Method and System For Producing of Reconstituted Vegetable Films

Abstract

The present invention refers to a method and respective system for producing reconstituted vegetable strips, whose said process comprises of milling steps of the vegetable materials to achieve specific particle sizes between 10 to 200 MESH; mixture of cellulose fibers in an intensive mixer to 1 to 10 min; mixture of vegetable material to a binding compound added to the nanocellulose fibers; adding at least one humectant agent and water to the mixture; submitting the mixture to a shearing step through a pre-lamination system comprised of at least two linear and parallel lamination rollers; submitting a strip to a mixture in an intensive mixer for obtainment of an homogeneous mass; lamination of the mixture between at least two linear and parallel lamination rollers, obtaining a continuous strip with a specific thickness; drying the vegetable strip through its passage through a thermal chamber in a specific temperature, between 90° C. and 900° C., through a conveyor belt; and cutting and final processing of the dry strip to obtain the final product.

Claims

1. A method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips characterized by the steps of: (a) milling vegetable materials to reach specific particle sizes between 10 and 200 MESH; (b) mixing cellulose fibers in an intensive mixer for 1 to 10 min; (c) mixing the vegetable material obtained from step (a) with an agglutinating compound added to the nanocellulose fibers obtained from step (b); (d) adding at least one humectant agent and water to the mixture described in step (c); (e) submitting the mixture described in step (d) to a step of shearing through a prelamination system comprised by at least two linear and parallel rollers; (f) submitting the strip obtained from step (e) to a mixture in an intensive mixer to obtain a homogeneous mass; (g) laminating the mixture obtained from step (f) between at least two linear and parallel lamination rollers, obtaining a continuous strip of specific thickness; (h) drying the vegetable strip obtained from step (g) through its passage through a thermal chamber in a specific temperature, between 90° C. and 900° C., through a conveyor belt; and (i) cutting and final processing of the dried strip obtained from step (h) for obtaining the final product.

2. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of milling the vegetable material being performed on at least one, or a combination of more than one, vegetable material from the tobacco leaves group type, cured or not, from different types, such as Oriental, Burley or Virginia, or from the tobacco residue group type such as stem, scraps, winnovers or winnowings, tobacco residues in general and tobacco strips.

3. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of milling the vegetable material being performed on at least one, or a combination of more than one, vegetable material such as yerba mate, sage, chamomile, cocoa, acai, lemon grass, guarana, orange, banana, coffee, cinnamon and clove.

4. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of milling the vegetable material being performed in a milling equipment.

5. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of mixing cellulose fibers comprising submitting the mass of cellulose fibers corresponding between 1 to 50% of the total dry mass of the formulation.

6. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of mixing cellulose fibers in intensive mixers using at least one, or a combination of more than one, cellulose fiber, such as a short fiber cellulose, long fiber cellulose, cellulose nanofibers.

7. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of adding an agglutinating compound to the nanocellulose fibers, obtained on intensive mixers, comprising submitting the mass from the agglutinating compound corresponding between 1 to 30% of the total dry mass from the formulation, and a mass of the vegetal material corresponding between 30 to 80% of the total dry mass from the formulation.

8. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of adding an agglutinating compound to the nanocellulose fibers, obtained on intensive mixers, being performed by using at least one, or a combination of more than one, binder such as corn starch, wheat starch, potato starch, oat starch, rice starch; non-starch hyrdrocolloids, acacia gum, arabic gum, xantham gum, guar gum, tara gum, locust beans (LBG), pectins, gelatins, agar-agar, alginates, carrageenan, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) or microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), among other binding agents.

9. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of adding a humectant agent comprising adding the mass of humectant agent, corresponding between 1 to 20% of the total dry mass from the formulation.

10. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of water to the mixture obtained after adding a humectant agent, comprising adding an amount of water corresponding between 30 to 60% of the content of the final mass.

11. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of adding a humectant agent being performed through using at least one, or a combination of more than one humectant agent such as glycerine, propylene glycol, among other humectant agents.

12. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of shearing through a lamination system being performed numerous times to guarantee the mechanical resistance of the final product.

13. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, characterized by the step of cutting and final processing of the dry strip being performed through different cutting systems in order to obtain different products with different cutting characteristics such as coils with different lengths and diameters, strips cuts, rectangular and square-shaped cuts.

14. The method for producing reconstituted vegetable strips from claim 1, wherein the scraps resulting from the cuts and final processing are again incorporated in the process for increasing the final output.

15. The system for producing reconstituted vegetable strips characterized by comprising: (i) a milling equipment of vegetable materials, such as hammer mills or other similar equipment, that performs the milling of such vegetable materials so that the particles reach specific sized between 10 and 200 MESH; (ii) an intensive mixer that performs the mixture of cellulose fibers in between 1 to 10 min, and that performs the mixture of vegetable material obtained through the milling equipment with an agglutinating compound added to the nanocellulose fibers obtained from said mixture in the said intensive mixer; (iii) a pre-lamination equipment that, through at least two linear and parallel rollers, performs the shearing of the mixture obtained through the intensive mixer, comprised by the vegetable material, agglutinating compound and nanocellulose fibers, together with adding at least one humectant agent and water; (iv) an intensive mixer that executes the submission of the strip obtained from the pre-lamination equipment for obtaining a homogeneous mass; (v) a lamination equipment that executes lamination of the mixture obtained from the intensive mixer between at least two linear and parallel lamination rollers, obtaining a continuous strip of specific thickness; a drying equipment of the vegetable strip obtained from the lamination equipment through the passage of said vegetable strip through a thermal chamber in a specific temperature, between 90° C. to 900° C., through a conveyor belt; and (vi) a cutting and final processing equipment of the dried strip obtained from the drying equipment of the vegetable blade, for obtaining the final product.

16. The system for producing reconstituted vegetable strips according to claim 15, characterized by the materials milling equipment comprising a comminution equipment such as a roller crusher, ball mills, jaw crusher, gyratory crusher, impact crusher, conical crusher or hammer mills.

17. A system for producing reconstituted vegetable strips, according to claim 15, characterized by the pre-lamination equipment comprising two cylindrical rollers, linear and parallel with each other, with variable and adjustable distance between 0.02 and 2.50 mm, and independent speeds variating between 0.01 and 30 rpm.

18. The system for producing reconstituted vegetable strips, according to claim 15, characterized by the pre-lamination equipment comprising two rollers with diameter of 500 mm, which are driven by geared motors, wherein the rollers comprise 600 mm of functional length.

19. The system for producing reconstituted vegetable strips, according to claim 15, characterized by the lamination equipment comprising two cylindrical rollers, linear and parallels with each other, with variable and adjustable distance between 0.02 and 2.50 mm, and independent speeds variating between 0.01 and 15 rpm.

20. The system for producing reconstituted vegetable strips, according to claim 15, characterized by the lamination equipment comprising two rollers with diameter of 500 mm, which are driven by geared motors, wherein the rollers comprise 600 mm of functional length.

21. Reconstituted vegetable strip obtained through the method of claim 1, characterized by said reconstituted vegetable strip being disposed with different cutting characteristics such as in coils with different lengths and diameters, strips cuts, rectangular or square-shaped cuts.

22. Reconstituted vegetable strip obtained by the method of claim 1, characterized by said reconstituted vegetable strip being a wrapping material for smoking products, such as cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars and derivatives.

23. Reconstituted vegetable strip obtained by the method of claim 1, characterized by said reconstituted vegetable strip being a wrapping material for smoking products with tobacco.

24. Reconstituted vegetable strip obtained by the method of claim 1, characterized by said reconstituted vegetable strip being a wrapping material for smoking products without tobacco.

25. Reconstituted vegetable strip obtained by the method of claim 1, characterized by said reconstituted vegetable strip being a material for use as a load for mixture with tobacco.

26. Product derived from the method of claim 1, characterized by a reconstituted vegetable strip being a material of dermatological application.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0063] FIG. 1 is a block diagram with the main operational steps involved in the present invention.

[0064] FIG. 2 is a configuration applied to an equipment for execution of the pre-lamination step according to the present invention.

