| Abstract:To investigate the differences in moisture absorption and desorption behaviors between reconstituted tobacco leaves and natural tobacco leaves in the cigarette production environment, various models were used to fit their isothermal moisture absorption and desorption behaviors under the conditions of cut tobacco processing production line. The optimal isothermal moisture absorption model and desorption kinetics model were selected. The isothermal moisture absorption and desorption behaviors of both tobacco leaves and reconstituted tobacco leaves were analyzed by these models. The findings revealed: (1) The DLP model exhibited the best fitting performance for the isothermal moisture absorption and desorption behaviors of tobacco leaves and reconstituted tobacco leaves; the isothermal hygroscopic curves of tobacco and reconstituted tobacco were of type Ⅲ and type Ⅱ, respectively, indicating significant differences between them. (2) The impact of environmental humidity on the equilibrium moisture content in both tobacco leaves and reconstituted tobacco leaves was more significant than that of environmental temperature. (3) The moisture absorption hysteresis in reconstituted tobacco leaves was not apparent; when the relative humidity in tobacco leaves was low, a distinct moisture absorption hysteresis was evident, and this hysteresis lessened with an increase in environmental relative humidity. (4) The Page model provided the best fitting for the desiccation process of tobacco and reconstituted tobacco; during the preheating transition phase and decelerating drying phase, elevating temperatures accelerated the desiccation rate in tobacco leaves, while during the lagging drying phase, increased temperatures slowed down the desiccation rate. Under identical conditions, the water loss rate in reconstituted tobacco leaves exceeded that of tobacco leaves, suggesting a weaker water-holding capacity. (5) The validation results showed that the calculated values from the Page model had a relative error within 5%, which could better predict the desiccation behaviors of tobacco and reconstituted tobacco in actual production settings. |