STUDY OF CELLULOSIC

FIBERS (COTTON) 2ND

PART
MOHAMMAD RAZA MIAH(PH.D.)
DOCTOR OF ENGINEERING IN MATERIALS PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY
UNIVERSITY OF CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (UCAS)
CULTIVATION OF COTTON
 CULTIVATION OF COTTON

• Cotton is a plant that is cultivated for a multitude of purposes and products. Long
cotton fibers are used to make thread, yarn, textiles, clothes, and other products,
like towels, carpets, sheets, and more. Clothes made out of cotton are especially
light and comfortable. Short fibers can be used in the paper industry.
• Cotton seeds have some important uses, too. Primarily, the seeds are used to
produce cottonseed oil and margarine. The crushed remains of the seed can be
used as high-protein feed for cattle and other animals. After the cotton is picked,
the stalks and leaves of the plants are plowed under to enrich the soil.
• After plowing the soil in spring cotton seeds are planted in rows by hand or Figure: New cotton plants.
machine. About two months after planting, flower buds called squares to appear on
the cotton plants.
 CULTIVATION OF COTTON…

• In the semi-arid Texas Panhandle, many cotton fields are

irrigated by pumping water from the Ogallala Aquifer. This vast
underground sea of ancient water spans eight states from Texas
to South Dakota. Water conservation measures are followed by
many farmers because the Ogallala is being drained for
agriculture far faster than it can recharge. Between 2004 and
2014 Ogallala groundwater levels have dropped over 8 feet in
northwest Texas,White, red, and dead.

Figure: Irrigating a Texas cotton field.

 CULTIVATION OF COTTON…

• In another three weeks, the blossoms open. Their petals change

from creamy yellow-white to yellow, then pink, and finally, dark
red. The flower then dies, leaving green pods that are called Figure: Pretty cotton bloom Pretty cotton bloom
cotton bolls. This process is described by the cotton farmer’s
adage,“White, red, and dead”.

Figure: Inside the football-shaped boll, moist fibers grow and push out from the newly formed seeds. As the boll ripens, it turns
brown.
 CULTIVATION OF COTTON…

• Under the late summer sun, the fibers continue to expand until
they split the boll apart. The cotton dries when exposed to the
sun. Now it’s ready to be harvested.

Figure: Fluffy cotton bolls.

HARVESTING OF COTTON
 HARVESTING OF COTTON

• Until the mid-1940s, cotton was primarily hand harvested with laborers
picking between 200 and 450 pounds of seed cotton (cotton removed from
the plant with seeds intact) by hand per day. Now, modern mechanical pickers
or strippers harvest that much cotton in about 2 minutes. Additionally, modern
technology in the pickers allows for yield monitoring and Global Positioning
System (GPS) to allow them to track crop areas with better yields to help
improve results when they plant again.

Figure: Field of cotton ready for harvest.

 HARVESTING OF COTTON…

• Mechanical picker spindles pick and twist the raw seed cotton
fiber from the burrs that are attached to plants’ stems.
Doffers then remove the seed cotton fiber from the spindles
and knock it into a basket on the back of the picker.

Figure: Cotton picking machine in a Lubbock, Texas field.

 HARVESTING OF COTTON…

• Prior to the development of the module builder, most cotton picked by

machines was dumped into cotton trailers and hauled to a cotton gin to
mechanically separate the seeds from the fiber. This system became
inefficient when the trailers were filled faster than the gin could process
the cotton and the cotton pickers had to cease harvesting while waiting for
the trailers to empty. With any delay in the harvest came the risk that
storms could damage or destroy the cotton remaining in the field.
• This challenge was met with the invention of the hydraulic module builder
in 1972. There are two methods of building the modules: harvested cotton
is dumped into a boll buggy, and then into a module-builder where it is
Figure: Cotton modules lined up in the field
compacted into a tight block, or an onboard module-building cotton picker
is used, which creates the module as the cotton is harvested. Modules are
left in the field to be transported later.
 HARVESTING OF COTTON…

• Depending on the machine, modules may be long, tall rectangles or round--

huge tightly wrapped cylinders--of compressed cotton. Modules can be left
in the field for storage and later be hauled directly to the gin or transported
by a module mover to the gin’s storage yard without losing yield or quality
prior to ginning. Pickers can continue harvesting the cotton, unimpeded by
ginning problems or delays.
• After ginning, cotton fiber and seed go different ways. The clean, fluffy ginned
cotton fiber, now called lint, is pressed together and made into dense bales
weighing about 500 pounds. Cotton bales are shipped to mills to make
cotton thread and fabric. The seeds are packaged for shipping to be used to Figure: 500 pounds cotton bale.
make oil and animal feed.
GINNING OF COTTON
 GINNING OF COTTON

What is the ginning process of cotton?

