To say it right away, cellulose acetate (CA) tow, the currently most commonly used raw material for cigarette filters, is, in fact, biodegradable as it is manufactured from plant fibers. Yet the chemical process (esterification) deployed during manufacture “denatures” the end product considerably and studies have shown that a CA filter can take up to 10 years to completely decompose under ambient conditions. According to research, polypropylene (PP) tow takes even longer, a staggering 10,000 years (yes, you’ve read that right!).
Enter polylactic acid (PLA), a natural polymer discovered in the 1930 and derived from food plants such as corn or sugar beets, all of which are renewable sources in abundant supply. Used in a number of applications since, PLA has only recently found its way into the cigarette filter industry. While almost identical in its physical properties and filtration efficacy to CA and PP, PLA tow nevertheless fully biodegrades within less than three years, leaving behind only carbon dioxide and water. This makes PLA a most interesting “green” alternative for filter production, with government agencies and tobacco companies worldwide seriously looking into the possibility to greatly expand its use.
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Established in 1966, Jiangsu Tianshengda Group Wuxi New Synthetic Fibre Co. Ltd. has been one of the first synthetic fiber companies in China to supply cigarette manufacturers with filter tow. For some time now, the company has also enthusiastically embarked on a concerted effort spearheading to promote PLA use both at home and abroad. “Although our PLA research goes back more than a decade, we first began commercially producing PLA tow for Chinese cigarette factories in 2010 to evaluate the economic feasibility and consumer feedback, especially in terms of cigarette flavor retention and filter biodegradability. The results were encouragingly positive and since 2015 we have started promoting PLA tow more aggressively to export markets, too,” says overseas marketing manager Mandip Sandhu. Boasting an annual capacity of above 10,000 metric tons, the company has currently allocated more than half of that to PLA tow production. “And this is steadily increasing every year as we are generating more market awareness. We eventually aim to allocate 100% of plant capacity to PLA tow,” Sandhu elaborates, stressing that PLA is the most promising filter material to effectively help reduce global environmental pollution caused by discarded cigarette filters. “About 5.6 trillion cigarettes are sold globally every year and at least one third of those are discarded in the environment, costing governments and municipalities countless millions of dollars for clean up. It is not only the Chinese authorities who are concerned over this ongoing situation, but, in fact, the whole world.”