Influence of alkali and alkali earth metals on pyrolysis of tobacco waste

The effect of alkali and alkali earth metals on pyrolysis behavior of tobacco was revealed in this paper. Four alkali and alkali earth metal ions (Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+) were used to impregnate acid-washed tobacco. The addition of alkali and alkali earth metal ions in acid-washed tobacco increases the relative content of ketones, acids, nitrogen containing compounds, and esters, while inhibit the formation of anhydro sugars and aldehydes. The generation of solid residues is enhanced by the presence of alkali and alkali earth metal ions and the increase of K+ concentration. The addition of 0.5 mmol K+/g can increase the yield of solid residues from 13.7 wt% to 20.2 wt%. The increase of K+ concentration promotes the conversion of anhydro sugars to ketones. The effect of hot water-wash, acid-wash, and acid-infuse, which can control the concentration of alkali and alkali earth metal ions in the tobacco, on the product distribution of tobacco pyrolysis were also discussed. Acid-wash method and hot water-wash method promote the production of carbohydrate derivatives and inhibit the generation of nitrogen-containing products. After nitric acid-wash and hot water-wash pretreatment, the relative content of nitrogen-containing products decreased from 52.1% to 6.2% and 4.3%, respectively. Compared with inorganic acid-wash pretreatment method, organic acid-wash pretreatment method has weaker inhibition on nitrogen-containing products. Organic acid-wash pretreatment method promoted the formation of aromatics and aldehydes. Prewash methods facilitate the thermal decomposition of tobacco. The results from this study suggests that feedstock pretreatment could be used as a strategy of controlling aroma compounds formation from tobacco.