Determinatoin of quality and composition of tobacco by LIBS

F. C. ALVIRA; G. M. BILMES; T. FLORES REYES; L. PONCE CABRERA

Ischia

Conferencia; 12th iNTERNATIONAL cONFERENCE ON lASER aBLATION; 2013

Tobacco is an agricultural product originating in America that is obtained by processing the leaves of various plants of the genus Nicotianatabacum. It is the inedible product occupying most plantings in the world, according to a recent report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. It is consumed in various ways, but undoubtedly the most popular is smoking. There are different qualities of tobacco and a major problem is the adulteration, which is to change the designation of origin. One factor that determines the quality of tobacco is the smoke combustion process that depends mainly on the composition of the soil where they grow and the fertilizers used In particular, the magnesium concentration is an important indicator of the quality of tobacco. By using the Mg/Ca relationship measured by Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) we developed a simple, quick, and cheap technique for the determination of tobacco quality. In this work we show measurements performed with this method in tobacco of different origin (i.e. Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Republica Dominicana, etc.)