New uses for cotton waste - Science Update - Brief Article

Agricultural Research, Nov, 2003

Cotton waste as mulch? As fertilizer? For home heating? For cattle feed? It's turning out to be a multiuse product.

Removal of cotton gin waste material is estimated to cost $4 million to $6 million annually. But now new uses for the waste, being tested by ARS scientists and cooperators at Summit Seed, Inc., of Manteno, Illinois, may result in significant savings for the cotton gin industry.

A new hydromulch that includes cotton gin waste and ryegrass seed is being tested in Texas. The waste material is held together by a low-cost process--called COBY, which stands for Cotton Byproducts--invented by ARS scientists. It uses a hot, gelatinized polysaccharide solution that acts as a glue and as a lubricant to smooth the mixture's flow through extrusion equipment.

The scientists are comparing the test hydromulch to three conventional ones for seed germination, cost, and erosion control. Cooperators at Summit Seed are testing a dry formulation for use as a bedding mulch for landscaping use. The cotton gin waste mixture has also been made into pellets and tested as a fuel for pellet-burning stoves, as fertilizer, and as cattle feed. Gregory A. Holt and Michael D. Buser, USDA-ARS Cotton Production and Processing Unit, Lubbock, Texas; phone (806) 746-5353, e-mail gholt@lbk.ars.usda.gov, mbuser @lbk.ars.usda.gov.