Methods of Producing Filters and Filter Rods Comprising Porous Masses and Articles Relating Thereto

Abstract

Porous masses that comprise a plurality of active particles and binder particles bound together at a plurality of sintered contact points may be useful in filters, including articles (like smoking devices) and methods relating thereto. The production of such filters may involve the production of filter rods that involves forming a desired abutting configuration that comprises a plurality of sections, the plurality of sections comprising at least one porous mass section and at least one other filter section; securing the desired abutting configuration so as to yield a segmented filter rod length; and cutting the segmented filter rod length into segmented filter rods, wherein the steps of forming, securing, and cutting are performed so as to produce the segmented filter rods at a rate of about 25 m/min or greater.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 providing a porous mass rod that comprises a plurality of active particles and a plurality of binder particles bound together at a plurality of sintered contact points;   providing a filter rod with a composition different than the porous mass rod;   cutting the porous mass rod and the filter rod into porous mass sections and filter sections, respectively;   forming a desired abutting configuration that comprises a plurality of sections, the plurality of sections comprising at least some of the porous mass sections and at least some of the filter sections;   securing the desired abutting configuration with a paper wrapper so as to yield a segmented filter rod length; and   cutting the segmented filter rod length into segmented filter rods;   wherein the steps of forming, securing, and cutting are performed so as to produce the segmented filter rods at a rate of about 25 m/min or greater.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the steps of forming, securing, and cutting are performed so as to produce the segmented filter rods at a rate of about 100 m/min or to about 600 m/min. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the desired abutting configuration is alternating the porous mass sections and the filter sections. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a length of the porous mass sections is different than a length of the filter section. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 providing a second filter rod with a composition different than the porous mass rod and the filter rod; 
 cutting the second filter rod into second filter sections; and 
 wherein the plurality of sections of the desired abutting configuration further comprise at least some of the second filter sections. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the abutting configuration is repeating series of a first filter segment, a porous mass segment, a first second filter segment, and a porous mass segment. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the securing the desired abutting configuration involves adhering the paper wrapper to itself along a seam line. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the active particles comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of: activated carbon, an ion exchange resin, a desiccant, a silicate, a molecular sieve, a silica gel, activated alumina, a zeolite, perlite, sepiolite, Fuller's Earth, magnesium silicate, a metal oxide, iron oxide, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the active particles comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of: a nano-scaled carbon particle, a carbon nanotube having at least one wall, a carbon nanohorn, a bamboo-like carbon nanostructure, a fullerene, a fullerene aggregate, graphene, a few layer graphene, oxidized graphene, an iron oxide nanoparticle, a nanoparticle, a metal nanoparticle, a gold nanoparticle, a silver nanoparticle, a metal oxide nanoparticle, an alumina nanoparticle, a magnetic nanoparticle, a paramagnetic nanoparticle, a superparamagnetic nanoparticle, a gadolinium oxide nanoparticle, a hematite nanoparticle, a magnetite nanoparticle, a gado-nanotube, an endofullerene, Gd@C60, a core-shell nanoparticle, an onionated nanoparticle, a nanoshell, an onionated iron oxide nanoparticle, and any combination thereof. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the porous mass has a void volume of about 40% to about 90%. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the porous mass has an active particle loading of at least about 1 mg/mm and an encapsulated pressure drop less than about 20 mm of water per mm length of porous mass. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the porous mass has a carbon loading of at least about 6 mg/mm and an encapsulated pressure drop of about 20 mm of water or less per mm of length. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the active particles comprise activated carbon and the binder particles comprise polyethylene, and wherein the matrix material comprises the active particles and the binder particles in a ratio of about 50:50 to about 90:10 by weight. 
     
     
         14 . A method comprising:
 providing a porous mass rod that comprises a plurality of active particles and binder particles bound together at a plurality of sintered contact points;   providing a filter rod with a composition different than the porous mass rod;   cutting the porous mass rod and the filter rod into porous mass sections and filter sections, respectively;   forming a desired abutting configuration that comprises a plurality of sections, the plurality of sections comprising at least some of the porous mass sections and at least some of the filter sections;   securing the desired abutting configuration with an adhesive so as to yield a segmented filter rod length; and   cutting the segmented filter rod length into segmented filter rods;   wherein the steps of forming, securing, and cutting are performed so as to produce the segmented filter rods at a rate of about 25 m/min or greater.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the steps of forming, securing, and cutting are performed so as to produce the segmented filter rods at a rate of about 100 m/min or to about 600 m/min. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the desired abutting configuration is alternating the porous mass sections and the filter sections. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein a length of the porous mass sections is different than a length of the filter section. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising:
 providing a second filter rod with a composition different than the porous mass rod and the filter rod; 
 cutting the second filter rod into second filter sections; and 
 wherein the plurality of sections of the desired abutting configuration further comprise at least some of the second filter sections. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the active particles comprise activated carbon and the binder particles comprise polyethylene, and wherein the matrix material comprises the active particles and the binder particles in a ratio of about 50:50 to about 90:10 by weight. 
     
     
         20 . A segmented filter rod produced by the process of:
 providing a plurality of porous mass sections that comprise a plurality of active particles and binder particles bound together at a plurality of sintered contact points;   providing a plurality of filter sections that does not have the same composition as the porous mass sections;   forming a desired abutting configuration that comprises a plurality of sections, the plurality of sections comprising at least one of the porous mass sections and at least one of the filter sections;   securing the desired abutting configuration with an adhesive and a wrapper so as to yield a segmented filter rod length;   cutting the segmented filter rod length into segmented filter rods;   cutting the segmented filter rods into segmented filters;   wherein the steps of forming, securing, and cutting the segmented filter rod length are performed so as to produce the segmented filter rods at a rate of about 25 m/min or greater.