Device puts more cotton in the bale - Science Update - lint cleaner saves good fibers - Brief Article

Agricultural Research, Sept, 2003 by W. Stanley Anthony

Normally, about 20 pounds of material is removed from every 500-pound bale of cotton during a process called lint cleaning. Unfortunately, more than 10 pounds of good fiber is lost along with the leaf particles, sticks, stems, seed coat fragments, grass, and bark removed by lint cleaners. Now a new lint cleaner has been developed that prevents most of the good fiber from being ejected along with the foreign matter, increasing the weight of a single bale of cotton after ginning by about 10 pounds.

The cleaning efficiency of this new device is equal to that of a standard lint cleaner, and it performed well in field tests of more than 5,000 bales in a commercial gin during the entire 2002 gin season. Its adoption could help growers increase the value of their cotton and also find use in separating fibers from other crops, such as kenaf and flax. A patent for the new lint cleaner has been filed, and researchers are preparing to demonstrate the device in action to potential licensees in the near future.

W. Stanley Anthony, USDA-ARS Cotton Ginning Research Unit, Stoneville, Mississippi; phone (662) 686-3094, e-mail santhony@ars.usda.gov.