Nicotine Removal

The tobacco industry has had to reinvent itself in recent years, producing a range of nicotine replacement therapy products like nicotine gum, patches, lozenges and snus as well as IQOS and vaping products (see nicotine removal case studies).

These new products have different manufacturing processes to traditional tobacco manufacturing. Indeed most of the new products are produced by pharmaceutical and specialty chemical companies.

As with most production processes, water is used in the of the production of the nicotine replacement therapy products. As a result, the wastewater contains nicotine, which needs to be removed for compliant discharge to sewer.

A common solution to nicotine removal from water has been incineration, which is extremely expensive not just financially, but also to the environment. But now there is a much more cost effective and ecofriendly solution, Nyex.

Parameter

pH

Conductivity

COD

TOC

Nicotine

Level

10.24 AU

0.69 mS/cm

894 mg/L

347 mg/L

33 mg/L

CASE STUDY: Nicotine Removal for Nicotine Gum Manufacturer

We have been working with one of the largest producers of nicotine gum. You can see from the table the characteristics of the wastewater.

The goal was to remove the nicotine from the waste stream to a concentration lower than 1 mg/L in order to allow discharging of the effluent into the municipal sewage system.