Location: Cotton Ginning Research
2016 Annual Report
Accomplishments
1. Electricity use reduction in cotton gins. Electricity and fuel account for 25% of cotton gins’ variable costs, second only to seasonal labor. Extensive monitoring by ARS researchers at Stoneville, Mississippi of energy use at selected gins began in 2010 to replace outdated data on energy used by specific gin processes and identify areas for future improvement. This research found that maximizing a gin’s processing rate is critical to reducing energy use, and this information and recommendations for achieving that goal have been communicated to ginners through publications by Cotton, Incorporated, cotton ginners’ associations, and presentations at ginners’ meetings and schools. The monitoring studies have shown that the minimum air velocity required in gins was significantly lower than recommended. Decreasing air velocity could reduce conveying fan energy use by more than 50%, and total gin energy use by over 10%. A prototype seed cotton mass flow sensing system has been developed. This system could be used by itself to assist managers in maximizing gin capacity, or as in input for process control systems.
Review Publications
Bechere, E., Zeng, L., Hardin IV, R.G. 2016. Combining ability of ginning rate and net ginning energy requirement in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Crop Science. 56:499-504.
Bechere, E., Zeng, L., Hardin IV, R.G. 2016. Relationships of lint yield and fiber quality with ginning rate and net ginning energy in upland cotton. Journal of Cotton Science. 20:31-39.
Von Hoven, T.M., Montalvo Jr, J.G., Santiago Cintron, M., Dowd, M.K., Armijo, C.B., Byler, R.K. 2016. Fundamental research on spiking, recovery and understanding seed coat nep counts in AFIS analysis of pre-opened cotton. Textile Research Journal. Pg. 1-14. doi: 10-1177/0040517516657057.
