BAT's New Synthetic Carbon Twice as Effective

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 07/05/2011

British American Tobacco said today that it had developed a novel, synthetic active carbon that had been found in laboratory tests to be twice as effective as standard carbon filter material at adsorbing toxic volatile compounds from cigarette smoke. The synthetic carbon, which is described in the journal Adsorption Science & Technology, is a spherical high performance adsorbent made by Blücher. It has an internal nanostructure that has been optimised to produce a highly efficient material for the selective filtration of volatile cigarette smoke toxicants. The carbon used in one cigarette filter has a volume equivalent to one drop of water but an internal surface area equivalent to one third of the area of a tennis court. The research that has led to the development of the new carbon is part of an effort by scientists at BAT to develop innovative technologies to reduce toxicant levels in smoke. That effort is an essential part of a research program that seeks to reduce toxicant exposure in smokers and then determine whether this has any impact on the risk of developing smoking-related diseases. Scientists at BAT are currently testing prototype cigarettes made with filters using this highly activated carbon in clinical studies in Germany to determine whether reductions in toxicant levels seen in smoking machine tests translate to reduced exposure levels in smokers. Enditem