# US 2014/0190500 A1 · Process and apparatus for improving raw tobacco

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- Number: US 2014/0190500 A1
- Document ID: US20140190500A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/984,960
- Filed: 2013-01-14
- Published: 2014-07-10
- Earliest claimed: 2012-12-20
- Assignees: Shanghai Juhua Science and Technology Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Shanghai Juhua Science and Technology Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Huang Duan; Xuesong Pan; Bin Liu; Jian Chen; Hongming Wang
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140190500A1

## CPC

- A24B 15/26: Use of organic solvents for extraction
- A24B 3/04: Humidifying or drying tobacco bunches or cut tobacco (A24B3/12 takes precedence)
- B01D 61/027: {Nanofiltration}
- B01D 61/08: Apparatus therefor
- B01D 61/145: {Ultrafiltration}
- B01D 61/18: Apparatus therefor
- B01D 2311/06: Specific process operations in the permeate stream
- A24B: MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF TOBACCO FOR SMOKING OR CHEWING; TOBACCO; SNUFF
- B01D: SEPARATION (separating solids from solids by wet methods B03B, B03D; by pneumatic jigs or tables B03B; by other dry methods B07; magnetic or electrostatic separation of solid materials from solid materials or fluids, separation by high-voltage electric fields B03C; centrifuges, vortex apparatus B04; presses per se for squeezing-out liquid from liquid-containing material B30B9/02; treatment of water C02F, e.g. softening by ion-exchange C02F1/42; {arrangements of air intake cleaners in gas turbine plants F02C7/05} ; arrangements or mounting of filters in air-conditioning, air-humidification or ventilation F24F13/28)

## Abstract

Disclosed are a process and an apparatus for improving tobacco raw material. The process mainly comprises performing an extraction from at least one of tobacco leafs, tobacco flakes, tobacco powder, stalks and cut stems by mixed solvents, conducting a solid-liquid separation for the tobacco raw material, applying the extract liquor of tobacco leaves, flakes and cuts for manufacturing tobacco extract and that of stalks and cut stems for manufacturing fertilizer, diluting and mixing a given amount of tobacco aqueous extract and ethanol extract and removing harmful components so as to get feed liquid, backfilling the feed liquid to the tobacco raw material, and drying the tobacco raw material to a certain dryness to obtain the products. The apparatus is a system composed of a plurality of interconnected independent devices such as extractor, solid-liquid separator, a feed liquid backfiller, etc.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A process for improving tobacco raw material by conducting extraction from tobacco raw material used in cigarette industry with solvent, removing harmful components and backfilling with the feed liquid to obtain the improved tobacco raw material, wherein the process comprises the following steps:
1) mixing more than one of tobacco raw materials selected from tobacco leaves, flakes, cuts tobacco, tobacco powder, stalks, and cut stems with a mixed solvent containing 65˜97% of purified water and 3˜35% of other solvents at a mass ratio of 1:4˜30 between tobacco raw material and the solvent, conducting extraction at a temperature of 10˜80° C. for a period of 1˜120 min;
2) conducting solid-liquid separation for the tobacco raw material after extraction by means of squeezing or centrifugation until the dryness of tobacco raw material reaches 20˜60%;
3) preparing extract of natural tobacco to be used in the process from the extracted liquor after the solid-liquid separation of the tobacco leaves, flakes or cuts, the extracted liquor after the solid-liquid separation of the stalks or the cut stems being used for producing fertilizer but not in the process;
4) preparing the backfilling feed liquid by the following steps: firstly, diluting 1˜10 parts by mass of aqueous extract of natural tobacco and 0.1˜15 parts by mass of alcohol extract of natural tobacco and mixing the dilution uniformly, secondly, removing harmful components, and lastly, forming the backfilling feed liquid with a concentration controlled by 20˜50%;
5) adjusting the dryness of the tobacco raw material after the solid-liquid separation to 40˜60%, then backfilling uniformly the backfilling feed liquid to the tobacco raw material after solid-liquid separation by spraying or immersion, with a mass ratio of the backfilling being 10˜420%; and
6) drying the tobacco raw material backfilled with the feed liquid until the moisture thereof reaches 11˜13% to obtain the end product.

