Desalting of tobacco extract using electrodialysis

Papermaking reconstituted tobacco is an important strategy for recycling the waste tobacco residues. To indentify the influences of the inorganic components on harmful components delivery in cigarette smoke, a self-made electrodialysis stack was assembled to desalt the tobacco extract. The influences of the applied current and extract content on the removal rate of the inorganic ions were investigated. Results indicated that the applied current was a dominant impact on the desalination performance. High currents lower than the limiting current density could accelerate the desalting efficiency but cause higher energy consumption. A current of 2 A, or current density of , was an optimal choice by considering both the energy consumption and desalting efficiency. A 20% tobacco extract was an appropriate content for the electrodialysis process. More than 90% of inorganic ions could be removed under the optimum condition. The preliminary result indicated that removal of inorganic components was beneficial to decrease the harmful component delivery in cigarette smoke. Naturally, ED is an environmentally friendly and high-effective technology for desalting the tobacco extract.