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Tobacco industry: 90% faster dissolving of ingredients with Fristam Mixing

Ensuring batch uniformity and regulatory compliance

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Introduction to the application and industry overview

Manufacturers of tobacco casings and conditioning liquids must achieve reliable dispersion of sugars, humectants, and powdered additives. The primary role of a casing is to stabilize leaf moisture, ensuring consistent processing behaviours and uniform smoking characteristics.

To counteract the bitterness caused by naturally occurring ammonia in tobacco, ingredients like liquorice are incorporated to mask off-notes and support a smoother flavour profile. Achieving complete blends of these ingredients during production is essential for maintaining stable viscosity and flavour distribution. Cigarette manufacturing is also a highly regulated industry, which demands a validated master recipe & complete uniformity from batch to batch to be compliant.

This case study explores how a Fristam Powder Mixer replaced an In-tank mixer – enabling rapid dissolution, reducing labour demand and delivering a perfectly homogenized, production-ready casing solution.

Customer brief

A German cigarette manufacturer required a more efficient and reliable method of dissolving powdered functional additives & flavourings (liquorice powder, nitrobenzoate, citric acid etc…) into a liquid base of propylene glycol and glycerine to coat their cigarette casings.

They told Fristam they needed a solution for faster batch preparation that would completely dissolve all powdered ingredients, reduce raw-material loss and improved hygiene and cleanability.

Previously unsuccessful methods

Previously, the cigarette manufacturer used a conventional in tank top entry mixer – dumping powdered ingredients into the liquids below and using in-tank agitation to mix them. In order to assist homogenisation, the manufacturer heated the liquid to 70°c and it took 3 hours to produce 1000kg of finished product.

This method was not effective and created the following issues:

  • Long batch times that created production bottlenecks
  • Incomplete dissolution and agglomerate formation, reducing casing uniformity
  • Raw-material loss from undissolved material adhering to tank walls
  • Inconsistent viscosity and composition between batches
  • Difficult tank cleaning, making full hygiene assurance time-consuming
  • High labour demand, requiring multiple operators during preparation and cleaning

These challenges highlighted the need for a faster, closed, powder-into-liquid mixing process with effective shear-driven dissolution.

Previously unsuccessful methods

Fristam’s solution

Fristam supplied a Powder Mixer system combining:

  • FZ self-priming pump to induct the liquid base and create suction for powder intake
  • FS high-shear blender to homogenise the wetted ingredients through rotor-stator shear

Unlike the top-entry tank mixer, this configuration enabled faster powder induction and more thorough mixing of wet and dry ingredients.

Trial set-up

1. The un-heated liquid bases of glycol and glycerine (at a temperature of 20°c) were drawn into the system using the Fristam FZ pump.

2. The liquorice powder, nitrobenzoate, citric acid etc… were poured into the hopper, towards the liquid stream below.

3. The powdered ingredients were wetted instantly within the enclosed liquid stream below.

4. This pre-mix was then passed through the FS Shear Blender, which ensured rapid dissolution of all wet and dry ingredients to create a fully homogeneous solution.

5. The finished casing solution was transferred to a storage tank, to be used at another phase of the production process.

6. The system was cleaned effectively using clean-in-place (CIP), simplifying hygiene compared with conventional tanks.

Fristam’s solution

A successful outcome with Fristam Powder Mixer

The Fristam Powder Mixer enabled fast, complete dissolution of tobacco casing ingredients.

Most impressively, the Fristam Powder Mixer achieved this without heating the liquids to assist with blending the powders AND slashed production times from 3 hours to just 15 minutes. This impressive 90% time saving eliminated the bottle necks in this phase of production and enabled the entire process to run more efficiently.

Do you have any questions so far?

Please don’t hesitate to contact our customer support. We would be happy to answer any questions you may have about our case studies or similar challenges, and we will provide effective solutions tailored to your needs.

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Process / Product quality benefits

Process / Product quality benefits

  • Rapid dissolution of sugars, flavours, and powdered additives
  • Uniform, agglomerate-free casing liquid – with batch to batch consistency
  • 90% quicker process, eliminating bottle necks
  • Reduced raw-material residue within processing equipment
Sustainability benefits

Sustainability benefits

  • Elimination of heating cycle reduced energy consumption
  • Reduction of raw material waste
  • Lower overall energy demand due to shorter processing time
  • Less water and resources required for cleaning equipment between batches
Financial benefits

Financial benefits

  • 90% shorter batch preparation time compared with tank mixing
  • Reduced labour requirement, enabling single-operator processing
  • Lower raw-material loss from undissolved residues
  • Lower energy costs as liquids no longer needed to be heated
Other benefits

Other benefits

  • Closed, hygienic powder-induction process improved air quality
  • Significantly easier cleaning than conventional tanks
  • Less labour intensive – as workers did not need to carry heavy bags up ladders to dump powders into a tank

Similar applications

  • Powder-into-liquid dissolution of flavour solutions, sugar syrups, and conditioning liquids in tobacco processing and related industries
  • Preparation of viscous flavour bases, humectant blends, and functional liquid additives where rapid dissolution, hygienic handling, and repeatable viscosity are essential
  • Comparable mixing challenges also occur in food flavourings, confectionery syrups, and other industrial liquid-formulation processes requiring efficient dispersion of soluble powders

Frequently Asked Questions

Inline powder-into-liquid mixing with controlled high shear enables immediate wetting, rapid dissolution, and uniform dispersion of casing ingredients, producing a consistent liquid suitable for downstream tobacco processing. It also requires a fully hygienic system, as the product is ultimately inhaled by the public. The Fristam Powder Mixer is the ideal choice.

In addition to mixing & blending technology – check out Fristam’s full range of pumping technologies suitable for the chemical industry.

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