Author
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Anthony, William |
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Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 1/4/2006 Publication Date: 6/10/2006 Citation: Anthony, W.S. 2006. Field evaluation of a new lint cleaner. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference. CD ROM pp. 658-675. Interpretive Summary: Standard lint cleaners used to remove foreign matter from cotton lint at gins generally improve the appearance and market value of the cotton but unfortunately reduce the amount of marketable lint and degrade some desirable mill qualities. An experimental lint cleaner that combines features of a cylinder cleaner used for seed cotton with the saw, grid bars and doffing brush from a standard lint cleaner was developed and patented. A full-scale version of the experimental cleaner was field-tested in a commercial gin in comparison to a standard lint cleaner in terms of fiber loss and fiber quality. The experimental lint cleaner improved the leaf grade more than the standard cleaner and lost less marketable fiber. Fiber qualities desired by textile mills were not significantly different. Use of the new machine in industry will increase farmer profits and maintain mill qualities. Technical Abstract: A field study comparing a modern controlled-batt, saw-type lint cleaner to a “new” USDA-developed lint cleaner that combines features of a cylinder cleaner used for seed cotton with the saw, grid bars and doffing brush from a standard lint cleaner but without the controlled-batt feature was conducted in 2004. Controlled-batt lint cleaners improve the appearance and market value per pound but reduce bale weight and degrade some desirable mill qualities. The new lint cleaner was developed to mitigate those adverse features. In the field study, a wide range of fiber qualities were evident in the samples before lint cleaning; for example, color ranged from 21 to 51 and leaf ranged from 3 to 4.6. After lint cleaning, color ranged from 11 to 51 while leaf ranged from 2.6 to 4.3. The overall means for leaf improved by 0.53 and 0.31 for the new lint cleaner and the 24D, respectively, suggesting that the new lint cleaner was a more efficient cleaner. Analyses of variance indicated that only the change in micronaire, length coefficient of variability by number and weight, length by weight, and maturity ratio were significant for the two lint cleaner treatments. In general, the change in the High Volume Instrument (HVI) and Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) variables caused by the 24D and the new lint cleaner were not sufficiently large to be of practical significance. |
