| abstract |
A process for making a cohesive tobacco composition in which tobacco pectins within the tobacco itself serve as the binder by contacting dry tobacco particles with a solution, which contains an agent to destroy the alkaline earth metal cross-links of the tobacco pectins, under a high shear condition. A reconstituted tobacco sheet is made by forming the resulting mixture into a sheet and drying. In one embodiment ammonia and tobacco volatiles contained in vapors from the sheet drying step are recovered and recycled into the solution. |