US3750679A

US3750679A - Method in the utilizing of tobacco waste

Info

Publication number: US3750679A
Application number: US00102879A
Authority: US
Inventors: E Wallberg
Original assignee: IND JANKOPING AB
Current assignee: IND JANKOPING AB; INDUSTRIELAB JANKOPING SW AB
Priority date: 1970-12-30
Filing date: 1970-12-30
Publication date: 1973-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 1990-08-07

Abstract

Tobacco waste is mixed with a liquid, such as water in the weight proportions 3:1 - 3:7 between tobacco and liquid, and the mixture is subjected in a preferably closed container to blow, pressure, or shock impulses of a high repetition frequency, for forming substantially water dissoluble lumps. The water dissoluble parts of these lumps are subsequently dissolved in a liquid such as water. The solution thus formed is separated from at least the principal portion of the tobacco material which is indissoluble in water, for forming an adhesive which consists principally of tobacco and water and is particularly intended for the manufacture of artificial tobacco.

Description

[ Aug. 7, 1973 i 1 METHOD IN THE UTILIZING 0F TOBACCO WASTE [75] Inventor: Erik Arne Wallberg, Jonkoping,

Sweden [73] Asslgnee: Industrielaboratoriet Aktienbolag,

.lankoping, Sweden [22] Filed: Dec. 30, 1970 21 Appl. No.: 102,879

Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 712,158, March 11, 1968,

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 871,952 7/1961 Great Britain 131/140 R Primary Examiner-Melvin D. Rein Attorney-Cushman, Darby & Cushman [57] ABSTRACT Tobacco waste is mixed with a liquid, such as water in the weight proportions 3:1 3:7 between tobacco and liquid, and the mixture is subjected in a preferably closed container to blow, pressure, or shock impulses of a high repetition frequency, for forming substantially water dissoluble lumps. The water dissoluble parts of these lumps are subsequently dissolved in a liquid such as water. The solution thus formed is separated from at least the principal portion of the tobacco material which is indissoluble in water, for forming an adhesive which consists principally of tobacco and water and is particularly intended for the manufacture of artificial tobacco.

5 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure abandoned.

[52] U.S. Cl 131/140 C [51] int. Cl A24b 3/14 [58] Field of Search 131/17, 140-444 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,203,432 8/1965 Green et al. 131/140 C 3,194,245 7/1965 Clarke 131/140C 3,353,541 11/1967 Hind et a1. 131/140 C METHOD IN THE UTILIZING OF TOBACCO WASTE This application is a continuation of my earlier application Ser. No. 712,158 filed on Mar. 11, l968 now abandoned, relating to a method in the utilizing of tobacco waste which arises e.g. in the manufacture of smokables.

A known method of utilizing coarser waste tobacco particles is to remix them directly into the tobacco which is being prepared in the manufacture in question. In order to prevent said particles from ending up in the smokers mouth, the smokables are usually provided with a filter.

Furthermore, it is known to utilize finer waste tobacco particles by mixing them with a suitable binder and then form the mixture e.g., into a sheet. It is also known to secure waste tobacco particles by means of.

an adhesive or binder directly on uncut tobacco leaves or the like which are then utilized as constituents of smokables. A binder of the kind in question generally consists of a cellulose derivative, made of cellulose from some kind of wood. Even although it is possible to make cellulose from tobacco and suitable derivatives thereof, this is seldom economically profitable on account of the fact that the cellulose contents of tobacco are very low (about 12 percent). With any kind of binder, however, the tobacco waste has to be disintegrated in substantially dry condition before the forming of the web comprised of tobacco waste and binder or before the application of the tobacco waste onto tobacco leaves.

In addition thereto, wet grinding of tobacco waste is also known. In so doing, tobacco is ground in the presence of water in the proportions 1:6 l:l2 by weight, i.c., about one part of tobacco to nine parts of water until a suspension of fine tobacco particles in water is formed. After suitable treatment and the addition of a suitable ingredient, such as carboxymethylated cellulose (CMC) it is possible to form sheets, filaments and webs of the suspension or to spray it e.g., onto tobacco leaves.

The present invention is based on the surprising discovery that tobacco which is disintegrated and treated in a preferably closed container and in a suitable way can be dissolved to a very considerable extent in water, or a liquid principally consisting of water, for forming an adhesive or binder which may be used in the first instance for the utilization of tobacco waste. The characteristic features of the invention reside therein that the weight proportions tobaccozliquid lie in the range 3:1 3:7 and in that the mechanical treatment in the form of shock impulses of a high repetition frequency created through cooperation between a rotary member and abutments in said container is continued until substantially water dissoluble, chip-like, horny lumps or the like are formed, the water dissoluble parts of which are subsequently dissolved in an additional quantity of liquid which is comprised of substantially pure water, after which the solution is separated from at least the biggest ones of the undissolved residual pieces of said tobacco lumps, for forming an adhesive which consists principally of tobacco and water.

