Cut Tobacco Research Articles

Energy transfer analysis of the SH626 sheet rotary dryer on the production system perspective

The energy transfer process occurred at all stages of the production system and could demonstrate potential changes in the state of the system during production. The cut tobacco production process also would require a large amount of heat energy to make a high-quality product. Based on the energy balance analysis of the SH626 dryer, the energy consumption of the tobacco drying process was the highest unit, which accounts for approximately 60% of the energy consumption of the whole tobacco production process. The energy transfer efficiency of the sheet heating system was only 0.46 ∼ 0.58 and was mainly influenced by the working temperature of thin plates. The energy transfer efficiency of the hot air heating system was 0.24 ∼ 0.33 and was influenced by the hot air mass flow rate. The energy transfer system remained low levels of energy transfer efficiency and had great potential for saving energy. Those conclusions of this study could provide a theoretical basis to improve dryer system energy transfer efficiency by the thermal integrated system and the intelligent control system.

Thermally Conductive Cellulose/Coper Composite Rods for Tailoring the Characteristics of Cigarettes

A new style of low temperature combustion cigarettes was prepared by implanting a thermally conductive cellulose/coper composite rod (TCCR) in the cut tobacco section, so as to explore the application feasibility at the low temperature environment. The burning temperature of the cigarettes was investigated by thermocouple to study the influence of the implanted TCCRs. The emission of conventional components and seven harmful components in mainstream smoke were also carried out to study the effect of TCCRs. The results show that implantation of TCCRs could reduce the burning temperature of cigarettes effectively, which decreased over 100 °C. In compared with conventional cigarettes, the amount of nicotine and nicotine-freed dry particulate matter (NFDPM) in mainstream smoke of TCCRs implanted cigarettes changed little, while the release of harmful components such as CO, HCN, NNK and phenol decreased over 20%. Moreover, the TCCRs, which made of copper paper with 2 g / 18 g weight ratio of pulp and copper, and 5 mm interval perforating, could reduce the burning temperature of cigarettes by 145 °C and the hazard index by 2.01.

Design of Fully Intelligent Quality Error Prevention System for Tobacco Production Line Based on Configuration Software and PLC Program

Aiming at the problems of wrong brand, mixed batch and wrong transmission of electronic parameter information in the production of cut tobacco of different brands in the tobacco industry, a fully intelligent quality error prevention system based on WinCC configuration software and PLC distributed control program is designed. The information of the production and manufacturing execution system in the general control room and the brand, batch and other information stored in the PLC of the bottom electric control cabinet is compared and verified instead of manual self-inspection. If the information is consistent, production is allowed. Otherwise, the equipment locks itself and sends alarm feedback. The design and application of the system realize the automatic error prevention of process equipment and the implementation accuracy of production control parameters, to ensure that the production process meets the requirements of process technology, effectively avoid major quality accidents, and finally guarantee the product quality.

A roasting method with sugar supplement to make better use of discarded tobacco leaves

Water soluble sugars play an important role in the flavors and irritations of the cigarette sensory quality and the low content of water soluble sugars in the discarded tobacco leaves was a huge obstacle for their application. To make better use of the discarded tobacco leaves, a novel roasting method with sugar supplement was developed to enhance the sugar contents and total flavor compounds (TFCs) of tobaccos. Three main factors in the roasting process namely the reaction time, reaction temperature, and glucose supplement were optimized by single factor methodology. A proper condition was established as reaction time of 10 min, reaction temperature of 140 °C, and glucose supplement of 30%, which was further optimized by the response surface method through a three-level-three-variable Box–Behnken design. Moreover, the flavor compounds of the roasted cut tobacco extracts were analyzed and their effects in cigarettes were also determined. All these results suggested that this simple and easy method could be used to make better use of discarded tobacco leaves.

