Location: Cotton Ginning Research
Project Number: 3050-30600-001-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Apr 13, 2025
End Date: Apr 12, 2030
Objective:
Objective 1: Develop and integrate ginning technologies and techniques that enhance fiber and cottonseed quality and value, increase ginning and textile process efficiencies, and support sustainability of Western and long-staple cottons.
Subobjective 1.A: Document the ginning efficiency of the newer Hybrid and ELS cotton cultivars.
Subobjective 1.B: Investigate lint cleaning methods that improve fiber quality.
Subobjective 1.C: Develop technologies to extract contaminants from seed cotton.
Subobjective 1.D: Assist agricultural processors in reducing environmental risk and complying with regulatory standards.
Objective 2: Develop novel preprocessing and pretreatment technologies to improve value and utilization of byproducts from post-harvest processing of cotton and companion crops and agricultural residues.
Subobjective 2.A: Document cotton and companion crop byproduct properties to enable preprocessing technologies.
Objective 3: Develop new knowledge and techniques to improve postharvest processing of cotton companion crops.
Subobjective 3.A: Develop methods to improve walnut-drying.
Approach:
The mission of the Southwestern Cotton Ginning Research Laboratory (SWCGRL) is to develop technologies that solve problems affecting the cotton ginning industry to maximize economic value, increase competitiveness, minimize the environmental impact, and improve the sustainability of the U.S. cotton production and processing system. To carry out this mission, we will address critical cotton and related companion crop production, processing, and regulatory compliance issues, especially those pertaining to Western irrigated cottons.
The cotton production and processing chain begins with plant breeders selecting cultivars for yield, fiber quality, and plant resilience. Producers then introduce their growing and harvest practices. The ginning process follows and includes seed-cotton drying and pre-cleaning, ginning (separating lint fiber from seed), lint cleaning, and bale packaging. Merchants then store, market, and ship the bales to textile mills that spin the fiber to produce yarn, fabric, and finished products. Cotton has increasingly become more integrated with companion and rotation crop systems that rely on and influence one another. Similarly, environmental risk and regulatory compliance play a significant role in cotton production and processing. In this 5-year project cycle, our group will use agricultural engineering, cotton ginning, byproducts utilization, and agricultural processing expertise; understanding of factors that affect cotton quality and price; and knowledge of other agricultural crops and processes to address aspects of cotton and companion crops systems to add value to U.S. cotton and benefit U.S. agricultural and rural communities.
