Research progress on stem sliver separation process and equipment in cigarette manufacturing

TANG Xishu; TIAN Dexing; FANG Ruiping; PU Yunwei; YANG Lu; WANG Shihong; MA Jiaping; ZI Wenhua

doi:10.12187/2024.04.014

Abstract：Regarding to the problem that excessive stem sliver in cigarettes could damage their physical properties and affect the smoking sensation,the separation technology and equipment for stem silver removing in the cigarette manufacturing process were reviewed in this study.It was summarized that the separation of stem sliver was concen-trated in two key stages including cut tobacco making and cigarette packaging.The main technologies for stem sliver separation including air separation,vibrating screen,and composite processes.Among them,air separation was the main process.The separation efficiency could be improved through equipment improvement and parameter optimiza-tion.However,the balance between tobacco loss and purity still faced challenges.The vibrating screen was easily affected by the shortcomings of screen blocking and cleaning,but the composite process combining it with air sepa-ration were gradually receiving attention.The composite process of stem sliver separation combined optical identifi-cation selection and air separation had showed more accurate and intelligent separation solutions for the cigarette in-dustry,but it was not been widely applied in actual production lines.In the future,the research and development of air separation technology can be strengthened,and it can be deeply and systematically integrated with vibration screen,light identification separation and other technologies.These will achieve the balanced development of ciga-rette product quality and material consumption.