Composition, structural, and thermal analysis of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin of reconstituted cut stems in tobacco

In order to encourage effective recycling of tobacco resources in the industry and successfully enhance the quality of reconstituted cut stems (GS30). This study investigates the thermal, structural, and material composition of GS30. It was found that compared with high-quality tobacco leaves and cut stems, the contents of important macromolecules including cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin in GS30 were 21.74 ± 1.14 %, 3.66 ± 0.56 %, and 1.69 ± 0.46 % respectively. Its content is smaller than that of blank cut stems but similar to high-quality tobacco leaves. The important macromolecular structures were further analyzed for their surface morphology and crystal structure using FTIR, XRD, SAXS, and SEM. After analyzing the thermal cracking behavior of GS30 through PY-GC-MS, it was found that GS30 has four weight loss stages and thermal cracking releases near 30 types of aroma substances, showing obvious advantages in releasing aromatic gases. This demonstrates that the structure of GS30 obtained from secondary processing of discarded tobacco leaves is loose and easy to burn and decompose, which can effectively reduce the release of cigarette tar.