Tobacco Nicotine – production, facts, and history

Extraction of tobacco

The next step in the process is extraction to which there are various methods, e.g., solvent extraction, dry extraction, maceration, acidification, neutralization, or supercritical extraction.

When it comes to the solvent method, as the name suggests, it is carried out using various solvents: water, alcohol, mineral oils, organic solvents, or acids. The first step is the maceration of the dried tobacco. Then, the product is collected, filtered, subjected to acidification, neutralization and then to evaporation, after which the crude extract is obtained. In the supercritical method, it is not solvent, but CO₂, which is used to separate nicotine from tobacco leaves, and dry extraction is about heating the material for extraction and acquiring a steam/smoke, which is then dissolved in, e.g. water, in a forced circulation using, e.g., a vacuum pump.

In every method, the result is the same – liquid nicotine extract. What is different, however, is the road the substance has to travel and the scale of its pollution.