Lint Quality and Turnout of Stripper Cotton when Bypassing the Second Stage Extractor

• Published in: Applied engineering in agriculture Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 411 - 415
• Main Authors: Holt, G.A, Baker, R.V, Brashears, A.D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2002
• Subjects: cleaning; color; extractors; fiber quality; leaves; lint cotton; reflectance; seed cotton; wastes
• ISSN: 0883-8542; 1943-7838
• DOI: 10.13031/2013.8741

Equipment such as stick machines, bur machines, extractor-feeders, and combination bur and stick machines have commonly been referred to as extracting-type machinery or extractors. Extractors provide the capability of removing burs and sticks from seed cotton prior to ginning and are therefore an essential part of a cotton gin's seed cotton cleaning system. Most cotton gins processing stripper cotton have more than one stage of extraction. The effect that bypassing the second stage of extraction has on turnout has not been studied to any considerable extent. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the impact on turnout and fiber quality due to bypassing the second stage stick machine. Results indicate that bypassing the second extractor in the gin's seed cotton cleaning system, when handling field-cleaned cotton, did not significantly affect fiber properties or lint turnout. For non-field cleaned cotton, however, the bypassing of the second stage extraction adversely affected Rd color (reflectance), HVI trash area, leaf grade, and AFIS dust concentration after one lint cleaner. Bypassing the second extractor also significantly increased the total lint cleaner waste for both field cleaned and non-field cleaned cottons. However, the amount of lint lost throughout the system was unaffected. Overall, the effect of the second stage extractors on turnout and lint quality can vary depending on the machine design, condition, feed rate, and on the nature of the cotton itself. However, in this study, bypassing the second stage of extraction did not significantly affect turnout when processing either field cleaned or non-field cleaned cotton.