Determining the Feasibility of Chemical Imaging of Cotton Trash

There is some interest in the textile community about the identity of cotton trash that has become comingled with cotton lint. Currently, trash is identified visually by human “classers” and instrumentally by the Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) and the High Volume Instrument (HVI). Although these methods can be successfully used to examine cotton trash, the “classer” method is subjective and is strongly affected by human error within and between “classers” while the AFIS and HVI method do not yield specificity in the identity of cotton trash types. Previously, it has been demonstrated that spectroscopic analysis of cotton trash yields information about the origin of the cotton trash. In the current study, chemical imaging of cotton trash shows the promise of yielding both qualitative and quantitative information.  The results are presented herein.