided into a first segment, a second segment, etc., and regardless of where they are placed, if one of the two or more segments includes a moisturizer and a lyocell tow, the cigarette filter according to an embodiment of the present invention may be included in the scope of the smoking article of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 as an example, the cigarette filter 110 may be composed of a single segment while being located at the rear end of the tobacco medium unit 120, or may also be composed of a plurality of segments (not shown). When divided into a plurality of segments such as the first segment and the second segment, the filter unit of the first segment may include a cooling material, through which the aerosol generated by heating the tobacco medium unit can be cooled, and the user can inhale the aerosol cooled to an appropriate temperature.

In addition, the smoking article 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include, in addition to the cigarette filter 110 located at the lower end of the tobacco medium part 120, a shear plug 150 located at the upper end of the tobacco medium part 120, and the front end plug 150 may play a role in preventing the tobacco rod from escaping to the outside or preventing liquefied aerosol from the tobacco rod from flowing into the aerosol generating device during smoking, the present invention It may be made of a cigarette filter according to an embodiment of.

In addition, the tobacco medium portion constituting the smoking article typically includes a tobacco material containing nicotine, such as leaf tobacco, and may additionally include an excipient such as a binder or other additives.

In the present invention, the tobacco material is a material forming the aerosol-generating substrate, and may be tobacco leaf pieces, tobacco stems, tobacco dust generated during tobacco treatment, and/or tobacco leaf leaf strips. Tobacco leaves may be at least one selected from yellow species, burley species, orient species, cigar leaves, and toast, but are not limited thereto.

In addition, the wrapper constituting the smoking article may be made of cigarette paper surrounding the tobacco medium portion, filter wrapper wrapping the filter portion, or the like, and the tipping wrapper combining the tobacco medium portion and the filter may optionally have one or more perforations formed along the circumferential direction so that external air may flow in or internal gas may flow out. Through this, there is an effect that the air dilution rate of the cigarette can be realized and the amount of migration of the mainstream smoke component can be adjusted.

A smoking article according to an embodiment of the present invention may correspond to a combustion-type or non-combustion heated smoking article, and may be separately inserted into an aerosol generating device when used as a non-combustion heated smoking article. Here, the aerosol generating device includes a receiving groove in which an aerosol generating article can be accommodated, and in addition, may include a heater for heating the aerosol generating article to generate an aerosol, a controller for overall controlling the operation of the aerosol generating device, a battery that provides power used for operating the aerosol generating device, and a detector recognizing that the aerosol generating article is inserted into the aerosol generating device. In view of the fact that current aerosol generating devices generally heat a smoking article through an internal/external heating method of 200° C. or higher, the smoking article according to an embodiment of the present invention is a non-combustion heated smoking article.

On the other hand, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for manufacturing a cigarette filter comprising the following steps (S1) to (S3) is provided:

Preparing a lyocell tow containing a lyocell fiber bundle (S1);

preparing a mixed solution by mixing a moisturizer and a binder (S2); and

Dispersing the mixed solution in the lyocell tow (S3).

At this time, the moisturizer and binder used can be considered to be substantially the same as the moisturizer and binder included in the cigarette filter described in detail above, and the method of dispersing the mixed solution in step (S3) is also the brush type or spray type described above. It can be carried out.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention and its effects will be described in more detail through Examples and Comparative Examples. However, these examples are for explaining the present invention in more detail, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to these examples.

- Example

(1) Preparation Example: Preparation of liquid lyocell filter

After preparing a mixed solution by mixing a glycerin moisturizer, a hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) binder, and triethyl citrate, a spray liquid spray method (sanjo or Hauni method) was used by rotating the brush roller of the filter manufacturing machine. The mixed solution was directly sprayed on the lyocell tow containing the lyocell fiber bundles. Thereafter, the lariocell tows sprayed with the raw house mixture solution were wrapped with wrapping paper to form a filter rod.

Through this, it was possible to prepare a lyocell filter containing 3 mg/(filter length (mm)) of the moisturizing agent of the present invention.

(2) Experimental Example 1: Comparison of evaluation of physical properties between liquid lyocell filter and liquid paper filter

The method was carried out in the same manner as in the above Preparation Example, but as shown in Table 1 below, liquid lyocell filters were prepared by varying the content of the glycerin moisturizer, and liquid paper filters were prepared with different amounts of the glycerin moisturizer.

The physical properties of the prepared filters were evaluated, and the results are shown in Table 1 below.

information weight
(mg) By filter length
glycerin
input
(mg/mm) By filter weight
glycerin
input
(mg _glycerin /mg _tow ) Won-ju
(mm) resistance to attraction
(mmH ₂ O) filter
harmonization period liquid
paper filter 750 0 0 22.06 120 - 1050 5 0.29 22.06 230 2 weeks liquid
Lyocell
filter 301.7 0 0.00 22.02 243.3 - 361.7 One 0.17 275.6 1 week 481.7 3 0.37 302.3 601.7 5 0.50 358.1

(The 'weight (mg)' indicates the weight of the tow excluding the filter wrapper that goes into one filter.)

As shown in Table 1, the liquid lyocell filter exhibited an effect of shortening the filter conditioning period compared to the control (liquid paper filter), and furthermore, when glycerin was added by filter weight, the lyocell filter had a higher glycerin content retention effect than the paper filter. It can be seen that it can have.