[0065] FIG. 3 is a configuration applied to an equipment for execution of the lamination step according to the present invention.

[0066] FIG. 4 is a bobbin winder used in the present invention.

[0067] The FIGS. 5A and 5F illustrate the strain/deformation profiles obtained according to the physical properties of reconstituted vegetable strips of mate herb obtained from different processing configurations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0068] In order to facilitate the comprehension of the process described in this patent, FIG. 1 is a block diagram with the main operational steps involved in the process of producing reconstituted vegetable strips of the present invention, comprising the steps of:

[0069] (a) milling vegetable materials to reach specific particle sizes between 10 and 200 MESH;

[0070] (b) mixturing cellulose fibers in an intensive mixer for 1 to 10 min;

[0071] (c) mixturing the vegetable material obtained from step (a) with an agglutinating compound added to the nanocellulose fibers obtained from step (b);

[0072] (d) adding humectant agents and water to the mixture described in step (c);

[0073] (e) submitting the mixture described in step (d) to a step of shearing through a prelamination system comprised by at least two linear and parallel rollers;

[0074] (f) submitting the strip obtained from step (e) to a mixture in an intensive mixer to obtain a homogeneous mass;

[0075] (g) laminating the mixture obtained from step (f) between at least two linear and parallel lamination rollers, obtaining a continuous strip of specific thickness;

[0076] (h) drying the vegetable strip obtained from step (g) through its passage through a thermal chamber in a specific temperature, between 90° C. and 900° C., through a conveyor belt; and

[0077] (i) cutting and final processing of the dried strip obtained from step (h) for obtaining the final product.

[0078] In order to execute the different steps of the process of the present invention, the invention also features a system for producing reconstituted vegetable strips, comprising:

[0079] (i) a milling equipment of vegetable materials, such as hammer mills or other similar equipment, that performs the milling of such vegetable materials so that the particles reach specific sized between 10 and 200 MESH;

[0080] (ii) an intensive mixer that performs the mixture of cellulose fibers in between 1 to 10 min, and that performs the mixture of vegetable material obtained through the milling equipment with an agglutinating compound added to the nanocellulose fibers obtained from said mixture in the said intensive mixer;

[0081] (iii) a pre-lamination equipment that, through at least two linear and parallel rollers, performs the shearing of the mixture obtained through the intensive mixer, comprised by the vegetable material, agglutinating compound and nanocellulose fibers, together with adding at least one humectant agent and water;

[0082] (iv) an intensive mixer that executes the submission of the strip obtained from the pre-lamination equipment for obtaining a homogeneous mass;

[0083] (v) a lamination equipment that executes lamination of the mixture obtained from the intensive mixer between at least two linear and parallel lamination rollers, obtaining a continuous strip of specific thickness;

a drying equipment of the vegetable strip obtained from the lamination equipment through the passage of said vegetable strip through a thermal chamber in a specific temperature, between 90° C. to 900° C., through a conveyor belt; and

[0084] (vi) a cutting and final processing equipment of the dried strip obtained from the drying equipment of the vegetable blade, for obtaining the final product.

[0085] In reference to the process of the present invention, the step of milling the vegetable material may be performed on at least one vegetable material from the tobacco leaves group type, cured or not, from different types, such as Oriental, Burley or Virginia, or from the tobacco residue group type such as stem, scraps, winnovers or winnowings, tobacco residues in general and tobacco strips of any type or class, and the like.

[0086] The milling step of the vegetable material may be performed on at least one vegetable material such as yerba mate, sage, chamomile, cocoa, acai, lemon grass, guarana, orange, banana, coffee, cinnamon and clove.

[0087] The milling step of the vegetable material may be performed in a milling equipment, or other equipment similar to comminution, such as a roller crusher, ball mills, jaw crusher, gyratory crusher, impact crusher, conical crusher or hammer mills.

The milling step of the vegetable material uses vegetable materials according to the size of the particle in which he is inserted.

