More Than Tow: A Filtration Breakthrough

Source from:  Tobacco Asia  07/02/2013

Small can be beautiful, but sometimes there are clear advantages to being big. Take the example of Celanese.

Part of a global technology and specialty materials company that engineers and manufactures a wide variety of products essential to everyday living, Celanese Acetate has been producing acetate tow for some 70 years and is an acknowledged world leader in the field. Rather than sitting and waiting for its customers to come and ask for new ways to use the material, or to find solutions to their problems, Celanese is structured to be more proactive and has massive research resources.

"As a business we are committed to driving innovation in both our core activities and specialty businesses," strategic marketing director Christopher Davie told Tobacco Asia. This is made feasible by the immense amount of overall science being done throughout the company and its structure which allows that science to be shared across different business divisions rather than being treated vertically in 'silos' of information.

That's how, more than three years ago, Celanese Acetate began working on what it has now revealed as a "breakthrough in filtration" in the form of CelFX  Matrix Technology. This exciting new development demonstrates how the new technology can be used to support product innovation for cigarette manufacturers. CelFX Matrix Technology creates a firm, porous matrix structure which can hold a broad range of additives in the filters of cigarettes. As a result, the matrix structure efficiently filters the smoke stream while effectively introducing the loaded additives in the process.

Christopher told us that CelFX technology will drive product innovation in tobacco by encouraging brand extension and differentiation, while Ray Robertson, Celanese Acetate's staff scientist, customer product support, explained that since the arrival of the acetate filter there has been virtually no change in materials but there has been a source of innovation in the shape of increasingly complex filter structures. CelFX Matrix Technology may be used to improve constituent reduction, support a broad choice of enhancement additives and increase design flexibility.

At the core of CelFX Matrix Technology is an ability to employ various additives at significantly higher loading levels directly in the filter. Holding these additives strongly in place with a specialized inert binder material, CelFX Matrix Technology allows better filtration efficiencies and helps to free up filter space which can be used by product designers for other innovation.

Trials conducted with CelFX technology-based rods demonstrate that it is a drop-in solution for commercial combiner equipment.

Loading of carbon (which has the effect of smoothing a relatively harsh tobacco and can also be used to add taste) into a filtration platform offers benefits in a number of areas, says Ray. Carbon-loaded CelFX-based filters are just one way in which Celanese expects its clients to take advantage of the development but the company is keen to explore numerous further product possibilities to benefit its customers. Christopher says the focus in the early stages of commercialization will be Russia, Korea and Japan, although there have been immediate expressions of interest in other Asian areas, too.
The CelFX matrix based rods are specially designed to ensure that all of the gas flow passes through the carbon, unlike conventional designs where anything up to half the total of gas may escape transmission through the carbon. But tests have shown it has no effect on either tar or nicotine taste or delivery.

However, Christopher stresses that CelFX Matrix Technology represents a real breakthrough in terms of the regulatory framework in the area of gas phase constituents, providing more efficient filtration combined with greater functionality with its revolutionary binder plus additive. The reduction of constituents is of course of growing importance. CelFX Matrix Technology enables loading levels of the carbon of up to three times as much carbon per millimeter but without any effect on drawability. The entire filter design is completely customizable in terms of pressure drop.

As Celanese works in so many diverse industries, its products and technologies have multiple applications, such as Clarifoil film, which is processed from pulp and can also be used in the food processing industry – for window patches, for example – and the company's experience enables it to 'tune' such products to deliver more differentiation – in look and feel, for example – so clients can think differently in terms of both design and manufacture of their products, driving consumer tastes with new and ever-more innovative lines. Celanese products such as Nutrinova's Sunett sweetener is also cross-industry favorite; this is an artificial sweetener used chiefly in food and drink industries but increasingly popular also for use on filter tips (for example to deliver a distinctive kretek sweetness) because it is not burned.

Celanese Acetate Products has been advancing filtration for nearly 50 years, and with the launch of CelFX Matrix Technology, it has added an exciting new technology to support product development.

Todd Elliott, vice president, general manager of Celanese Acetate Products, believes CelFX Matrix Technology raises filtration to a new level of performance and functionality.

"With the launch of CelFX technology, manufacturers now have a highly versatile platform to develop innovative products," he said. "As advanced filtration becomes a focus of product innovation, Celanese is redefining filtration performance with CelFX Matrix Technology, effectively expanding the horizons of filter capabilities. The cigarette-producing industry may now rethink how it looks at advanced filtration." Enditem