Pengolahan Daun Tembakau dan Dampaknya Terhadap Lingkungan - Tirtosastro, Samsuri; Murdiyati, A.S. (Buletin Tanaman Tembakau, Serat & Minyak Industri, 2011)
Tembakau merupakan bahan baku utama industri hasil tembakau seperti rokok keretek, cerutu, tembakau iris, dan lain-lain. Sebelum digunakan, daun tembakau harus melalui proses pengolahan. Pengolahan tembakau pada dasarnya merupakan kegiatan pengeringan, dengan penerapan suhu bertahap atau disebut proses kiu-ring (curing). Dalam proses pengolahan tembakau diperlukan energi, yang selama ini berasal dari panas ma-tahari, udara panas buatan hasil pembakaran kayu, minyak tanah, batu bara, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), atau limbah pertanian. Penggunaan bahan bakar ini menyebabkan polusi udara, sehingga mencemari ling-kungan dan meracuni pekerja. Tembakau sendiri mengandung bahan berbahaya seperti, debu tembakau, ni-kotin, residu pestisida, TSNA (tobacco spesific nitrosamine), B-a-P (benzo-a-pyrene), dan lain-lain. Petunjuk pengendalian bahan berbahaya dan dampak lingkungan tersebut, selama ini sudah tersedia secara lengkap yang ditetapkan oleh organisasi tembakau dunia Coresta dan diimplementasikan oleh perusahaan-perusaha-an mitra petani. Petani yang sistem produksinya dalam bentuk kemitraan dengan perusahaan-perusahaan tembakau, telah melakukan pengendalian dengan baik. Dampak negatif penggunaan bahan bakar dapat di-tekan dengan sistem pemanasan tidak langsung (flue-curing), sedangkan penggunaan batu bara dilakukan dengan tungku pembakaran gasifikasi. Implementasi selanjutnya, selain diperlukan sistem inspeksi sesuai ketentuan juga perlu didorong terbentuknya kemitraan antara perusahaan tembakau dan petani.Â Tobacco leaf is the main raw material of tobacco industries such as cigarette, cigar, slices tobacco, etc. Be-fore being used, tobacco leaves have to go through processing. Tobacco processing is basically a drying acti-vity, with the application of temperature or a gradual process called curing. In the processing of tobacco ener-gy needed, which is derived from the hot sun, hot air made by the burning wood, kerosene, coal, LPG (li-quefied petroleum gas), or agricultural waste. The use of these fuels causes air pollution, thus contaminating the environment and poisoning workers. Tobacco itself contain hazardous materials such as tobacco dust, ni-cotine, pesticide residue, TSNA (tobacco specific nitrosamines), B-a-P (benzo-a-pyrene) and others. In-structions on control of hazardous materials and environmental impact, as long as it is available completely de-termined by the organization of the world tobacco Coresta and implemented by partner company of farmers. Farmer production systems in the form of partnership with tobacco companies, has done well control. The ne-gative impact of fuel use could be reduced by an indirect heating system (flue-curing), while the use of coal gasification is done by burning stove. Subsequent implementation, in addition to the required inspection sys-tem according to the provisions, should also be encouraged such as partnerships between tobacco companies and farmers.