The invention also encompasses tobacco adhesives or binders which have been manufactured by means of the above method, and semi-manufactured tobacco articles which have been made with the utilization of the above tobacco binder as well as smokables which contain such semi-manufactured articles.

In the drawing the single FIGURE illustrates a tendency curve of the dissolubility of tobacco in water.

In the manufacture of the tobacco adhesive according to the invention tobacco waste is mixed with water or a liquid principally consisting of water in the approximate proportions 3:2 by weight, i.e., about two parts by weight of water to three parts by weight of tobacco waste. In this specification the expression a liquid principally consisting of water refers to ordinary domestic tap water which may contain glycol, glycerine or alcohol as well as recirculated tobacco particles or pieces, as is specified in the following disclosure. The object aimed at, i.e., that at least the principal portion of the tobacco waste is dissolved in the water after the treatment is achieved, even if the proportions should differ somewhat from those stated above, but the contents of water should preferably be within the range of one third to half of the total weight of the mixture of tobacco and liquid. In any case, the weight proportions of the tobacco and the total amount of liquid (water) shall be within the range 3:l 3:7. This amount of water can be absorbed by the tobacco, as is well known to those skilled in the art. The wet tobacco is then subjected to a heavy mechanical treatment, e.g., chopping, beating, crushing, grinding, rolling, kneading or the like, which is preferably carried out in a closed space, since the water otherwise would evaporate and the tobacco becomes dry ground which does not give the desired effect. A laboratory defibrator is a grinding or refining apparatus of a suitable kind. The grinding is, in this case, brought about by four wings (a cross on a spindle) which rotate in a circular cylindrical container having a closure and a bottom. The circular shape is interrupted by ridges or counter-edges which are secured to the circumferential wall of the container and project about one mm above the cylindrical wall. The counter' edges have no real grinding effect, but the tobacco accumulates ahead of the wings in their direction of rotation during the mechanical treatment, and when the wings pass the counteredges, the wet tobacco pieces are subjected to a sudden heavy impact. The water in the tobacco acts as a hard body, or at least a body which is firmer than the tobacco mass which has ab sorbed the water. The rotational speed of the wings shall be chosen in such a way (i.e., 1,500 r/m) that the wet tobacco pieces or particles when subjected to the shock waves arising when the wings or the like pass the protuberances, counteredges or the like, get no time to change shape during the moment of impact proper. As a result the water-soaked tobacco pieces become disintegrated by being exploded from the interior by the impact effect, if the proportions tobaccozwater are within the range specified above.

In a laboratory defibrator of conventional type a suitable time of treatment is about 4 minutes for a mixture of about 200 grams of tobacco and grams of water at a rotational speed of 1,500 r/min. of the wings of the defibrator.

The proportion of water in the mixture is selected so as not to cause same to gather together into one single lump which will whirl around with the wings.

On the other hand the contents of water must not be so high as in the known methods discussed in the opening paragraphs of this disclosure, that that mixture becomes fluid and the water acquires a lubricating effeet."

It has turned out that grinding between the grinding I plates of a double milling disk machine also makes the dissolubility of tobacco in water increase, not to the same extent, however as in a defibrator of the kind described above. Such milling disk machines or disk refiners are common in the paper and pulp industry and have disks which are provided with knives or teeth on. one side. For the purpose of the present invention such disks are suitably arranged pairwise with the teeth facing each other. The pattern of the teeth should be chosen in such a way that the teeth subject the wet tobacco particles to a shock effect when engaging them. This means that the teeth should be substantially radially directed. If the teeth of the disks were curved radially-circumferentially, as is suitable in some other cases, the wet tobacco particles would slide along the teeth instead of becoming disintegrated. When utilizing such disks instead of the defibrator above referred to, it is apparently difficult to compress them towards each other so that the necessary grinding pressure is attained without causing the teeth of the respective disks to cut into each other and cause damage.

The friction heat developed during the heavy mechanical treatment evaporates part of the water and increases the pressure which increases the dissolubility of tobacco in water and. shortens the necessary time of treatment.

