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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Structure and Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #249474
Title: Identification of cotton and cotton trash components by fourier-transform near-infrared spectropscopy

Author
item Fortier, Chanel
item Rodgers Iii, James
item Santiago Cintron, Michael
item Cui, Xiaoliang
item Foulk, Jonn

Submitted to: Textile Research Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/16/2010
Publication Date: 4/14/2011
Citation: Fortier, C.A., Rodgers Iii, J.E., Santiago Cintron, M., Cui, X., Foulk, J.A. 2011. Identification of cotton and cotton trash components by fourier-transform near-infrared spectropscopy. Textile Research Journal. 81 (3)230-238.

Interpretive Summary: Cotton trash can become comingled with cotton fiber (lint) during the ginning and harvesting processes. The conventional instrumental method presently used in the United States and other countries to determine many characteristics of cotton is the Uster® High Volume Instrument (HVI) system. The HVI system is very effective in the determination of length, strength, micronaire, color, and total trash content in a cotton sample. One limitation of the HVI method is the lack of specificity in the identification of individual trash components (leaf, etc.). A program was implemented to develop new techniques to distinguish the individual types of cotton trash from the lint. In this study, differences in the spectral bands of cotton and cotton trash were monitored by Fourier-transform Near-Infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy. A spectral library based on NIR spectral data and pre-processing methods was developed using cotton and cotton trash samples of hull, leaf, seed coat, and stem. The FT-IR method is easy of use, has a short analysis time, and exhibits distinct spectral differences for each type of cotton trash. The FT-NIR spectral library presents a complimentary method to the widely used HVI method to classify cotton trash.

Technical Abstract: The high demand for cotton production worldwide has demonstrated the need for its standardized classification. Cotton trash can become comingled with lint during the ginning and harvesting processes. The conventional instrumental method presently used in the United States and other countries to determine many characteristics of cotton is the Uster® High Volume Instrument (HVI) system. The HVI system is very effective in the determination of length, strength, micronaire, color, and total trash content in a cotton sample. However, one limitation of this method is the lack of specificity in the identification of individual trash components (leaf, etc.). A program was implemented to develop novel techniques in order to distinguish the individual types of cotton trash from the lint. In this study, the concept of monitoring differences in spectral bands of cotton and cotton trash by Fourier-transform Near-Infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy was demonstrated. A spectral library based on NIR spectral data and pre-processing methods was developed using cotton and cotton trash samples of hull, leaf, seed coat, and stem. The FT-IR method is easy of use, has a short analysis time, and exhibits distinct spectral differences for each type of cotton trash. Further, the FT-NIR spectral library presents a complimentary method to the widely used HVI method to classify cotton trash.