Location: Cotton Ginning Research
Project Number: 6066-30600-001-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Jun 1, 2025
End Date: May 31, 2030
Objective:
Objective 1: Develop and evaluate systems to enhance cotton fiber quality and increase ginning efficiency.
Sub-objective 1.A: Develop and evaluate methods to optimize the ginning process while preserving fiber quality.
Sub-objective 1.B: Develop and evaluate methods to enhance ginning system efficiencies.
Objective 2: Develop methods and technologies to detect contamination and quantify the quality of natural fibers.
Sub-objective 2.A: Develop methods to reduce contamination and emissions in the natural fiber supply chain.
Sub-objective 2.B: Develop and modify approaches to quantify natural fiber quality.
Objective 3: Develop technologies and best practices to enhance the logistics of the cotton supply chain “from field to mill”.
Sub-objective 3.A: Improve seed house operations and efficiencies while maintaining product quality.
Sub-objective 3.B: Develop systems to facilitate a cotton gin using data in their operations that was collected about the seed cotton prior to it reaching the gin.
Sub-objective 3.C: Develop systems to allow data from the cotton gin to flow to the next stage of production.
Objective 4: Explore and assess sustainable methods and techniques leading to viable uses of cotton gin byproducts/coproducts.
Sub-objective 4.A: Develop methods to add value to agricultural byproducts.
Sub-objective 4.B: Characterize CGB and its components during production, treatment, and storage.
Approach:
The project will develop new ginning technologies which preserve and enhance fiber quality while also improving system efficiency. The project will also study contamination detection and other components of the ginning process like seed storage. In addition, researchers will unlock new sustainable uses for gin byproducts.
The project will result in new efficient and fiber preserving methods and technologies to optimize the ginning process. This will include assessing systems’ impact on fiber quality, energy consumption, and more. Such efficiencies can help the U.S. cotton industry compete on the world stage.
Part of this research will also study contamination detection and fiber measurements applied to cotton with a goal of identifying low hanging fruit. This will include addressing contamination introduced in the field along with fiber measurements in the lab. This effort will study the best practices in other industries and evaluate what may work with cotton and other natural fibers. Testing of possible solutions or systems identified and developed will consider effectiveness, speed, and cost.
This research project also considers aspects of the overall ginning system in addition to separating lint from seed. These will include data usage, seed storage, and bale handling. The data portion will focus on both harvest data used during ginning and ginning data helping the next stage of production. Seed storage will include sensors for monitoring moisture while bale handling will include bales in the warehouse.
This project will also explore methods that can add value to cotton gin byproducts through enhanced utilization. Researchers will assess environmental and economic feasibilities of methods and treatment techniques. Assessment metrics may include potential environmental benefits, economic payback periods, and rates of return. The project will also explore ways to improve the viability of technologies that can be applied to cotton gin byproducts.