Pelleted cotton gin trash, processed at the USDA-ARS Cotton Production and Processing Research Unit (Gin Lab) in Lubbock, Texas has been successfully gasified in preliminary testing using an advanced BioMax® downdraft gasification unit developed by Community Power Corporation, Littleton, Colorado. The BioMax® is an automated, skid mounted, semi-continuously fed, downdraft gasifier system which has been integrated with an engine/generator set that produces grid quality electricity from producer gas while recovering waste heat for drying or space heating.

The goal of the proposed study is to evaluate the feasibility of integrating a heat and power generation system with a cotton gin to save on cost of fuel for drying modules and electricity during the ginning season. Preliminary estimates of the cotton-gin trash available and the energy consumption during the ginning season suggest that excess dense cotton-gin-trash pellets could be stored for off-season use or shipped off site to other users needing heat and power. The whole process is expected to clean up all the remaining gin trash generated during the ginning season thereby also cutting on transport and disposal costs for the trash. Using the results of the study, an energy and mass balance analysis will be made for different-sized gins to come up with different heat and power production scenarios including the preliminary economics and the number of modular units needed per facility. CGT samples will also be tested at various compaction levels to develop correlation between compaction and performance. The information would be potentially useful for the wide range of agricultural residues generated in Texas.