Synthetic method to improve adhesion of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose solutions and its application to reconstituted tobacco for improved processability

Abstract

Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (Na-CMC) binds tobacco powder, additives, and other components together during the rolling moulding of reconstituted tobacco. Due to its insufficient bonding, the product has low tensile strength and a high shredding rate. The standard preparation of Na-CMC solutions suffers from long preparation times and low adhesion. This research used glycerol as a co-solvent, quickly dissolved Na-CMC solutions and increased adhesive solution adherence. When the glycerol/Na-CMC ratio was more significant than or equal to 11:1, the adhesive solution’s adhesion was enhanced by more than 100% compared to conventional Na-CMC solutions at equivalent concentrations. When the highly adhesive Na-CMC solution was applied to reconstituted tobacco, the tension index increased by 192.59%, and the elongation at break increased by 147.14%. The shredding rate decreased by 61.83%. This method should help various Na-CMC industries obtain excellent adhesion at lower adhesive solution concentrations.

Keywords:

• Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose
• adhesion
• reconstituted tobacco
• processability

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Xue Honglong, Zhao WenTao, Ge JinYuan, and Lin XiaoLi for their help during this research. Without their valuable assistance, this work would not have been completed.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no potential conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The present work was financially supported by Shanghai Tobacco Group Co., Ltd (Grant No. K2021-1-027P).