Abstract
Cellulose fibers are the key reinforcing material used in rolled reconstituted tobacco (RRT). However, fully exploiting the reinforcement capacity of cellulose fibers is challenging, because they aggregate easily in RRT. This study proposes a novel strategy to markedly improve the tensile strength of RRT by utilizing carboxymethylated cellulose fibers (CM fibers) as a reinforcing agent. The thermal behavior of RRT, upon heating, and the chemical composition of the resultant smoke, were retained. Initially, CM fibers with various carboxyl groups were prepared and characterized. Thereafter, a uniform design experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of fiber addition on the tensile strength of RRT; additionally, the impact of varying the content of carboxyl groups in the CM fibers was also investigated. RRT, comprising 2% CM fibers (0.93 mmol/g carboxyl content), exhibited a maximum tensile strength of 4.04 MPa, which was 108% higher than that of RRT that did not contain cellulose fibers. The mechanism by which CM fibers reinforce RRT was also revealed. Finally, thermogravimetric and pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometric analyses were used to evaluate how the dosage of the CM fiber influences the thermal behavior of the RRT samples upon heating; Furthermore, we evaluated whether the dosage of the CM fiber affected the chemical composition of the resultant smoke. This study reports a method for preparing RRT with improved tensile strength, making it a promising material for high-quality heat-not-burn tobacco products.
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PW and GL contributed equally to this research. PW and GL: Methodology, Validation, Writing-Original draft preparation. SG: Validation. BX: Conceptualization, Supercision. XT: Validation. YT: Data curation. ZL: Data visualization. DL: Investigation. QY and ZF: Writing-Review & Editing.
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Wei, P., Li, G., Gao, S. et al. Effectively reinforcing rolled reconstituted tobacco with carboxymethylated cellulose fibers. Cellulose 30, 7129–7140 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-023-05318-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-023-05318-1