Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Cotton Ginning Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #98796
Title: INITIAL EVALUATION OF A METHOD TO IMPROVE CLEANING OF SEED COTTON, LINT, AND LINT CLEANER WASTE

Author
item Whitelock, Derek
item Anthony, William

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/31/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Cotton gins remove foreign matter, moisture, and cottonseed from raw seed cotton and generate several marketable products. Different types of cleaners remove foreign material from seed cotton before and after ginning (lint-seed separation). These cleaners do not yield the cleaning required at minimum fiber damage. Lint cleaners also remove fiber as they clean and blend ginned lint, and these good fibers are extracted from the waste in a separate operation. Alternative methods to better clean seed cotton, to less aggressively extract trash from lint, and to separate the useable fiber from lint cleaner waste are needed. This research compared four new cylinder cleaner grid bar types to the normal type at two cylinder speeds for cleaning of seed cotton, ginned lint, and lint cleaner waste. Results showed that the normal grid bars remained the preferred type for seed cotton cleaning. For ginned lint and lint cleaner waste, the experimental grid bars were more desirable. Field trials will be used to validate results. This research identified improvements to existing machines that will lead to increased cleaning efficiency, decreased fiber damage, and reduced waste at the gin; thus increasing the quality and value of the cotton products for the grower, spinner, and consumer.

Technical Abstract: Tests were performed to clean seed cotton, lint, and lint cleaner waste with cylinder cleaners operated with different types of grid bars and cylinder speeds. Results showed that more aggressive, square grid bars performed better than conventional round grid bars in cleaning all three types of material, but allowed more fiber to escape with the trash when cleaning seed cotton. Increasing cylinder speeds from 480 to 1100 rpm also increased the cleaning performance of the cylinder cleaners. Of the five types of grid bars evaluated in this study, the normal grid bars (3/8 in. round bars with 3/8 in. gaps between the bars) remained the preferred type for seed cotton cleaning. The cylinder cleaner with sharp, square grid bars operated at 1100 rpm cylinder speed cleaned lint better than the other treatments and was 80% as effective as a conventional saw-type lint cleaner. Also, a cylinder cleaner equipped with flat, square grid bars and operated at 1100 rpm appeared to be the best solution to balancing lint cleaner waste cleaning and fiber wastage. These modifications provide additional cleaning and may cause less fiber damage.