TOBACCO APPLICATIONS

Since its first discovery by Europeans more than 500 years ago, the consumption of tobacco has been a contentious issue. The effects are well documented, especially from refined products such as cigarettes, cigars and pipe smoking. Nevertheless, the use of tobacco products persists and as the market is highly subjective in relation to the experience of taste and odour, the modification of these sensory perceptions has seen the incorporation of activated carbon into smoking devices. High surface area activated carbons are used in a variety of formats, usually within the filter tips, to address these requirements.

The popularity of tobacco is a global phenomenon and consequently the market for activated carbon is significant. Jacobi Carbons has developed a range of activated carbons based on sustainable coconut raw material that meet and exceed the industry requirements for performance, cleanliness, and sympathetic to the manufacturing needs of tobacco companies and toll manufacturers alike.

Applications and Solutions

for the Tobacco Industry

Combined Media Filter Tips

Jacobi’s EcoSorb™ MB Series carbons are widely used in the direct combination into the filter tip. Combined media filter tips, or Dalmatian filters, coat the cellulose acetate fibres with a fine grain size activated carbon prior to forming into the finished filter assembly, and subsequently the cigarette ‘stick’. The fine mesh size, provides rapid adsorption kinetics, critical for the activated carbon to adsorb substances with the short contact times available with every ‘puff’ of the cigarette. Product enhancements are also made to improve manufacturing processes and vary target adsorption of the constituents of tobacco smoke.

Cavity Filters

Used more in the format of a traditional activated carbon filter, a void in the filter tip assembly is filled with activated carbon, in an intermediate grain size, for adsorption of smoke components. There needs to be a careful balance in the particle size to ensure limited resistance to flow of the smoker’s ‘puff’, yet has sufficient adsorption kinetics to capture the desired tobacco constituents. Jacobi’s EcoSorb™ C Series carbons provide the perfect balance of these two key elements, and also incorporate the enhancements provided by us to assists in filter tip manufacturing.

Other Uses

Activated carbon is also used in small, porous capsules that can be inserted into other smoking devices, such as pipes and holders to perform much the same function as incorporation into filter tips of cigarettes.

The transportation and storage of tobacco is necessary from grower to market, and as a natural product often requires the application of preservatives and pesticides. These are removed prior to processing at the conversion facility, and the control of emission to the environment of these chemicals is effectively managed using activated carbon filtration devices.

Similarly, where cigarette smoking is permitted inside buildings, increasingly the use of ‘smoker rooms’ in airports, restaurants and other public spaces incorporate activated carbon filtration into treatment devices. The rapid increase in the effectiveness and success of Home Air Filtration (HAF) is also generated by the desire to remove tobacco smoke in the home and office.

Jacobi is proud to serve the tobacco industry with a comprehensive range of products and services. You can download our brochure covering this sector by clicking here.

Download Brochure