Effect of exogenous softwood on thermal decomposition of reconstituted tobacco sheet

In recent years, reconstituted tobacco sheet (RTS) has played an increasingly vital role in reducing tumorigenicity for tobacco industry. In this paper, two plant fibers of tobacco pulp (TP) and softwood pulp (SP) were added independently as strengthening agents during the paper-making process to manufacture RTS (TP-RTS and SP-RTS). The effects of exogenous SP on the CO yield in cigarette mainstream smoke, thermal behavior, and gaseous products evolution properties of RTS were evaluated and compared with TP. The CO yield in cigarette mainstream smoke was studied using smoking machine and CO analyzer. The thermal behavior of two RTS was studied by thermogravimetric (TG) analysis, and the gaseous products were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR). CO yield in cigarette mainstream smoke results demonstrated that SP-RTS (3.16 mg per puff) presented higher CO yield per puff than TP-RTS (2.83 mg per puff). TG analysis results demonstrated that the maximum mass loss rate of SP-RTS (23.3 % min^?1) was drastically higher than that of TP-RTS (15.8 % min^?1). FTIR results illustrated that SP-RTS presented stronger absorbance intensity associated with generation of more gaseous products than TP-RTS. In the thermal decomposition stage, the maximum mass loss rate of SP (78.6 % min^?1) was clearly higher than that of TP (38.4 % min^?1), and SP increased the generation of gaseous products compared to TP.