Recovering nicotine from tobacco curing

A system for recovering concentrated nicotine from tobacco curing, comprising:

• a condenser to condense moisture released from tobacco during curing, wherein the condensed moisture comprises nicotine;
• an ion exchange column comprising a strong cation resin through which the condensed moisture may be passed to sorb the nicotine;
• a first pump operatively couplable to a source of aqueous ammonium hydroxide and the ion exchange column and configured to pump the aqueous ammonium hydroxide through the strong cation resin to elute the nicotine from the resin;
• a stripping apparatus configured to receive an aqueous solution comprising the nicotine and the ammonium hydroxide that has passed through the resin, wherein the stripping apparatus is operatively couplable to a source of gas, wherein the stripping apparatus and gas are configured to remove ammonia evolved from the ammonium hydroxide in the aqueous solution comprising the nicotine and the ammonium hydroxide, wherein the ammonia is carried away in a stream of the gas;
• and
• a thermostatic settler operably coupled to the stripping apparatus and configured to receive an aqueous solution exiting the stripping apparatus, wherein the aqueous solution exiting the stripping apparatus comprises the nicotine eluted from the ion exchange column from which the ammonium hydroxide has been removed in the stripping apparatus, wherein the thermostatic settler is configured to incubate the aqueous solution comprising the eluted nicotine from which the ammonium hydroxide has been removed at a temperature between 60 degrees Celsius and 210 degrees Celsius to cause separation of the incubated aqueous solution into an aqueous solution comprising a first concentration of nicotine and an aqueous solution comprising a second concentration of nicotine, wherein the first concentration of nicotine is greater than the second concentration of nicotine.