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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lubbock, Texas » Cropping Systems Research Laboratory » Cotton Production and Processing Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #98996

Title: QUALITY OF LINT OBTAINED IN CLEANING COTTONSEED TO FACILITATE SEED COATING PROCESS

Author
item Laird, Joseph - Weldon
item WEDEGAERTNER, T - COTTON INCORPORATED

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/6/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Cotton Incorporated and the USDA-ARS ginning laboratory at Lubbock, Texas developed a process for coating fuzzy cottonseed, giving a free flowing product with handling properties similar to grains. The product has found good acceptance as a high energy feed for dairies. One commercial plant is in operation and others are on the drawing board. A problem is that gin-run ncottonseed contains small amounts of long fiber that is highly spinnable when the hot wet starch coating material is applied causing tangled clumps that hang up in the mixing machinery and could defeat the free flowing property. We developed a modified gin stand for rerunning ginned seeds to remove the long fiber tags at high production rates necessary for an economical cottonseed coating operation. The tag removal process takes off about 2.25 to 2.5 percent of the seed weight as fiber. As a result, the cottonseed coating process will generate an appreciable quantity of spinnable fiber. Removing the tag fiber adds a small amount of cost to the process so a market needs to be found for the fiber to defray the cost. The projected coated cottonseed market is 500,000 tons per year within five years resulting in about 25 million pounds, or 50,000 bales (480 pounds), of tag fiber per year. Fiber test data indicates that the tag cotton fiber has good upper end length but high short fiber. It has good fiber strength and very high fiber elongation properties. If a market can be developed for this fiber at one-half the price of ordinary lint the return would be about $15.00 or more per ton of seed to offset much of the cost of the entire seed coating process. The market for the fiber could reach 7.5 million dollars per year within five years. Further research is needed to perfect the fiber removal process and to develop market uses for the fiber.

Technical Abstract: Fiber test data indicates that tag cotton removed to facilitate coating cottonseed to create EASIflo(TM) cottonseed is comparable in many respects to ordinary lint but with some distinct differences. It has good upper end length properties but more short fiber. It has good fiber strength and very high fiber elongation properties. It is somewhat coarse with very high maturity. The volume of production projected for the coated cottonseed development will make thousands of bales of this new fiber available.