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Title: AN ATR/FT-IR SPECTRAL DATABASE TO IDENTIFY FOREIGN MATTER IN COTTON

Author
item Himmelsbach, David
item HELLGETH, JOHN - HEWLETT PACKARD
item MCALISTER, DAVID - USTER TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Submitted to: Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies Final Program
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/24/2006
Publication Date: 9/24/2006
Citation: Himmelsbach, D.S., Hellgeth, J., Mcalister, D. 2006. An atr/ft-ir spectral database to identify foreign matter in cotton. 32nd Annual Meeting of Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies. October 24-28, 2006, Lake Buena Vista, FL. Paper #363, p. 153.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The presence of foreign matter in cotton seriously affects the cotton grade and thus the price per bale paid by the spinner, the efficiency of the spinning and ginning operations and the quality of the final woven product. Rapid identification of the nature of the extraneous matter in cotton at each stage of cleaning and processing is necessary permit actions to eliminate or reduce its presence and improve efficiency and the quality. Although several instruments are being successfully employed for the measurement of contamination in cotton fibers based on particle size/weight, no commercial instrument is capable of accurate qualitative identification of contaminants. To this end, ATR/FT-IR spectra of retrieved foreign matter were collected and subsequently rapidly matched to an authentic spectrum in a spectral database. The database includes contaminants typically classified as “trash”: cotton plant parts (hull, shale, seed-coat fragments, bract, cacyx, leaf, bark, sticks and stems) and grass plant parts (leaf and stem), “foreign objects and materials”: synthetic materials (plastic bags, film, rubber, bale wrapping and strapping), organic materials (other fibers, yarns, paper, and leather) plus entomological and physiological sugars and inorganic materials (sand and rust). The spectral matching resulted in consistently high-score identification of the foreign matter based on chemical composition, irrespective of its particle size. The method is envisioned to be employed with stand-alone rugged infrared instrumentation to provide specific identification of extraneous materials in cotton as opposed to only general classification of the type by particle size or shape.