Study on Ash Gray and Ash Condensation Index Evaluation during Combustion of Medium Cigarettes

The color of cigarette paper directly affect the ash color and ash condensation quality of cigarettes. The ash color and ash condensation quality of cigarettes with black cigarette paper are studied by using the self-developed cigarette paper gray and ash condensation quality measuring equipment and taking black as the background color in this paper. The effect of black cigarette paper on the ash gray is discussed in the combustion process of black cigarette paper for the first time. The results show that the average grey value of black cigarette paper is 116.59, and the uneven grey value is mainly due to the non-uniformity of cigarette paper among different batches and the cut tobacco structure of medium cigarettes, on which the shooting from 3 different angles has a great impact. It is appropriate to calculate the grey and ash quality by taking the average value of 3-side shooting. Black background board is ideal for testing cigarette paper gray. The gray value difference of randomly selected cigarettes is too large, so it is necessary to measure in batches, and the measurement accuracy of gray value can be guaranteed only if the sample quantity is sufficient. The maximum deviation of gray value photographed by different cameras of the same cigarette is 18.17, which is 15.6% of the average value, and the average value of ash coagulation index is 90.20. The cigarette paper ash detection equipment used in this paper is accurate, which can reflect the cigarette ash performance comprehensively and objectively, and such an equipment has rich detective means, and has high automation and reliability in the analysis of detection results. It is necessary to take photos from different angles in the measurement process to ensure the accuracy of gray measurement value of a cigarette to the largest extent, as the samples showed significant differences.

Integration of Safety Aspects in Modeling of Superheated Steam Flash Drying of Tobacco

Knowledge of the drying properties of tobacco in high temperatures above 100 °C and its dust are crucial in the design of dryers, both in the optimization of the superheated-steam-drying process and in the correct selection of innovative explosion protection and mitigation systems. In this study, tobacco properties were determined and incorporated into the proposed model of an expanding superheated steam flash dryer. The results obtained from the proposed model were validated by using experimental data yielded during test runs of an industrial scale of a closed-loop expansion dryer on lamina cut tobacco. Moreover, the explosion and fire properties of tobacco dust before and after the superheated steam-drying process at 160, 170, 180, and 190 °C were experimentally investigated, using a 20 L spherical explosion chamber, a hot plate apparatus, a Hartmann tube apparatus, and a Godbert–Greenwald furnace apparatus. The results indicate that the higher the drying temperature, the more likely the ignition of the dust tobacco cloud, the faster the explosion flame propagation, and the greater the explosion severity. Tobacco dust is of weak explosion class. Dust obtained by drying with superheated steam at 190 °C is characterized by the highest value of explosion index amounting to 109 ± 14 m·bar·s−1, the highest explosion pressure rate (405 ± 32 bar/s), and the maximum explosion pressure (6.7 ± 0.3 bar). The prevention of tobacco-dust accumulation and its removal from the outer surfaces of machinery and equipment used in the superheated steam-drying process are highly desirable.

Intelligent Control in the Application of a Rotary Dryer for Reduction in the Over-Drying of Cut Tobacco

The drying process is fundamental for cut tobacco processing. However, there are some problems related to the drying process such as overheating, or inconsistent control of moisture content. This paper shows how an intelligent controller is designed for an industrial rotary drying system. This controller is applied to a tobacco production unit to reduce overdried cut tobacco and improve the overall unit performance. The proposed control system aims to keep the content of moisture at the dryer outlet as close as possible to the optimal value and improve the homogeneity of the product without any operator intervention. The study shows that, if a reduction of humidity in the cut tobacco drying process is achieved using AI, the quality of the final product improves. In particular, if compared to regulatory control, the proposed method constantly monitors and adjusts the moisture content level in order to reduce the amount of overdried product. The findings of this paper indicate that the suggested process can save at least 222.2 kg of cut tobacco for each batch in the first stage of the drying process.