In addition, in the case of the liquid paper filter, the increase in the suction resistance of 0.29 mg / mg compared to the glycerin input amount of 0 mg / mg showed 110 mmH ₂ O (92% increase rate), whereas in the case of the liquid lyocell filter, even in the case of 0.37 mg / mg having a higher glycerin input amount than the liquid paper filter, it only represents an increase of 59 mmH ₂ O (24% increase rate) compared to 0 mg / mg , it can be confirmed that the liquid lyocell filter can implement a uniform resistance to aspiration compared to the liquid paper filter even when a humectant is added.

(3) Experimental Example 2: Sensory evaluation according to application of liquid lyocell filter

The present inventors conducted sensory evaluation (out of a total of 7 points) on smoking products manufactured using a liquid paper filter (control) containing 5 mg/(filter length (mm)) of a moisturizing agent and a liquid lyocell filter (Example 1) containing 5 mg/(filter length (mm)) of a moisturizer and 10 KT&G R&D internal panels.

The control group and Example 1 were tested by comparing cases in which the amount of glycerin added per tow weight was as similar as possible (0.29 mg/mg vs 0.37 mg/mg).

evaluation score Taste intensity amount of smoke pepper off-flavor The power required to inhale smoke full tobacco flavor liquid paper filter
(Control) 4.1 4.0 3.8 3.7 3.2 3.5 Liquid Lyocell Filter
(Example 1) 3.8 3.8 3.5 3.0 3.5 3.8

As shown in Table 2, the smoking article manufactured using the liquid lyocell filter of Example 1 showed a similar amount of smoke compared to the smoking article manufactured using the liquid paper filter of the control group, but had less irritation or off-flavor, and had a better overall tobacco taste.

As described above, although the embodiments have been described with limited drawings, those skilled in the art can apply various technical modifications and variations based on the above. For example, even if the described techniques are performed in an order different from the described method, and/or components of the described system, structure, device, circuit, etc. are combined or combined in a different form from the described method, or replaced or substituted by other components or equivalents, appropriate results can be achieved.

Therefore, other implementations, other embodiments, and equivalents of the claims are within the scope of the following claims.

100: smoking articles (cigarettes)
110: cigarette filter
110a: cigarette filter wrapper
120: tobacco medium unit
120a: Tobacco medium part wrapper
130: tipping wrapper
140: outer wrapper
150: shear plug

Claims (14)

A cigarette filter comprising a lyocell tow comprising bundles of lyocell fibers, a moisturizer and a binder.
According to claim 1,
The humectant is characterized in that it comprises at least one of propylene glycol (PG) and glycerin, filter for cigarettes.
According to claim 1,
The moisturizer is characterized in that the brush type (brush type) or spray type (spray type) dispersed in the lyocell tow, filter for cigarettes.
According to claim 1,
The binder is hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), ethyl cellulose (EC), methyl cellulose (MC), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Tilene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyvinyl acetate (PVAC), starch, dextrin and polyester binder include one or more selected from the group consisting of a polyester binder.
The polyester binder comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of alkylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms, arylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms and heteroarylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms, cigarette filter.
According to claim 1,
Characterized in that it further comprises at least one emulsifier of a fatty acid carboxyl-based compound, a sorbitan ester-based compound, a sorbate-based compound and an ethoxy-based compound, a cigarette filter.
According to claim 1,
A filter for cigarettes, characterized in that it additionally comprises triethyl citrate.
According to claim 6,
The content of the triethyl citrate is 3% to 7% by weight relative to the weight of the lyocell tow constituting the cigarette filter, characterized in that, the cigarette filter.
According to claim 1,
The content of the humectant is contained in the cigarette filter length (mm) per 1 mg to 5 mg, cigarette filter.
According to claim 1,
The content of the humectant is contained in 0.1 mg to 0.5 mg per weight (mg) of the lyocell tow, cigarette filter.
A smoking article comprising a tobacco medium part, a filter part and a wrapper,
The filter part includes a lyocell tow containing lyocell fibers, a moisturizer and a binder,
The smoking article according to claim 1 , wherein the humectant comprises at least one of propylene glycol (PG) and glycerin and is dispersed in the lyocell tow in a brush type or a spray type.
According to claim 10,
The filter unit is divided into two or more segments,
wherein at least one of said two or more segments comprises a lyocell tow comprising bundles of lyocell fibers, a moisturizer and a binder.
According to claim 10,
The smoking article according to claim 1 , wherein the smoking article is a non-combustion heated smoking article.
Preparing a lyocell tow containing a lyocell fiber bundle (S1);
preparing a mixed solution by mixing a moisturizer and a binder (S2); and
Dispersing the mixed solution in the lyocell tow (S3); includes,
The moisturizing agent includes at least one of propylene glycol (PG) and glycerin,
The binder is hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), ethyl cellulose (EC), methyl cellulose (MC), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Tilene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyvinyl acetate (PVAC), starch, dextrin and polyester binder include one or more selected from the group consisting of a polyester binder.
The polyester-based binder includes at least one selected from the group consisting of alkylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms, arylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms, and heteroarylene having 5 to 12 carbon atoms,
The step (S3) is characterized in that the brush type (brush type) or spray type (spray type) is dispersed in the lyocell tow, a method for manufacturing a cigarette filter.
According to claim 13,
Characterized in that, in the mixed solution of step (S2), at least one emulsifier and triethyl citrate of a fatty acid carboxyl compound, a sorbitan ester compound, a sorbate compound and an ethoxy compound are additionally mixed. Method for producing a filter for cigarettes.

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