NO154603B - PROCEDURE FOR MOLDING GLASS MAKING. - Google Patents

Description

Process for the production of tobacco foils.

The present invention relates to a

new method for the production of tobacco foils, in which, in contrast to the methods used up to now, the addition of adhesive is either unnecessary or limited to a small extent. This fact, as well as the shorter processing time at temperatures of up to 100°C and the use of only small amounts of chemical substances in the tobacco foils ensure, as it is established, not only a good preservation of the tobacco aroma, but at the same time the achievement of the desired physical properties - creates.

The cell junction in vegetable leaves

as is known, held together by the middle lamella's substances. The substances of such middle lamellas consist next to hemicellulose, pentosans and lignins of the highly polymeric, more or less methanol-esterified polygalacturonic acid, the latter consisting of a large number of galacturonic acid units (varying according to the treatment of the tobacco), as in 1,4- glucosidic bonds are connected to each other. In this connection, elongated molecules of the cellulose type arise. This partially esterified polygalacturonic acid is called pectin.

In tobacco, pectin is present in the order of magnitude 5-20 per cent. In tobacco, pectin also has the task of holding the cell connection together. Fixation of the adhesive mechanism, above all to guarantee the water solubility, takes place in plants by the entry of calcium and magnesium into the carboxyl group that becomes free when the ester is saponified. This can thus be imagined, that in two adjacent pectin molecules the free carboxyl group is occupied by magnesium or calcium. The calcium and magnesium salts are water insoluble. The saponifiable and/or hydrolyzable high polymer products present in the tobacco can be built up in water-soluble, resp. swelling and sticky substances.

Thanks to this knowledge, a new method for the production of tobacco foils can now be developed.

In the methods used until now for the production of tobacco foils, one was forced to use a binder in relatively large quantities, preferably more than 10 per cent, whereby the individual tobacco parts were held together to form a foil, but the smoke aroma was affected in a negative direction . Moreover, these binders caused additional costs, not least due to the partly necessary concomitant use of solvents.

In recent times, methods have become known, by which tobacco foils can be produced either by several hours of treatment of finely ground tobacco in water or other solvents at a temperature of 100° C or by a relatively shorter treatment time, however, by using pressure and temperature above 100°C.

The disadvantage of these known methods is that the resulting foils exhibit a partly undesirable dark colour. In addition, with these known methods, the required several hours of intensive, watery treatment also release valuable tobacco components, so that the quality of the tobacco suffers.

The present invention allows the production of a tobacco foil from fermented, partially fermented or unfermented tobacco or tobacco waste, as it falls out in the tobacco industry, including leaf veins, gravel, tobacco dust, sand, etc., and then light tobacco or light tobacco waste preferably without the addition of chemical substances derived from tobacco or from dark tobacco or dark tobacco waste possibly with the addition of a maximum of 3 percent .of an adhesive or adhesive mixture, such as raw pulp, ethyl-, acetyl-, methyl-, carbethoxymethyl-, hydroxyethylcelluloses, pectins, locust bean gum, agar-agar, "Manucol", guar gum, or other slime-like or sticky substances and/or up to 2% asbestos. In this way, the production of a tobacco foil succeeds, which, with approximately the same aroma and the same color as the treated starting material, has an increased tearing strength.

A significant part of this invention is consequently the fact that the color of the foils obtainable according to the invention, even when they are only produced from waste, largely corresponds to the color of the tobacco used as starting material, and the foil obtained according to the invention with regard to smell does not differ only insignificantly from tobacco products.

The present method for the production of tobacco foils is characterized by treating the high-polymer, saponifiable and/or hydrolyzable substances present in powdered tobacco material at a temperature of no more than 100° C using an aqueous solution, which exhibits a pH value of 3-11, of at least one chemical substance, which is either present as such in the tobacco or is of such a composition that its aqueous solution preferably emits at least partly the same ions as the ions which are detectable in tobacco material, and possibly with a maximum of 3 wt. of at least one binder and/or up to 2 wt. of a fibrous product is made swellable or adhesive, and the resulting mushy mass is then fed to a ribbon-shaped substrate and dried extensively on this substrate, and the dried foil thus obtained is released in a manner known per se from the substrate.

It has been shown that for the treatment of both cigarette tobacco and cigars -

or pipe tobacco or their waste, basic, neutral or acidic solutions can be used, without the pH value of the produced foils deviating significantly from that of the treated tobacco. It was also established that a pH of 7.75-9 is preferably used for the treatment of cigarette tobacco.