[0088] Initially, a fibrous material, whose mass corresponds to 1 to 50% of the total dry mass of the formulation, is submitted to a process of opening the fiber in order to decrease its length to a nanometric scale or close to it, in addition to improving its dispersion, eliminating the agglomeration, in an intensive mixture during 1 to 10 min.

[0089] The step of mixturing cellulose fibers in intensive mixers may use at least one cellulose fiber, such as a short fiber cellulose, long fiber cellulose, cellulose nanofibers, or other similar cellulose.

[0090] It is added to the fibrous material an agglutinating agent, whose mass corresponds to 1 to 30% of the total dry mass of the formulation, and a vegetable material, whose mass corresponds from 30 to 80% of the total dry mass of the formulation, previously milled and picked in size ranges of the particles that can vary from 10 to 200 MESH.

[0091] This mixture is homogenized from 1 to 10 minutes.

[0092] The step of adding an agglutinating compound to the nanocellulose fibers, obtained from intensive mixers, can be performed by using at least one binder such as corn starch, wheat starch, potato starch, oat starch, rice starch; non-starch hyrdrocolloids, acacia gum, arabic gum, xantham gum, guar gum, tara gum, locust beans (LBG), pectins, gelatins, agar-agar, alginates, carrageenan, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) or microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), among other binding agents.

[0093] It is then added a humectant agent, corresponding to 1 to 20% of the total dry mass from the formulation, and the homogenization is maintained for 1 to 10 min.

[0094] Lastly, the water is added in a quantity that corresponds to 30 to 60% of the final mass' content, and the homogenization is maintained for 1 to 10 min.

[0095] During the addition of the humectant agent and/or water, additives can also be added, such as colorant, extracts, flavorings, flavor substances, among others.

[0096] The step of adding a humectant agent may be performed through using at least one humectant agent such as glycerine, propylene glycol, among other humectant agents.

[0097] The intensive mixer of high shearing capacity utilized in a few steps of the present invention, may be an intensive mixer such as the ones used by various food industries, for example, in the production of sauces, mayonnaises, yogurts, or in the processing of solid materials, for example, such as the GEIGER GUM-240E type model.

[0098] In the present invention, this equipment is used for the opening of cellulose fibers, and during the various steps of mixturing the mass to be laminated.

[0099] The standard operation procedure of an intensive mixer comprises of various technical characteristics for executing its functionalities, for example, a control panel for automatic activation, or manual operation of the mixer, stop functions, start or restart of the mixer, closing and opening functions of the cap, on/off functions of different speed levels, control over the water discharge, as well as other alarm functions and indication of the conditions operations. The intensive mixer equipment exemplified in the present invention in a non-restrictive manner also comprises a tilting part, as well as the agitator and the bottom scraper.

[0100] The mass obtained after the steps of adding the humectant agent and water are, then, submitted to a pre-lamination process.

[0101] In this operation, the material undergoes a compression in a lamination equipment, comprised of two metallic rollers, for example in stainless steel, linear and parallel with variable and adjustable spacing from 0.02 to 2.50 mm, of independent speed, and that differ from one another in gaps of 0.01 to 30 rpm.

[0102] This process, which may be executed, sequentially, more than once, causes a stretching, decreasing the thickness and homogenization of the distribution on the mass and cellulose fibers, promoting the obtainment of more resistant materials.

[0103] The shearing step through a pre-lamination equipment occurs, for example, through an equipment comprised by two rollers, for example with diameter of 500 mm, which are conducted by reducer motors (through a cardan shaft), wherein the rollers comprise 600 mm of functional length.

[0104] The pre-lamination equipment is an assembly comprised by two lamination rollers conducted by reducer motors.

[0105] The equipment is equipped with an individual speed and approximation controller of the rollers.

[0106] The equipment is similar to the final lamination assembly, already described by patent document US2008199574 under ownership of the same applicant of the present invention, however, said equipment is not accompanied by a furnace.

[0107] The material may be submitted to sequential steps of pre-lamination, and in the end of this process, it is once again homogenized in the intensive mixer, so thereafter, it can be conducted to the final lamination.

