Treatment of tobacco
AssigneeBritish-American Tobacco Company Limited
InventorsGraeme R. Solomon, Eric J. Churcher
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Abstract
The invention concerns a method and apparatus for conditioning and/or drying or otherwise treating tobacco, in which cut tobacco is treated with a liquid and/or vapour medium in a chamber in which a columnar bed of the tobacco is maintained in a fluidized state by air, which may be heated. The treatment medium may comprise water, which is introduced as a spray into the bed and/or in co-current with the fluidizing air through diffusing means at the bottom of the bed, and/or steam. The tobacco may be treated in continuous flow or batchwise.
Claims15
A method for treating tobacco, comprising treating cut tobacco with a fluid medium in a chamber in which a columnar bed of the tobacco, that is a bed whose depth is greater than its mean horizontal dimension, is maintained in a fluidized state by air, the air flowing through the bed of tobacco with a velocity higher than the incipient fluidizing velocity but lower than the entrainment velocity.
Apparatus for treating tobacco, comprising a columnar chamber, means for introducing air to the bottom of the chamber for maintaining a columnar bed of cut tobacco, that is a bed whose depth is greater than its mean horizontal dimension, in a fluidized state in the said chamber, the air flowing through the bed of cut tobacco with a velocity higher than the incipient fluidizing velocity but lower than the entrainment velocity, and means for introducing a treatment medium into the said fluidized bed in the chamber.
A method for treating tobacco, comprising treating cut tobacco with a fluid medium in a chamber in which a columnar bed of the tobacco, that is a bed which depth is greater than its mean horizontal dimension, is maintained in a fluidized state by air, and the tobacco passes through the chamber in a continuous flow counter to the direction of the fluidizing air.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.