Abstract
This work evaluated the extractability of tobacco stem biomass for the papermaking type Reconstituted Tobacco Sheet(RTS). The effects of the soaking conditions on the hydration of stem biomass and the effects of the hydrated state on the mechanical extraction were investigated. In order to simulate the mechanical expression process of a papermaking type RTS mill, for example, the screw press process, the novel mechanical pressing analyzer was developed for this study. The hydration of stem biomass by soaking process was greatly affected by the soaking time and the soaking temperature. The longer soaking time and the higher soaking temperature resulted in the higher hydrated stem biomass. Since the higher hydrated stem had more combined water in the inner structure and resulted in the more flexible structure, the higher hydrated stem leaded to the more compressed filter cake and the higher water contents in the filter cake after the mechanical pressing. The pilot pulping experiments showed the difference in hydration and extractability between burley and bright tobacco stem. The bulkier structure of the burley stem resulted in the faster hydration by pilot pulping and leaded to the larger reduction in water soluble components. And the hydration process showed the major influence on the separation efficiency of water soluble components.