Dissolution Testing of Nicotine Release from OTDN Pouches: Product Characterization and Product-to-Product Comparison

In recent years, oral tobacco-derived nicotine (OTDN) pouches have emerged as a new oral tobacco product category. They are available in a variety of flavors and do not contain cut or ground tobacco leaf. The on!® nicotine pouches fall within this category of OTDN products and are currently marketed in seven (7) flavors with five (5) different nicotine levels. Evaluation of the nicotine release from these products is valuable for product assessment and product-to-product comparisons. In this work, we characterized the in vitro release profiles of nicotine from the 35 varieties of on!® nicotine pouches using a fit-for-purpose dissolution method, employing the U.S. Pharmacopeia flow-through cell dissolution apparatus 4 (USP-4). The nicotine release profiles were compared using the FDA’s Guidance for Industry: Dissolution Testing of Immediate Release Solid Oral Dosage Forms. The cumulative release profiles of nicotine show a dose dependent response for all nicotine levels. The on!® nicotine pouches exhibit equivalent percent nicotine release rates for each flavor variant across all nicotine levels. Furthermore, the nicotine release profiles from on!® nicotine pouches were compared to a variety of other commercially available OTDN pouches and traditional pouched smokeless tobacco products. The percent nicotine release rates were found to be dependent on the product characteristics, showing similarities and differences in the nicotine release profiles between the on!® nicotine pouches and other compared products.

Effect of cut tobacco size and distribution on critical cigarette quality characteristics of “slim cigarette” processing technology

To further improve the stability of quality control on the processing technology of slim cigarettes in the process of cigarette manufacturing. In this study, based on the blending formula of product A, the cut tobacco screened out by different sieves was rolled according to different proportions. The cigarette structure, physical properties, tobacco loss from cigarette-end, dust content, and density of tobacco rod were systematically evaluated. The results showed that the proportion of medium and short cut tobacco (1.0 mm ∼ 3.35 mm) ≥ 62%, and the whole cut tobacco ratio in the cigarette was less than 40%, which could effectively improve the fluctuation of slim cigarette physical properties and the distribution stability of cut tobacco in tobacco rod.

Prediction of cooling moisture content after cut tobacco drying process based on a particle swarm optimization-extreme learning machine algorithm.

The stability of the moisture content of the cigarette is an important index to evaluate the quality of the cigarette. The cooling moisture content after cut tobacco drying process is a key factor affecting the stability of the moisture content of the cigarette. In order to realize its accurate prediction and ensure the stability, in Honghe cigarette factory, a cooling moisture content prediction model is built based on a particle swarm optimization-extreme learning machine (PSO-ELM) algorithm via the historical production data. Besides, the proposed PSO-ELM algorithm is also compared with multiple linear regression (MLR), support vector machine (SVM) and the traditional extreme learning machine (ELM) algorithms in the same data set on the prediction. The prediction accuracy of PSO-ELM method is the highest and the average error of the prediction standard is the lowest. The results indicated the proposed method can achieve a better prediction performance over compared methods and it provides a new method to realize the prediction of the cooling moisture content after cut tobacco drying process.

Optimization of cutting parameters of microwave expanded stem in slim cigarette

In order to explore the cutting optimization parameters of the processing technology of the expanded stem of slim cigarette, according to the quality characteristics of the microwave expanded stem, the samples with different combinations of cutting parameters were optimized. The results showed that under the combination of cutting parameters with a slicing thickness of 0.5mm and cutting width of 0.2mm, the high whole cut tobacco ratio, moderate small particle content, and minimum tobacco loss from cigarette end could be obtained. At the same time, the samples also had a lower hazard index and better sensory quality. This study provides a reference for technical research on the processing technology of the expanded stem of slim cigarettes.

Effect of the width of cut tobacco on the quality of slim cigarette

In order to further explore the characteristics of slim cigarette processing technology, this study designed different cut width (0.7mm and 0.8mm) of product A, and carried out the experiments of making and rolling under the same process conditions, and evaluated the influence of the width of cut tobacco on the quality of slim cigarette. The results showed that: the 0.7mm cut width has the following advantages: Processing characteristics, Short rejection rate, Reducing draw resistance, Weight stability, Uniformity of density is better than 0.8 mm cut width, and 0.7 mm cut width is more suitable for the production of slim cigarette.

