TOBACCO SEPARATION PROCESS FOR EXTRACTING TOBACCO-DERIVED MATERIALS, AND ASSOCIATED EXTRACTION SYSTEMS

• US 20120141648A1
• Filed: 03/25/2011
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R J Reynolds Tobacco Company (R. J. Reynolds Tobacco)
• Original Assignee: R J Reynolds Tobacco Company (R. J. Reynolds Tobacco)
• Inventors: Morton, Joshua D., Hume, Steven D., Bratcher, Barry
• Granted Patent: US 9,220,295 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 426/578
• CPC Class Codes: A23G 3/48 containing plants or parts thereof, e.g. fruits, seeds, extracts containing gums A23G3/42
• CPC Class Codes: A24B 15/12 of reconstituted tobacco
• CPC Class Codes: A24B 15/24 by extraction; Tobacco extracts
• CPC Class Codes: A24B 15/30 by organic substances A24B15/281 takes precedence

Abstract

A process of extracting at least one target component from a plant material is provided. The process includes homogenizing a plant material in the presence of an extraction solvent to reduce the plant material to a plant liquid component and a plant pulp component. Each of the components may be further processed to extract specific components therefrom. Specifically, the plant liquid component can be processed to extract a plant-derived starch material, plant-derived proteins, plant-derived sugars, plant-derived sugars, and the like. The plant pulp material can be processed to extract pectin and cellulose. An associated system is also provided.

Claims

1. A process for extracting a plant-derived component from a plant material, the process comprising:

homogenizing the plant material in the presence of an extraction solvent to form a combination of a plant liquid component and a plant pulp component such that the plant liquid component is provided with a pH in a defined range;

withdrawing the plant liquid component from the plant pulp component; and

separating the liquid plant component into a solids fraction and a soluble fraction, wherein at least about 40% by weight of the solids fraction on a dry weight basis is a plant-derived starch component.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein said homogenizing step comprises grinding the plant material.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the plant liquid component is provided with a pH of about 6.5 to about 8.0.

4. The process of claim 3, wherein the plant liquid component is provided with a pH of about 7.0 to about 7.4.

5. The process of claim 3, wherein the plant liquid component is provided with a pH of about 7.2.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein the extraction solvent is a buffer solution.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein the extraction solvent comprises one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of salts of phosphoric acid, bisulfite containing compounds, metabisulfite containing compounds, Group I and Group II halide salts, and combinations thereof.

8. The process of claim 7, wherein the extraction solvent comprises a compound selected from the group consisting of dibasic sodium phosphate heptahydrate, monobasic sodium phosphate monohydrate, sodium chloride, sodium metabisulfite, and combinations thereof.

9. The process of claim 1, wherein the extraction solvent comprises a compound selected from the group consisting of detergents, surfactants, antioxidants, amino acids, buffers, protein extraction agents, and combinations thereof.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein the extraction solvent comprises an antioxidant and a buffer.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein the extraction solvent further comprises a protein extraction agent.

12. The process of claim 1, wherein the plant material is a tobacco plant material.

13. The process of claim 1, wherein the plant material and the extraction solvent are combined in a ratio of about 0.1 L to about 5 L of extraction solvent per 1 kg of plant material.

14. The process of claim 13, wherein the plant material and the extraction solvent are combined in a ratio of about 0.3 L to about 0.7 L of extraction solvent per 1 kg of plant material.

15. The process of claim 1, further comprising drying the solids fraction to a moisture content of less than about 10% by weight.

16. The process of claim 15, further comprising milling the dried solids fraction to achieve a desired particle size.

17. The process of claim 16, wherein the milled solids fraction has an average particle size of about 50 μ

m to about 1 mm.

18. The process of claim 17, wherein the milled solids fraction has an average particle size of about 250 μ

m to about 750 μ

m.

19. The process of claim 1, further comprising isolating the plant-derived starch from the solids fraction.

20. The process of claim 19, wherein said isolating step comprises:

combining the plant-derived starch with a suitable solvent liquid mixture;

heating the liquid mixture;

filtering the liquid mixture to isolate the plant-derived starch; and

optionally drying the plant-derived starch.

21. The process of claim 20, further comprising irradiating the plant-derived starch.

22. The process of claim 1, wherein said step of separating the liquid plant component into a solids fraction and a soluble fraction comprises centrifuging the liquid component.

23. The process of claim 22, wherein the centrifuging is carried out while the liquid plant component is being continuously fed into the centrifuge.

24. The process of claim 23, wherein the feed flow rate of the liquid plant component into the centrifuge is about 5 to about 25 L/min.

25. The process of claim 22, wherein the centrifuging is carried out under conditions of about 1,000 rpm to about 6,000 rpm.

26. The process of claim 22, wherein the centrifuging is carried out under conditions of about 500×

g to about 2,500×

g.

