Rapid Determination of the Major Chemical Components in Reconstituted Tobacco Sheet Pieces by Near-Infrared Spectrometry

Near-infrared spectrometry was applied to the rapid determination of six major chemical components, i.e. nicotine, total sugar, reducing sugar, total nitrogen, potassium, and chlorine in reconstituted tobacco sheet pieces. Reconstituted tobacco sheet pieces were indirectly collected. Combining with partial least squares regression method, the analytical model of near-infrared spectrometry was established. It was found that the chemical composition and abundance could be effectively characterized by near-infrared spectrometry with accuracy; except total nitrogen, the correlation coefficients of the analytical model of near-infrared spectrometry for the other five components were greater than 0.90; the predicted errors for nicotine, total sugar, reducing sugar, total nitrogen, potassium and chlorine were 0.024 3, 0.399 1, 0.270 3, 0.059 9, 0.050 3 and 0.031 1, respectively; the results of spectral analytical models of small sheet pieces were similar to the powder models, so it could substitute for the powder models for determination of chemical components in reconstituted tobacco sheet pieces.