Nicotine Extraction Plant & Machinery Solutions

Tobacco leaf, stem and dust are received, dried where needed and reduced to a coarse powder so more surface is presented for extraction. Milling runs under dust collection, as tobacco dust is fine and readily airborne.

The milled material is wetted and treated with alkali, the usual way of releasing nicotine from its bound salt form. Conditioning is carried out in jacketed vessels with heating and continuous agitation.

The conditioned mass is contacted with the extraction liquid and agitated under heat so the nicotine passes into solution. Heat is drawn from the plant's steam and heat exchange circuit.

Spent tobacco solids are separated from the nicotine-bearing liquor, and the liquor is clarified before it moves on. Clarified liquor is held in tanks ahead of concentration, and the spent solids are conveyed away.

The clarified liquor is concentrated, and where a solid grade is wanted the concentrate is dried to a powder. Vacuum drying is used where the product should not be exposed to open heat.

Liquid nicotine is filled into bottles or drums, capped, coded and labelled; powder grades are filled and sealed as dry product. Filled containers are checked for leaks before despatch.

Vapour, fume and process air from the extraction and drying sections are scrubbed before release. Spent solids and process residues are handled as separate controlled waste streams.