### Claim 2

(canceled)

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, wherein the other solvents in step 1) are one or more solvents selected from ethanol, glycerol and propanediol.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, wherein the solid-liquid separation of the tobacco raw material in step 2) is implemented by squeezing, and the tobacco raw material after squeezing is further loosened to be in a sufficiently loose state.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, wherein the removing harmful components in step 4) is implemented by nanofiltration membrane separation, ultrafiltration membrane separation or column separation, the specification of the nanofiltration membrane or the ultrafiltration membrane being chosen from a cut-off molecular-weight of 3000˜100000 Daltons.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, wherein the extraction in step 1) and the solid-liquid separation in step 2) are preformed once or cycled more than twice.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, wherein the drying in step 6) is implemented by firstly conducting a pre-drying by microwave until the dryness of the tobacco raw material reaches 60˜70%, followed by reducing the moisture to 11˜13% by inflation process.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, wherein the backfilling uniformly the backfilling feed liquid to the tobacco raw material after solid-liquid separation in step 5) comprises stirring and simultaneously squeezing the tobacco raw material preliminarily mixed with the backfilling feed liquid so that the tobacco raw material uniformly absorbs the backfilling feed liquid, and then loosening the squeezed tobacco raw material to a sufficiently loose state.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The process according to claim 1, wherein the producing fertilizer using the extract liquor after solid-liquid separation of stalks or cut stems in step 3) comprises purifying and concentrating the extract liquor, adding microbial agents into the extract liquor to form liquid organic fertilizer after fermentation of the microbial agents, the microbial agent being any one or a combination of bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungus.

### Claim 10

apparatus for improving tobacco raw material according to the process mentioned above, which is a system composed of a plurality of interconnected independent devices, wherein the apparatus comprises: a material room, a solvent room, an extractor, a solid-liquid separator, an extract producer, an extract room, a feed liquid preparing device, a room for collecting harmful substance, a room for distributing additional material, a room for collecting fertilizer raw materials, a moisture content regulator, an feed liquid backfiller and a dryer, each of which being independent devices, wherein an outlet of the material room and a liquid outlet of the solvent room are communicated with an inlet of the extractor, an outlet of the extractor is communicated with an inlet of the solid-liquid separator, a liquid outlet of the solid-liquid separator is communicated at one branch with a liquid inlet of the extract producer and at another branch with the room for collecting fertilizer raw materials, an outlet of the extract producer is communicated with an inlet of the extract room, an outlet of the solid-liquid separator is communicated with an inlet of the moisture content regulator, an outlet of the moisture content regulator is communicated with an inlet of the feed liquid backfiller, an outlet of the extract room is communicated with an inlet of the feed liquid preparing device, the room for distributing additional material is communicated with an inlet of the feed liquid preparing device, a liquid outlet of the feed liquid preparing device is communicated with a liquid inlet of the feed liquid backfiller, a harmful substance outlet of the feed liquid preparing device is communicated with the room for collecting harmful substance, an outlet of the feed liquid backfiller is communicated with an inlet of the dryer, and an outlet of the dryer is communicated with a product room.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the independent devices further comprise a secondary material room, the outlet of the solid-liquid separator being communicated at one branch with an inlet of the secondary material room and at another branch with an inlet of the moisture content regulator, an outlet of the secondary material room being communicated with the inlet of the extractor, so as to meet the need that the steps of extraction and solid-liquid separation are cycled more than twice.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10, 11)

The apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein all of the connection portion between the one independent device and another is provided with a conveyer belt, a spiral propeller, an infusion pump, and a delivery pipe, a detector or a delivery metering controller, etc.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the feed liquid preparing device is provided with a nanofiltration membrane separator, an ultrafiltration membrane separator or a column separator for removal of the harmful components.

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the feed liquid backfiller is provided with a stirring mechanism or a squeezing mechanism.

### Claim 15 (depends on 10)

The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the solid-liquid separator or the feed liquid backfiller is provided, at the connection portion of the outlet thereof, with a scattering means for loosening processing, in case that the solid-liquid separator adopts squeezing dryer, or the feed liquid backfiller is provided with a squeezing mechanism.

### Claim 16 (depends on 10)

The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the moisture content regulator is a heating evaporator or a humidifier.

### Claim 17 (depends on 11)

The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein all of the connection portion between the one independent device and another is provided with a conveyer belt, a spiral propeller, an infusion pump, and a delivery pipe, a detector or a delivery metering controller, etc.

### Claim 18 (depends on 11)

The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the feed liquid preparing device is provided with a nanofiltration membrane separator, an ultrafiltration membrane separator or a column separator for removal of the harmful components.

### Claim 19 (depends on 11)

The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the feed liquid backfiller is provided with a stirring mechanism or a squeezing mechanism.

### Claim 20 (depends on 11)

The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the solid-liquid separator or the feed liquid backfiller is provided, at the connection portion of the outlet thereof, with a scattering means for loosening processing, in case that the solid-liquid separator adopts squeezing dryer, or the feed liquid backfiller is provided with a squeezing mechanism.

### Claim 21 (depends on 11)

The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the moisture content regulator is a heating evaporator or a humidifier.