27. The process of claim 1, further comprising drying the plant pulp component.

28. The process of claim 27, further comprising extracting from the dried plant pulp component one or more materials selected from the group consisting of pectin, cellulose, and combinations thereof.

29. The process of claim 1, further comprising separating the soluble fraction into a liquid permeate component and a concentrate component.

30. The process of claim 29, wherein said separating comprises filtering the soluble fraction.

31. The process of claim 30, wherein after said filtering, the concentrate component comprises particles from the soluble fraction having a size of greater than about 0.1 microns.

32. The process of claim 31, further comprising drying the concentrate component to form a concentrate solids material.

33. The process of claim 32, further comprising milling the dried concentrate solids material to form a particulate.

34. The process of claim 29, wherein the concentrate component comprises one or more plant-derived component selected from the group consisting of insoluble proteins, large proteins, cell debris, and combinations thereof.

35. The process of claim 29, further comprising separating the liquid permeate component into a retentate component and an ancillary liquid permeate component.

36. The process of claim 35, wherein the retentate component comprises a soluble proteins component.

37. The process of claim 35, wherein the ancillary liquid permeate component comprises a component selected from the group consisting of sugars, peptides, alkaloids, and combinations thereof.

38. The process of claim 35, wherein said separating step comprises filtering with a 1 kDa ultrafiltration system.

39. A tobacco-derived starch material obtained according to the process of claim 1.

40. A binder comprising, based on the total weight thereof:

at least about 35 dry weight percent of a tobacco-derived starch material according to claim 39;

at least about 10 dry weight percent of a dietary fiber component;

at least about 10 dry weight percent of an ash component; and

at least about 1 dry weight percent of a sugar component.

41. A process for extracting a plant-derived component from a plant material, the process comprising:

homogenizing the plant material in the presence of an extraction solvent to form a combination of a plant liquid component and a plant pulp component, wherein the extraction solvent comprises one or more salts of phosphoric acid and one or more antioxidants;

withdrawing the plant liquid component from the plant pulp component;

separating the liquid plant component into a solids fraction and a soluble fraction; and

further processing one or more of the plant pulp component, the solids fraction, and the soluble fraction to isolate the plant-derived component.

42. The process of claim 41, wherein the one or more antioxidants are selected from the group consisting of thiols, polyphenols, bisulfites, metabisulfites, ascorbic acid, salts of ascorbic acid, uric acid, salts of uric acid, glutathiones, tocopherols, tocotrienols, propyl gallate, and combinations thereof.

43. The process of claim 41, wherein said step of separating the liquid plant component into a solids fraction and a soluble fraction comprises centrifuging the liquid component.

44. The process of claim 43, wherein the centrifuging is carried out while the liquid plant component is being continuously fed into the centrifuge.

45. The process of claim 44, wherein the feed rate of the liquid plant component into the centrifuge is about 5 to about 25 L/min.

46. The process of claim 43, wherein the centrifuging is carried out under conditions of about 1,000 rpm to about 6,000 rpm.

47. The process of claim 43, wherein the centrifuging is carried out under conditions of about 500×

g to about 2,500×

g.

48. The process of claim 41, wherein said further processing comprises drying the solids fraction to a moisture content of less than about 10% by weight and milling the dried solids fraction to provide plant-derived starch particles having an average particle size of about 50 μ

m to about 1 mm.

49. The process of claim 41, wherein said further processing comprises drying the plant pulp component and extracting therefrom a component selected from the group consisting of pectin, cellulose, and combinations thereof.

50. The process of claim 41, wherein said further processing comprises separating the soluble fraction into:

a liquid permeate component comprising a component selected from the group consisting of a soluble proteins component, a sugar component, a peptide component, an alkaloid component, and combinations thereof; and

a concentrate component comprising a component selected from the group consisting of insoluble proteins, large proteins, cell debris, and combinations thereof.

51. The process of claim 50, further comprising separating the liquid permeate component into:

a retentate component comprising a soluble proteins component; and

an ancillary liquid permeate component comprising a component selected from the group consisting of sugars, peptides, alkaloids, and combinations thereof.

52. The process of claim 41, wherein the plant material is a tobacco plant material.

53. A system for deriving starch from a plant material, the system comprising:

a homogenizing apparatus configured to break down the plant material so as to form a plant liquid component and a plant pulp component, the homogenizing apparatus further being configured to receive an extraction solvent such that the solvent contacts the plant material during the breaking down thereof;

a centrifuge apparatus configured to separate the plant liquid component into a starch-containing solids fraction and a soluble fraction;

a drying apparatus configured to dry the starch-containing solids fraction to form a starch-containing solids component having a moisture content of less than about 10% by weight; and

a milling apparatus configured to mill the starch-containing solids component to form particulate starch having an average particle size of about 1 μ

m to about 1 mm.