The Formation of the Oxides of Carbon by the Pyrolysis of Tobacco

Flue-cured Virginia tobacco has been heated in nitrogen and nitrogen/oxygen mixtures under flow conditions, and the rate of formation of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide has been determined as a function of temperature, heating rate, and proportion of oxygen in the gas. When the tobacco is heated in nitrogen at heating rates comparable to those in a smouldering cigarette, 27 % of the carbon content of the tobacco is converted to carbon oxides. Both carbon oxides show two distinct formation regions: a low-temperature region (about 100°-450°C), and a high-temperature region (about 550°-900°C). These temperature limits are almost identical to those predicted from studies on the combustion coal of a cigarette burning in air. When tobacco, or the carbonaceous residue remaining after the pyrolysis experiments, is heated in nitrogen / oxygen mixtures, the total amount of carbon converted to carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide is independent of heating rate, but the relative proportions of the two oxides are strongly dependent on heating rate. At the lower heating rate, proportionally less carbon monoxide, and more carbon dioxide, is produced. Under oxidation conditions, about 70 % of both carbon oxides formed in the low-temperature region (100°-450°C) are produced by tobacco decomposition reactions, whereas in the high-temperature region about 10-20 % of the carbon monoxide, and 2-9 % of the carbon dioxide, are produced by tobacco decomposition.