It has also proven to be advantageous when using light tobacco as starting materials in the absence of a binder or in the presence of at most 2 wt. of a binder or a binder mixture, or when using dark tobacco as starting material works in the absence of a binder or in the presence of at most 3 wt. of a binder or binder submixture.

The regeneration of the highly polymeric, saponifiable, organic materials present in the tobacco material to be treated can either take place by treating tobacco dust with a solution of an inorganic acid or lye, an organic acid or base, as well as their mixtures or their salts. It was further established that by treating tobacco with tobacco extracts, which have achieved the desired pH shift or adhesiveness with the aid of ion exchangers or chrome-atography columns, foils can also be produced.

As lye or bases are suitable for the purpose according to the invention, e.g. potassium lye, caustic soda etc., ethylenediamine and the like, while as acids come e.g. formic acid, acetic acid, citric acid, galacturonic acid, phosphoric acids and the like in speech. Suitable salt solutions are e.g. alkali and ammonium salts of organic acids, for example of formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, oxalic acid, carbonic acid, malic acid, citric acid and tartaric acid, as well as those of phosphoric acids. These solutions can be in the form of a buffer system, e.g. an acetate sufferer. The concentration or quantity of the substances used for regeneration of the high-polymer materials depends on the one hand on the quality and composition of the tobacco material to be processed, and on the other hand on the expected properties of the foil to be produced. In general, good results will be achieved with a concentration of 0.1-15% by weight. calculated on the dry substance of the tobacco to be processed.

It has also been shown that in certain cases, e.g. when processing certain, preferably dark, tobacco waste, or in cases where you want to achieve a particularly high tearing strength, you can successfully add 0.5 -3 wt. of an adhesive such as e.g. raw pulp, ethyl-, acetyl-, methyl-, carbethoxymethyl-, hydroxyethyl cellulose, locust bean gum, pectins, agar-agar, "Manucol", guar gum and/or 1-2 wt. mineral fibres, e.g. asbestos.

It is of course that, depending on the choice and composition of the mixing medium that is used according to the invention, to which catalytically active substances, such as titanium compounds, manganese compounds, etc. can be added, e.g. titanium dioxide, manganese sulfate, manganese citrate or tartrate, and/or plasticizer, such as e.g. glycerin, sorbitol, diethylene glycol, etc., can in many cases achieve a simultaneous intentional quality improvement of the tobacco product used, e.g. combustion improvement, smoke aroma mitigation, increased water resistance, reduction of the methanol content in the main stream smoke. A substantially improved water insolubility of the foils can also be achieved by further addition of preferably water insoluble calcium or magnesium salts, e.g. calcium formate, calcium acetate, calcium gluconate, magnesium acetate, magnesium citrate, magnesium gluconate, magnesium formate, etc.

As ion exchangers, one can use arbitrary commercially available preparations that are suitable for the present purpose, such as e.g. the branded products "Amberlite", "Do-wex", further aluminum oxide and the like.

In the production method according to the invention, one will preferably pulverize the starting | material used tobacco material. This can be done with the help of an arbitrary grinding or pulverizing device. Experiments have shown that good results can be achieved when the tobacco material is brought to an average ultra grain size of 50-500 (i.

The treatment according to the invention preferably takes place in an aqueous solution and at a temperature of up to 100° C. The desired temperature can either be achieved by external heating or by blowing in steam.

The invention will now be explained in more detail with the help of some examples.

Example 1.

1.0 kg of finely ground cigarette tobacco or waste from cigarette production including leaf veins, e.g. tobacco material, which consists predominantly of Orient or Virginia tobacco, is slurried in 6 liters of a 0.01

-0.1% aqueous potassium hydroxide solution and heated for 30 minutes at 80-90°. After cooling, 0.5% by weight is added. of

a calcium salt, calculated on the tobacco weight, e.g. calcium gluconate. The most homogeneous, thin-flowing porridge is then laid according to conventional methods onto an endless steel belt in the desired thickness of approx. 0.5 mm. This strip is passed through a heating channel at 60-100° C, whereby the formed foil is freed of its moisture while maintaining a certain plasticity. Before release, spray 2-5 wt. (calculated on the tobacco weight) of a softening agent, e.g. glycerin, sorbitol or diethylene glycol, in aqueous solution on the foil. With a scraping device of a known nature, the dry material obtained can be removed in the usual way from the steel strip and the tobacco foil formed can be cut to the desired width and/or wound up as a roll of arbitrary length and width.