Preventive Detection Method for Leakage of Sheet Tobacco Dryer

Content Sheet Tobacco Dryer is an important and key equipment in the tobacco making workshop of cigarette factory, its function is mainly to expand and dry cut tobacco, and the drying process is mainly carried out by the sheet heating plate in the drum through heat conduction, while the energy of the sheet heating plate mainly comes from the steam inside, and there is a risk of leakage through continuous operation of the sheet and its accessories, once leakage occurs, it will cause quality accidents of tobacco products, and leakage can be well prevented and eliminated through regular leakage detection.

Controlled experimental research and model design of double-layer high-frequency vibrating screen machine

The double-layer high-frequency vibrating screen machine is widely used in the tobacco industry, and its controllability of vibration has a great influence on the screening quality of cut tobacco. In this paper, we obtain the factors affecting the motion characteristics of the vibrating screen by theoretical derivation and experimental measurement of the motion parameters of the double-layer high-frequency vibrating screen machine, and determine the relationship between various factors and the amplitude of the vibrating screen. We also studied the properties of material motion. Through the overall research, we found that in the controllable process of realizing the high-frequency double-layer vibrating machine, we need to pay attention to the quality of the rotor of the motor, the angular velocity, and the radius of gyration, and also need to consider the number of spring piece and the rigidity of the spring piece. Also, the quality of the material will affect the movement of the screen.

Microbiological screening of tobacco raw materials for rolling of cigarettes

In the modern market of tobacco products worldwide, there is a trend towards increased consumption and trade in cut tobacco for manual rolling of cigarettes (RYO tobacco), including and from unregulated producers. This hides additional risks for the health of the consumers due to the possibility to use low-quality and uncontrolled raw materials, including and with increased presence of pathogenic and conditionally pathogenic microorganisms.The aim of the study was to determine the total amount of heterotrophic bacteria (microbial count), the amount of microscopic fungi and the most common species in the raw material for tobacco RYO, distributed on the Bulgarian market.The microbiological analyzes were performed by classical methods accepted in sanitary microbiology. In all samples, spores of the genus Bacillus showed mass development, and according to the macro-morphological characteristics of the colonies, the predominant species can be attributed to B. cereus. The detected amounts of microscopic fungi in the tested tobacco mixtures were significant at strong presence of species of the genus Aspergillus, over 85.48%. Macroscopically, species were defined as A. flavus (41.94%), A. niger (27.42%) and A. fumigatum (16.13%). The relative share of species of the genus Penicillium was 9.68% and of species of the genus Mucor -4.84%. The studied tobacco raw material for manual rolling of cigarettes had significant contamination by microorganisms that had the rank of pathogens. Quantitative microbial assessment suggests a potential health risk for consumers.

The segmentation method model based on cigarette density for burning cone drop rate prediction of super slim cigarettes

The phenomenon of burning cone drop is a serious quality defect in super slim cigarettes. In order to monitor the burning cone drop, a segmentation model conveniently and effectively about cigarette packing density was established and used for predicting the burning cone drop rate. The method is a non-destructive testing (NDT), which is applied by using cigarette density and its change rate.The model of cigarette density segmentation method is based on a straight line ρ=A×ρ’+B in the Cartesian coordinate system with abscissa ρ′ and ordinate ρ. The straight line split the coordinate system into two regions. By measuring the density of the super slim cigarettes, the position of the point (ρ’, ρ) can be determined, then the burning cone drop tendency can be predicted.When verifying the accuracy of the model, it is found that the predicted value and the measured value are basically near the 1:1 line, the coefficient of determination (R2) and the index of agreement (D index) between predicted and observed values are 0.98 and 0.99 respectively, and the normalized root mean square error (nRMSE) is 11.8%. The coefficient of variation of the predicted burning cone drop rate is 6.5% for 10 consecutive replicates.The cigarette density segmentation method model is suitable for predicting burning cone drop of the super slim cigarette samples with varying packing densities or cut tobacco distribution. The model has a good effect on the burning cone drop prediction under certain conditions, and it has an important guiding significance for super slim cigarette production and quality inspection.