[0108] FIG. 2 is a configuration applied in an equipment for the execution of the pre-lamination step according to the present invention, in which some of its operational components for the execution of its functionalities may be observed, such as emergency actuators (01), a mechanical left arm (02), scraping knives regulators (03) of a first roller (04), mechanical right arm (05), scraping knives regulators (06) of a second roller (07).

[0109] The standard operational procedure of a pre-laminator is comprised by various other functionalities through other elements, for example, a control panel comprised by an emergency actuation, mechanical arm adjustment switches, mechanical arm actuation screens, mechanical arm controllers, and roller speed controllers.

[0110] The shearing step performed through a lamination system may be performed multiple times to ensure the mechanical resistance of the final product.

[0111] After the pre-lamination, the humid strip obtained is again comminuted in an intensive mixer for 1 to 10 min in order to facilitate its processing during the final lamination.

[0112] The final lamination consists of passing the mass through a set of cylindrical metal rollers parallel to each other, for example, with variable and adjustable distance between 0.04 and 2.50 mm, of independent speed and with variation of 0.01 to 15 rpm between each other.

[0113] The thickness of the material is defined according to the control of the distance between the rollers.

[0114] Once the strip is formed, for example of thickness between 0.04 to 2.50 mm, it is conducted via a conveyor belt through a drying furnace of variable temperature, generally being adjusted between 90° C. to 900° C., more specifically it can be adjusted between 90° C. and 450° C.

[0115] The humidity of the final product, which may vary from 1.0 to 40%, is controlled from the set point of the furnace temperature and the speed of the conveyor.

[0116] For this purpose, the present invention further comprises a lamination equipment having at least two lamination rollers, for example with diameter of 500 mm, which are conducted by reduction motors, the rollers comprising 500 mm of useful length.

[0117] The equipment presented in the form of a lamination assembly, are equipped with individual speed and proximity control system between them.

[0118] When passing between the rollers, the mass, comprised by the vegetable material, fiber, binder, humectant and water, is transformed into a thin blade on the surface of the roller and is continuously removed by a knife coupled in tangential angulation to the roller.

[0119] This blade is then placed on a conveyor and travels in the interior of the furnace until it reaches an approximate humidity between 8 to 12% (m/m).

[0120] The equipment is similar to the final lamination assembly already described in US2008199574, which is owned by the same applicant of the present invention, however the size of the rollers has been reduced in order to maintain a standard thickness throughout the width of the strip.

[0121] FIG. 3 is a configuration applied in an equipment for implementation of the lamination step in according with the present invention, wherein some of its main components can be observed, such as emergency driver (08), the chamber of addition of material (09) scraping knives regulators (10) of a first roller (11) scraping knives regulators (12) of a second roller, left mechanical arm (13) and right mechanical arm (14).

[0122] The standard operation procedure of a laminator exemplified by this invention in a non-restrictive manner, comprises several elements to ensure the operation of its features, for example, control panel comprising of at least one controller for at least one drying chamber, at least one blower controller, at least one blower for at least one drying zone, at least one resistance switch, at least one resistance starting switch, insufflator failure alert identifier, at least one emergency actuator, roller speed controllers, exhaust controller, conveyor speed controller, mechanical arms, and mechanical arms actuation screens.

[0123] When leaving the furnace, the strip is subjected to final processing, which may include cutting steps for further winding, or other layouts of these materials in different formats that meet different industrial and/or commercial applications that might show, for example, coils of different lengths and diameters, cut filler, cut rag, rectangular cuts, square cuts, among others.

[0124] As seen in FIG. 4, in order to obtain the coils of different lengths and diameters, the present invention uses, in an exemplary and non-restrictive manner, winding equipment that comprise speed controllers parts (15) of the winding machine, clockwise/counterclockwise rotational direction actuation switch (16), coil shaft (17), coil retainer (18), coil shaft lock (19), coil actuator pedal (20), among others.

[0125] The scraps from the cutting and final processing, can again be incorporated into the process, replacing proportionally the input raw material, in order to increase the overall cost-effective and environmental yield.

[0126] For such, the scraps must be subjected to homogenization in an intensive mixer for 1 to 10 min, and incorporated to the process together with adding a binding agent and vegetable material powder.