Example 2.

1.0 kg of finely ground cigarette tobacco waste is suspended in 6 liters of an aqueous ammonia solution, which exhibits a pH of 7.5-10. The suspension is heated under reflux and stirred for 15-40 minutes at 100° C. The further processing, in particular the addition of a magnesium compound, e.g. magnesium formate, and a plasticizer, e.g. diethylene glycol, takes place as in example 1.

Example 3.

1.0 kg of finely ground dark waste of cigar or cigarette tobacco is suspended in 4 liters of an aqueous ammonia or potassium hydroxide solution, which exhibits a pH of 7.5 -10. The processing takes place as above and after completion of the saponification or the hydrolysis, 2 wt. foreign pectin (calculated on the tobacco weight) in the form of an aqueous solution as well as 1 percent finely powdered asbestos fibers (calculated on the tobacco weight). After good homogenization, the porridge is brought onto the endless V4A belt, the foil is sprayed after drying with an aqueous citric acid or tartaric acid solution and dried and released in the usual way.

Example 4.

1.0 kg of finely ground cigar, cigarette tobacco or their waste with an average grain size of approx. 100 |j. Slurry for approx.

5 liters of a 0.1-0.4% ammonium phosphate solution or in 5 liters of water, which contains technical ammonia and technical phosphoric acid in a stoichiometric ratio in such a quantity that a 0.1-0.4 pst.-ig ammonium phosphate solution. The resulting suspension is heated for 15-40 minutes at 80-90° C. After cooling, 3-5 wt. plasticizer (calculated on the dry weight of tobacco material), such as e.g. glycerin, sorbitol, diethylene glycol, etc., as well as possibly for improving the burning of the cigar foils 0.1-0.5% by weight. potassium and/or magnesium formate (calculated on the dry weight of the tobacco product) and, after good homogenization of the resulting viscous mass, places the latter in the desired layer thickness on an endless conveyor belt.

The foil is dried and dissolved as in example 1.

Example 5.

1.0 kg of finely ground cigar, cigarette or pipe tobacco or their waste is slurried for approx. 6 liters of a 0.2-0.6% by weight ammonium phosphate solution or in 6 liters of water, which contains technical ammonia and technical phosphoric acid in a stoichiometric ratio and in a corresponding amount and is heated for 30 minutes with stirring at 70 -90° C. 1.0 kg of finely ground tobacco, preferably of the same quality as the previously used tobacco material, and 3 wt. sorbitol, calculated on the dry weight of tobacco material, after which another 2 kg of a 2% carb-ethoxymethylcellulose solution is added.

The formed porridge is processed according to the instructions in example 1 into a foil.

Example 6.

A foil with 1.0 kg of tobacco is produced according to the instructions in one of examples 4 and 5, whereby an aqueous calcium gluconate or magnesium citrate solution is sprayed on before releasing the foil from the steel strip. In this way, the tear strength and quality, as well as the water insolubility of the foils obtained, are increased.

Example 7.

1.0 kg of finely ground tobacco is suspended in 4 kg of a 2.5-4% by weight ammonium formate solution, or in 4 kg of water, which contains a stoichiometric amount of technical formic acid and technical ammonia in such an amount that one obtains a 2.5-4% by weight solution.

The mixture is heated with stirring for 15-45 minutes at 70-90° C. After a shorter time a mushy, viscous mass is formed, which after the addition of 3-7 wt. of a softening agent, (calculated on the tobacco weight) such as e.g. glycerin, diethylene glycol, sorbitol, etc., and small amounts (1-3% by weight calculated on the tobacco weight) of a binding agent, such as "Manucol", are placed in the desired layer thickness on a V4A steel band. Depending on the quality of the cigarette tobacco, the pH value for the suspension is between 5.0 and 6.7.

The drying takes place according to the conventional methods, such as e.g. IR-irradiation, hot and burning hot air, or by direct heating of the tape and release after the arbitrary scraping methods.

Example 8.

1.0 kg of finely ground cigar, cigarette tobacco or their waste is mixed with up to 5 wt. "Calgon" (sodium polyphosphate), calculated on the weight of tobacco, and with 5 liters of water. Under good stirring, the mixture is allowed to stand for a while. Then add 5-10 wt. of a plasticizer, e.g. glycerin, 2 wt. carbethoxymethylcellulose, designated on the tobacco scale, homogenises the whole and applies the mass obtained in the desired layer thickness to a steel belt.

The further processing of material takes place in the manner described in example 1.

Example 9.