Simulation of Heat and Mass Transfer of Cut Tobacco in a Batch Rotary Dryer by Multi-Objective Optimization

Summary To simulate the drying process of cut tobacco in a batch rotary dryer, six different models of equilibrium moisture content were selected to calculate the driving force of mass transfer, and a mathematical model of heat and mass transfer was numerically solved. The multi-objective nonlinear problem of heat and mass transfer coefficients was optimized by employing a weight factor. The simulation results showed that the weight factor r was an important parameter for fitting results of moisture content and temperature. The model evaluation indices almost reached their minimal values with r at 0.1. For all the six equilibrium/classic models the fit was better for moisture content than for temperature. One model (M-Hen/C) was superior to other equilibrium/classic models and the REA (reaction engineering approach) model. This study aims for an understanding of heat and mass transfer in the tobacco drying process, and provides a theoretical framework to support the prediction of temperature and moisture in various drying situations.

Research on adjusting size proportion of cut tobacco

For solving the applicability of size proportion ofcut tobacco under the Internet environment, The device adjusting size proportion of cut tobacco needs to be developed including a feeding belt conveyor, a tobacco regulating device, a discharging belt conveyor, a guiding groove and a fixed bracket. Among these devices the feeding belt conveyor adopts two-way control of size proportion ofcut tobacco without adjusting the choice; the device adjusting size proportion of cut tobacco consists of a feed roller of tobacco, a Uniform roller of tobacco and a Cut tobacco roller, mainly by adjusting the feeding roller of tobacco, Cut tobacco roller speed difference and gap adjustment to control size proportion cut tobacco. Application test was made in Henan tobacco corporation. The results showed that: the gap between the feeding roller and the broken roller are the significant factors in proportion of long stands rate, middle stands rate, short stands rate and small particles rate. the long stands rate is positively associated with the gap, the rest are negatively correlated with the gap, ② the rotational speed of cut tobacco smoothing roller, cut tobacco feeding roller, Cut tobacco cutting roller has certain effect on, proportion of long stands rate, middle stands rate, short stands rate and small particles rate and cannot be ignored in practical work. Conclusion: This design can improve the structure of the cut tobacco through the gap between the cut tobacco feed roller and the cut tobacco break roller. How to quantify the specific effect requires special research.

Analysis of flexible ribbon particle residence time distribution in a fluidised bed riser using three-dimensional CFD-DEM simulation

Fluidised bed technology is a very common industrial process and has a wide range of applications in process engineering. Though indirectly, a common way to infer the end product uniformity is through investigating the solid residence time distribution (RTD) in the system. A good understanding of the particle RTD is crucial for the proper design, optimisation, and scale-up of a fluidisation process. Flexible ribbon particles have a very different flow behaviour in a fluidised bed compared to that of spheres which in turn influences the RTD of the particles. However, this issue is still not very well addressed to date. In this paper, a double chain model is adopted to model cut tobacco strips in a fluidised bed riser. The spring constants of this chain model are calibrated, and the model is validated against experimental datum. Finally, the particle RTD as a function of different process parameters is investigated.

A Method for Parameter Identification of Combined Integrating Systems

This manuscript presents a novel structure of combined integration in the process industry and proposes an efficient method for identifying its parameters. Combined integrating processes are delay-time processes that widely exist in the industry. Conventional identification methods have a low-identification accuracy, a large vibration amplitude of the identification curve, and a poor effect for this kind of process. In this paper, a new variable forgetting factor recursive least squares method was adopted to ameliorate this problem. The method could quickly track the mutation of the ideal parameters of the process and accurately identify which of the parameters has high precision, small oscillation, and a smooth curve. The simulation results indicate that the proposed method is a significant improvement compared to the ordinary recursive least squares method and the recursive least squares with a fixed forgetting factor method, and a concise program can be verified. The experimental simulation based on the actual cut tobacco rebaking industrial process shows that the proposed method has improved identification precision and the best following effect.