Abstract:
In order to promote the uniformity of tobacco flavoring and flavor absorption, and reduce the pollution to environment, EDEM simulation software was used to simulate the movement of tobacco in a flavoring cylinder based on discrete element method. The number and shape of paddles, the rotational speed of cylinder and atomizing device were optimized through analyzing the movement trajectory and separation ratio of cut tobacco at different numbers of paddles and different rotational speeds of cylinder. An SJ236B flavoring cylinder manufactured by Kunming Marine Equipment Group Limited Corporation was tested and the contents of characteristic aroma components in 1 g of flavored cut tobacco were determined before and after optimization. The results showed that: after optimization, the RSD of methyl
β-orcinolcarboxylate in tobacco decreased from 19.81% to 5.68% and that of benzyl benzoate decreased from 16.14% to 6.06%; the desorption rate of methyl
β-orcinolcarboxylate increased from 46.49% to 62.78% and that of benzyl benzoate increased from 24.34% to 65.40%; the concentration of total non-methane hydrocarbon in the air around the flavoring cylinder reduced by more than 70%. This technology provides a support for improving the uniformity of cut tobacco flavoring.