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Tatijana Beniaminova,
Chairman of Board of Directors:
«We don't compromise on such serious issues as quality and we cannot afford the luxury of learning by trial and error. Till now, we haven't had even one claim against our products set up.»
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Our goal is to meet the high quality standards of current requirement and to maintain leading positions in the global tobacco market.
We have a laboratory fitted out with the state-of-the-art equipment of the leading German companies to maintain continuous checks on raw materials and the final product.
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All the raw materials delivered to the storages undergo input control of moisture content, foreign particles content, dust content. It is necessary for the final product to maintain such consistent and continuous quality control data as moisture, filling capacity, particle size.
Using three independent measuring methods we check the moisture content of the final product:
- the 3 hours' method
using the HORO drying oven (by Dr. Ing. A. Hofmann)
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- the express method with the Borgwaldt F20 moisture meter
- the infrared sensors QB
installed on the Hauni technological line
The filling capacity is measured with the help of the Borgwaldt Densimeter DD 60 A.
To define the particle size we use the Retsch sieve shaker AS 200.
On different stages of all the technological process according to the developed techniques, we measure data of the major technological parameters that ensures tough control of any production cycle and enables us to produce high-quality products.
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Our laboratory has gathered a lot of knowledge on how to process stem of various varieties and origins. Judging by the research of our lab many parameters of quality are mutually connected and somewhat interdependent. For instance, filling value is dependent on moisture content of a final product to some degree and is also dependent on origin and types of blend as well as some of the technological parameters that proves to conduct maximum control of the major parameters of raw materials.
During the laboratory research we have established the dependence of filling value
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on moisture of a final product. A degree of the dependence differs proceeding from a grade of raw materials, proportional blend composition, cut width and gap of the flattener. For example, the picture 1 presents the dependence of filling value on expanded stem moisture for the blend Virginia 50% / Burley 50%.
Picture 1. Trend line of the dependence of the filling value on the moisture of the expanded stem. |
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Moisture data of a final product are consistent and differ from each other not more than 0,2-0,3%. The stable results are achieved thanks to up-to-date express methods of moisture control, blending silos of final products where moisture is re-distributed during storage operation, and also thanks to strict maintenance of the expanded stem processing operation. The following moisture data of the blend Virginia 50% / Burley 50% serve as an example.
The graphic 2 shows that the minimal final moisture data is 13% and the maximum data is 13,3%, i.e. the final moisture is consistent and has an offset of about 0,3%.
Filling value of the expanded stem processed according to our technology, ranges from 5,5 to
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Picture 2. Moisture data of the final blend Virginia 50% / Burley 50% |
7,5 cm3/g and depends both on a grade and variety of by-products.
According to our experience, the filling value of the raw Burley stem differs from filling value of the Virginia raw stem. We have conducted the lab analysis of filling value of the expanded stem processed from Virginia and Burley grades.
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The picture 3 is the demonstration of the above mentioned.
Filling value is dependent on products' moisture and temperature and besides, we have discovered a connection of filling values with strand sizes of cut stems.
Picture 3. Comparative analysis of the filing value of Virginia and Burley varieties |
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Picture 4. Sieve analysis data of the stem of different filling value. |
The conducted sieve analysis of final products has depicted that sieve analysis results have a good correlation with filling value results. It means that the higher amount of the strand content in the expanded stem is, the higher its filling value rises.
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