[0127] The final product can be used as wrapping material or as loads for smoking products, such as cigarettes, cigarillos, among others, in addition to other applications.

[0128] The process herein described allows for the use of both highly fibrous base materials, for example, the smoking stem, as well as base materials that exhibit low levels of fibers, for example, cocoa powder.

[0129] In this way, the best processing conditions are distinct and should take into account the different features of the raw materials but also desirable physical aspects of the final product.

[0130] To better illustrate this effect, different physical properties of reconstituted vegetable strips of yerba mate obtained from different processing configurations are presented in Table 1, which details the physical properties of reconstituted vegetable strips of yerba mate obtained from different processing configurations, being accompanied by their respective strain/deformation profiles.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Mixture Maximum Tensile Fiber Pre- Thickness Content Weight Stress Strength Mix lamination Test (mm) (%) (g/m.sup.2) (cN) (kgf/mm.sup.2) Mixed Not executed T1 0.11 ± 0.00 13.93 ± 0.37 135.30 ± 7.08 2,022.41 ± 118.72 0.75 ± 0.04 Fibers Once T2 0.10 ± 0.00 13.04 ± 0.23 154.30 ± 6.01 2,503.62 ± 11.58  1.02 ± 0.05 Twice T3 0.11 ± 0.01 10.92 ± 0.06 161.60 ± 8.84 4,247.84 ± 281.32 1.54 ± 0.11 Unmixed Not executed T4 0.12 ± 0.01 11.73 ± 0.31 150.70 ± 8.92 2,434.43 ± 159.47 0.81 ± 0.07 Fibers Once T5 0.11 ± 0.00 11.84 ± 0.19 178.10 ± 8.34 3,538.63 ± 228.18 1.31 ± 0.09 Twice T6 0.10 ± 0.01 12.28 ± 0.40 208.09 ± 5.87 4,428.50 ± 188.49 1.51 ± 0.06

[0131] It is observed in the presented data, and as seen in FIGS. 5A to 5F, the gain of mechanical resistance and the increase of weight to the extent that performs the step of fiber mixture and sequential kneading steps are executed.

[0132] In this way, the technology developed in the present invention provides the obtaining of materials of high mechanical resistance (required in different applications). Below are some example embodiments of different products obtained, without departing from the essential scope of the present invention.

Example 1

[0133] Initially, the processing of 3.00 kg of short fiber pulp in an intensive mixer, for example the type GEIGER GUM-240E, is carried out during 3 min.

[0134] It is added to the mixer vessel:

[0135] 11.35 kg of crushed salvia leaves (passing through a 66 mesh sieve), 1.20 kg of carboxymethylcellulose, and the mixture is carried out for 3 further minutes.

[0136] To facilitate the dispersion, with the intensive mixer in operation, a solution of 1.50 kg of propylene glycol, 0.35 kg of ethanol and 0.0225 kg of salvia oil is added, and the process is maintained for 2 further min, when then 11.0 kg of water is added and agitation is maintained for a further 3 minutes.

[0137] The material is laminated twice, and then returns to the intensive mixer, where it is again processed for 3 further minutes.

[0138] Finally, the material is submitted to the final lamination with on-line monitoring for obtaining a strip with a thickness of 0.10 mm and moisture after drying of 11%, but not limited to these standards.

Example 2

[0139] Initially, the processing of 2.00 kg of short fiber pulp in an intensive mixer, for example the type GEIGER GUM-240E, is carried out during 3 min.

[0140] It is added to the intensive mixer:

[0141] 9.00 kg of film scraps of yerba mate, already mixed, separately, in intensive mixer for 3 min, 10.00 kg of milled yerba mate (passing through a 66-mesh sieve), 0.80 kg of carboxymethylcellulose, and the mixture is performed for 3 further minutes.

[0142] To facilitate the dispersion, with the intensive mixer in operation, 1.00 kg of propylene glycol is added, and the process is maintained for 2 further min, when then 9.0 kg of water is added and agitation is maintained for a further 3 minutes.

