Process for expanding tobacco under moderate conditions
US5065774A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 18, 1989 |
| Grant date | Nov 19, 1991 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 18, 2009 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA24B3/182
- WIPO fieldOther consumer goods
- WIPO sectorOther fields
Abstract
The invention is directed to a process for increasing the filling capacity of tobacco under moderate conditions of temperature and pressure. Tobacco is impregnanted with a low boiling impregnant and thereafter subjected to a pre-expansion treatment. The pre-expansion treatment includes a pre-expansion temperature which is above the atmospheric boiling point of the impregnant and which is at least ten degrees below the critical temperature of the impregnant; and a pressure which is at least five atmospheres above the boiling point pressure of the impregnant at the pre-expansion temperature. Under these conditions, the impregnant is maintained primarily in the liquid phase throughout the pre-expansion treatment. Following the pre-expansion treatment, the pressure of the treated tobacco is rapidly reduced to a pressure below the boiling point pressure of the impregnant to thereby effect tobacco expansion without the need for a separate heating step.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.