Some kinds of tobacco attain a darker color when heated, and if the color is of primary importance, the tobacco should be cooled during the mechanical treatment (the grinding). In any case, the tobacco paste should be cooled before the tobacco is fed out from the grinding apparatus, since otherwise essential ingredients of the gustatory substances should evaporate. When considered advantageous, it is', of course, possible to permit volatile substances to evaporate'in connection with the grinding;

When tobacco waste is subjected to the heavy mechanical treatment in a laboratory defibrator or milling disk machine, as described in the preceding paragraphs and in accordance with the invention, under the conditions stated above, the tobacco waste forms horny chips, flakes or other pieces which quite surprisingly have proved to be substantially dissoluble in water (or a liquid principally consisting of water) to form a solution having more or less prominent adhesive properties. According to the invention, the tobacco pieces resulting from the mechanical treatment are subsequently dissolved in water, the ratio by weight tobacco pieces to water preferably lying in the range 1:3 H4 or at least in the range 3:7 1:5. The dissolving of the tobacco lumps or pieces is facilitated through moderate stirring of the mixture of water and tobacco lumps in the same way as lumps of sugar are dissolved in a cup of tea or coffee by means of stirring with a spoon. Any solid, moist residue in the solution may, at least in respect of tobacco particles, the dimensions of which exceed an acceptable value, be filtered or strained off and, if so should be considered suitable, which is generally the case, be returned to the grinding apparatus to become subjected to a repeated mechanical treatment therein together with additional tobacco waste and liquid. The step of dissolving the tobacco pieces may be carried out either in the grinding apparatus or in a separate container to which they have been transferred after having been scraped off the grinding apparatus. The dissolubility of waste tobacco treated according to the invention is shown in the drawing which illustrates a tendency diagram of water dissoluble fraction (r) in relation to the original quantity of the treated tobacco waste, as a function of the time of treatment (I) at a given, constant shock impulse frequency.

The tobacco solution thus obtained has a strongly adhesive or binding effect and may be utilized in several ways. For example the solution may by means of moulding, casting, pressing, extrusion or in another manner known per se be formed into one or several filamentary or band-shaped webs or the like e.g., on a steel belt onto which the solution is made to flow out. The moldability and the method of forming depend on the contents of water. The tobacco webs may be dried by being subjected to a stream of hot air or by radiant heat. Another possibility of utilizing the tobacco solution is to spray, drop, pour or apply it in another way e.g., onto uncut tobacco leaves, which alternatively may be dipped into the solution, or onto sheet tobacco which may have been manufactured according to the above. Such application of binder strengthens the tobacco leaves and the sheet tobacco and aids in reducing the amount of waste. After that the leaves or sheets have been dried, they are treated in the usual way, i.e., may either be mixed with leaves and be shred tobecome filler in smokables or be used as binders or wrappers of, big or small cigars.

By spraying tobacco adhesive onto tobacco in the form of leaves or semi-manufactured articles the risk of dust rising in the continued treatment of the tobacco article is also reduced. The tobacco adhesive manufactured according to the invention has so great a power of binding or gluing that no addition of any external binder, such as so called CMC, which is used at present, is needed. The binding activity is so great that it is possible to join together tobacco dust by means of the adhesive.

The embodiments described above are, of course, to be regarded merely as non-limiting examples and may as to their details be modified in several ways within the scope of the following claims. Thus, it is possible to convert/homogenize tobacco into a unifonn produce according to the invention already at a tobacco plantation.

What I claim is:

1. A method of making an adhesive solution consisting principally of tobacco wastes and water comprising the steps of:

a. forming a mixture of said tobacco wastes and water in a container with the proportions by weight of tobacco wastes to water being in the range of 3:1 3:7,

b. subjecting the mixture to shock impulses of high repetition frequency effected by means of a rotary number rotating in said container relative to fixed ,abutments whereby chip-like water dissoluble lumps are formed from at least a portion of the tobacco wastes,

c. subsequently, separating said lumps from said mixture, and

d. dissolving the water dissoluble portions of said lumps in a second mixture consisting essentially of said lumps and pure water, and

e. separating said second mixture from undissolved pieces of said lumps stantially dissoluble chip-like lumps and said lumps are in the range 3:1 4:1.

5. Method according to claim 1, including the step of recirculating said undissolved residual pieces of said substantially dissoluble, chip-like lumps into said mechanical treatment step.

Claims

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the tobacco web is a strip.
3. Method according to claim 1, wherein the formation of the webs includes extrusion of the adhesive.
4. Method according to claim 1, wherein the proportions between the water used as a solvent for said substantially dissoluble chip-like lumps and said lumps are in the range 3:1 - 4:1.
5. Method according to claim 1, including the step of recirculating said undissolved residual pieces of said substantially dissoluble, chip-like lumps into said mechanical treatment step.