Fuel Use Patterns in Cotton Gins

Energy costs represent 20% of the total cost of ginning; a national industry survey found that fuel costs vary from $0.23 to $9.07 per bale; these disparities indicate opportunity for improvement and the need to identify best practices that other facilities can emulate.  Reducing energy consumption would not only mitigate a significant expense, improving ginning economics, but reducing fossil fuel consumption and related emissions would also improve sustainability through the cotton-based textiles supply chain.  Owners and managers of commercial gins cooperated to allow USDA-ARS employees to obtain fuel use audit data.  Air flow and temperature gain was used as a surrogate for burner fuel consumption, and changes in moisture content through a drying system were estimated by taking samples before and after each stage.  Looking at facility differences in fuel use efficiency indicated best practices: insulated drying systems made better use of fuel than drying systems that were not insulated; locating burners proximate to the pick-up point also improved energy utilization.