Journal of Applied Science and Engineering

Published by Tamkang University Press

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Study on the pyrolysis characteristics and stepwise heating release behavior of aroma substances from different types of tobacco leaves

 2026

 Volume 34

Miao Liang1, Wenqi Li1, Jiao Li2, Huijuan Dai2, Yanbin Zhou2, Mengshu Ran1, Guanyun Liu1, and Junsong Zhang1

1College of Tobacco Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Zhengzhou, 450001, P. R. China

2China Tobacco Hebei Industrial Co., Ltd, Shijiazhuang, 050051, P. R. China

Received: May 08, 2026
Accepted: July 13, 2026
Publication Date: August 09, 2026

上傳圖片

Schematic diagram of programmed heating platform and gas collection system 

 Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

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To investigate the differences in thermogravimetric characteristics and heat release behavior of various tobacco leaves, flue-cured, oriental, and Cuibi No. 1 tobaccos were analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis coupled with a programmed heating platform and gas collection system. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was employed to identify key differential substances across heating stages. The thermal weight-loss
process for all samples comprised four stages, with characteristic parameters varying significantly among tobacco types. Oriental tobacco exhibited a higher weight-loss rate at stage II, while Cuibi No. 1 demonstrated a superior comprehensive pyrolysis index of 3.36 × 10−4 (%/min · ◦C2). Kinetic analysis revealed that the F1.5-order chemical reaction model adequately described the decomposition processes. Activation energy at stage II ranged from 54.30 to 89.20 kJ/mol, with flue-cured tobacco showing significantly higher activation energy at stage III than the other two types. Stage II was identified as the primary phase for aroma product formation, where the total release amount followed the order: flue-cured tobacco (15,278.56 µg/g) > oriental tobacco (14,974.00 µg/g) > Cuibi No. 1 (13,190.34 µg/g), with aroma components accounting for over 84% of the total aroma compounds for each variety. OPLS-DA identified 20, 10, and 5 key differential substances for stages II, III and IV, respectively. These findings provide data support for understanding quality characteristics of tobacco materials and may offer guidance for product formulation design.

Keywords: thermogravimetric characteristics; stepwise heating; tobacco leaf type; heat released products; partial least squares discriminant analysis

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