Desalting of papermaking tobacco sheet extract using selective electrodialysis

The inorganic components in tobacco sheet extract have significant influence on the sensory taste of the cigars and the harmful component delivery in cigarette smoke. To identify the contributions of the divalent inorganic components on harmful components delivery in cigarette smoke, a self-made selective electrodialysis was assembled with monovalent ion-selective ion exchange membranes. The influences of current density and extract content on the desalination performance were investigated. Result indicates that the majorities chloride, nitrate, and sulfate ions were removed, comparing with 50-60% of potassium and only less than 10% of magnesium and calcium ions removed in the investigated current density. The permselectivity of the tested cations across the Selemion CSO cation exchange membranes follows the order: K+>Ca2+>Mg2+. A current density of 15 mA/cm2 is an optional choice by considering both the energy consumption and separation efficiency. When the extract contents are in the range of 7%-20%, the removal ratios the potassium ions are kept around 60%, while the removal ratios of the calcium and magnesium ions fluctuate in the range of 16-27% and 8-14%, respectively. The tobacco smoke experiments indicated that the divalent metal ions have dual roles for the harmful component delivery in cigarette smoke. The divalent potassium and calcium ions were unfavorable for the total particulate matter emission but beneficial to decrease the HCN delivery in the mainstream cigarette smoke. The selective electrodialysis is a robust technology to decrease the harmful component delivery in cigarette smoke.