[0143] The material is kneaded once and returns to the intensive mixer for 3 further minutes.

[0144] Finally, the material is submitted to the final lamination with on-line monitoring for obtaining a strip with thickness of 0.15 mm and moisture after drying of 10%, but not limited to these standards.

Example 3

[0145] Initially, the processing of 3.50 kg of short fiber pulp in an intensive mixer, for example the type GEIGER GUM-240E, is carried out during 3 min.

[0146] It is added to the intensive mixer:

[0147] 7.50 kg of cocoa powder (passing through a 60-mesh sieve), 2.50 kg of cassava flour acigal, 1.00 kg of carboxymethylcellulose, 1.55 kg of guar gum and the mixture is performed for 3 further minutes.

[0148] To facilitate the dispersion, with the intensive mixer in operation, a solution of 1.50 kg of propylene glycol and 0.225 kg of vanillin are added, and the process is maintained for 2 further min, when then 10.0 kg of water is added, and agitation is maintained for a further 3 minutes.

[0149] The material is kneaded twice and returns to the intensive mixer for 3 further minutes.

[0150] Finally, the material is submitted to the final lamination with on-line monitoring for obtaining a strip with thickness of 0.11 mm and moisture after drying of 11%, but not limited to these standards.

Example 4

[0151] Initially, the processing of 3.00 kg of short fiber pulp in an intensive mixer, for example the type GEIGER GUM-240E, is carried out during 4 min.

[0152] It is added to the intensive mixer:

[0153] 13.50 kg of tobacco residue of Burley type (ground and passante in 40 mesh sieve), 1.10 kg of carboxymethylcellulose, and the mixture is performed for 3 further minutes.

[0154] To facilitate the dispersion, with the intensive mixer in operation, a solution of 1.35 kg of propylene glycol is added, and the process is maintained for 3 further minutes, when then 10.0 kg of water is added, and the agitation is maintained for 4 further minutes.

[0155] The material is kneaded twice and returns to the intensive mixer for 3 further minutes.

[0156] Finally, the material is submitted to the final lamination with on-line monitoring for obtaining a strip with thickness of 0.12 mm and moisture after drying of 12%, but not limited to these standards.

[0157] Initially, the processing of 3.50 kg of short fiber pulp in an intensive mixer, for example the type GEIGER GUM-240E, is carried out during 3 min.

[0158] It is added to the intensive mixer:

[0159] 7.50 kg of cocoa powder (passing through a 60-mesh sieve), 2.50 kg of cassava flour acigal, 1.00 kg of carboxymethylcellulose, 1.55 kg of guar gum and the mixture is performed for 3 further minutes.

[0160] To facilitate the dispersion, with the intensive mixer in operation, a solution of 1.50 kg of propylene glycol and 0.225 kg of vanillin are added, and the process is maintained for 2 further min, when then 10.0 kg of water is added, and agitation is maintained for a further 3 minutes.

[0161] The material is kneaded twice and returns to the intensive mixer for 3 further minutes.

[0162] Finally, the material is submitted to the final lamination with on-line monitoring for obtaining a strip with thickness of 0.11 mm and moisture after drying of 11%, but not limited to these standards.

Example 4

[0163] Initially, the processing of 3.00 kg of short fiber pulp in an intensive mixer, for example the type GEIGER GUM-240E, is carried out during 4 min.

[0164] It is added to the intensive mixer:

[0165] 13.50 kg of tobacco residue of Burley type (ground and passante in 40 mesh sieve), 1.10 kg of carboxymethylcellulose, and the mixture is performed for 3 further minutes.

[0166] To facilitate the dispersion, with the intensive mixer in operation, a solution of 1.35 kg of propylene glycol is added, and the process is maintained for 3 further minutes, when then 10.0 kg of water is added, and the agitation is maintained for 4 further minutes.

[0167] The material is kneaded twice and returns to the intensive mixer for 3 further minutes.

[0168] Finally, the material is submitted to the final lamination with on-line monitoring for obtaining a strip with thickness of 0.12 mm and moisture after drying of 12%, but not limited to these standards.