That to a grain size of approx. 150 |i powdered tobacco grinding material (1 kg) is only processed after adding approx. 3 wt. sodium acetate for 10-20 minutes with saturated steam (100° C) and then stir in mechanical mixers to a dough with water.

After adding 5-10 wt. glycerin, the porridge is further processed as previously in example 1.

Example 10.

1.0 kg of finely ground cigar tobacco is mixed with 0.25-0.35 wt. solid potassium carbonate, calculated on the tobacco weight, in 4-6 liters of water and processed further as in example 8.

Example 11.

1.0 g of dark cigar tobacco (finely ground) is heated with 10 g of finely powdered asbestos fibers for y2 hours with 1 wt. ammonium phosphate in 3 liters of water at 90° C. Then 1 g of an aqueous, swollen, 2% pectin solution is added with good stirring and addition of 3% by weight. of a plasticizer, e.g. glycerin, after which the mixture is worked up according to one of the examples mentioned above.

The tobacco foils obtained according to the invention can be used as cover sheets

for cigars and cigarettes. But they can too

serve for the manufacture of cigarette tobacco,

in that they are pulverized in a manner known per se to the desired size and further processed, whereby — provided the tobacco foil

according to the invention is produced from tobacco waste - the practically complete utilization of such waste is ensured.

Claims (13)

1. Procedure for the production of a tobacco foil, characterized by treating powdered tobacco material at a temperature of no more than 100° C with an aqueous solution, which exhibits a pH value of 3-11, of at least one chemical substance, which is either naturally present in the tobacco or is of such a composition that its aqueous solution partially emits the same ions as those ions which are detectable in tobacco material, and possibly with a maximum of 3% by weight. of at least one binder and/or up to 2 wt. of a fibrous product is made swelling according to adhesive and then adds the resulting mushy mass as is known in and of itself to a band-shaped substrate where it is dried extensively and releases the thus obtained dry film from the substrate. 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that one uses as tobacco material fermented, partially fermented or unfermented tobacco leaves, the tobacco leaf fragment, tobacco fermentation waste, leaf nerves, tobacco dust, gravel or arbitrary tobacco waste, as they appear in the tobacco industry. 3. Method according to one of claims 1-2, characterized in that the treatment of the powdered tobacco material takes place at a pH value of 6-10. 4. Method according to one of claims 1-3, characterized in that when using light tobacco as starting material, one works in the absence of a binder or in the presence of no more than 2 wt. of a binder or a binder mixture or when using dark tobacco as starting material works in the absence of a binder or in the presence of at most 3 wt. of a binder or binder mixture. 5. Method according to one of claims 1-4, characterized in that tobacco material is pulverized before treatment to an average grain size of 50-500 (.i. 6. Method according to one of the claims 1-5, characterized in that the treatment is carried out at a pH value of 3-11 in the presence of at least one free inorganic acid or lye and/or an organic acid or base and/or their mixtures and / or at least an alkali and/or ammonium salt of an organic and/or inorganic acid. 7. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that an organic acid is used as acid, such as e.g. formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, oxalic acid, galacturonic acid, or an inorganic acid, such as e.g. a phosphoric acid e. 1. 8. Process according to claim 6, characterized in that potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, ammonia, ethylenediamine, etc. are used as alkali or base. 9. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that one uses alkali salts or ammonium salts • of organic or inorganic acids, e.g. ammonium carbonate, primary, secondary or tertiary potassium phosphates or ammonium phosphates or polyphosphates, sodium hexametaphosphate, ammonium formate, sodium acetate, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, the disodium salt of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, etc. 10. Method according to claims 8 or 9, characterized in that 0.2-1% by weight is used. potassium hydroxide or ammonia, calculated on the dry tobacco weight, or 0.5-5 wt. ammonium phosphate, calculated on the dry weight of tobacco. 11. Method according to one of claims 1-10, characterized in that a buffer system is used, e.g. an acetate puff etc. 12. Method according to one of claims 1-11, characterized in that no more than 4 wt. of a forward adhesive, such as carboxymethylcellulose, acetyl-, ethyl-, hydroxyethyl cellulose, raw pulp, pectins and up to 2 wt. finely powdered asbestos fibres. 13. Method according to one of the claims 1-12, characterized in that the treated tobacco product is mixed with an aqueous calcium or magnesium salt solution, such as e.g. calcium gluconate, magnesium citrate, etc., and/or with aqueous citric acid or tartaric acid or the foil dried on the conveyor belt is sprayed with it.