Derek P. Whitelock1, Carlos B. Armijo1, and Edward M. Barnes2. (1) USDA-ARS, Southwestern Cotton Ginning Research Laboratory, PO Box 578, 300 E. College Dr., Las Cruces, NM 88047, (2) Cotton Incorporated, 6399 Weston Parkway, Cary, NC 27513
The pneumatic fractionator has long been used to determine foreign matter content of seed cotton at the USDA Cotton Ginning Laboratories. Spawned from discussions at a Cotton Incorporated Lint Cleaning Summit and building on 1970s research at the Southwestern Cotton Ginning Research Laboratory, an experiment was designed and conducted to evaluate the pneumatic fractionator as a lint cleaning device. No modifications were made to the standard device, except that air pressure was set to 40 psi, instead of 70 psi. Seven lint cleaning treatments after normal saw ginning were used: no lint cleaning, one standard saw-type lint cleaner, and cleaning with the fractionator for 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 seconds. Lint samples from each treatment were collected for USDA Classing Office classification, and AFIS, HVI, and MDTA3 fiber analyses at Cotton Incorporated. While maintaining fiber quality parameters such as length, short fiber content, and nep count at levels similar to those of no lint cleaning, the fractionator cleaned lint and produced color measurements similar to one saw-type lint cleaner.
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