• Ginning is the two-stage mechanical process in which the cotton fibers are separated from the cotton seeds or
lint. It also helps in removing impurities like dust, small stones, wooden particles, or any other foreign particles,
etc., from cotton. So that, better cotton can be offered for the cotton spinning mills.
• Moreover, the cotton having seeds in its balls is plucked from the field. Then it is made to pass through the gin.
 OBJECTS OF GINNING

• Make the fiber-free from seeds without gin-cut fiber.

• Ensure the best quality of cotton and get a fair price of cotton in the market.
• To be confident that fiber does not contain excess and unexpected seeds or any other particles.
• To make the spinning process easier and more effective.
 COTTON GINNING PROCESS

• At first, the cotton will go through dryers to reduce moisture

content.
• Then the cotton is to go through cleaning equipment to remove
foreign particles or materials.
• The cotton is then sent to the air and conveyed to gin stands
where revolving circular saws pull the lint from the saw teeth by
air blasts or by rotating brushes.
• Then the cotton will compress into 500 pounds and weigh
contained bales.
• Then the bales of cotton are shipped to the textile spinning mill
for further processes. Figure: Ginning of cotton.
• A quality control team will monitor the overall process to ensure
quality.
 MODERN COTTON GINNING PROCESS

In an automatic ginning process of cotton, a modern machine is preferable. Before cotton arrives at the spinning mill to
spin into thread and woven into the fabric, it makes the journey from field to bale. Cotton needs about five months to
grow from a planted seed to a ready plant.
• The harvesting machine named the cotton picker plucks fluffy seed cotton out of the plant’s boll and leaves a trail of
burrs and sticks behind.
• The machine empties the pulled cotton into a tractor-drawn buggy.
• The machine builds the seed cotton into a humongous rectangular block called a module.
A truck transports the module to the processing plant, which is known as a cotton gin. Once the cotton arrives at the
processing plant, sticks and burrs are removed as well as any lingering debris and seeds. A truck dumps the module into
a feeder, which moves the packed seed cotton into a dispenser.
The ground seed cotton falls onto a conveyor belt, which leads to the hot box, then the hot box mixes the seed cotton
with hot air, which allows the moisture to evaporate, making the seed cotton easier to clean.
 CORE MACHINE USED IN GINNING

• A machine called the Wad Buster breaks up the clumps of seed cotton by tossing it against a screen. Loose remains fall through
the screen openings down a narrow chute.
• Then the seed cotton moves through a machine called the steady flow, which divides it equally between two processing lines.
• On each line, the seed cotton enters a Burr Machine, which grabs the seed cotton with a circular saw and swings it against metal
bars
The centrifugal force shakes off the heavier debris. The seed cotton passes the machine through one pipe and the debris through
another. A large auger transfers the debris to a waste drop and out of the plant. Then the seed cotton is ready for the final step of
processing.
A network of pipes feeds a row of machines called Gin Stands. The gin stand separates the seed from the fluffy stuff, called the lint.
Each stand will arrange horizontally and separated by a steel rib. The saw teeth grab the seed cotton and pull the lint through the
narrow gap between saw and rib. The seeds are too large to pass through, so it spins in front of the rib, then drop into a conveyor.
The lint goes into a flue, which leads to the packaging area.And then use this cotton in the spinning mill to make the thread.
 TYPES OF COTTON GINNING

There are two basic types of Ginning you may find. These are:
• Saw Ginning
• Roller Ginning
 TYPES OF COTTON GINNING…

• I. Saw Ginning of Cotton:

Saw ginning provides more clean cotton compared with the manual or handheld separation process of seed from
cotton.
Advantages of cotton saw ginning
• Saw ginned cotton is more uniform
• Cotton is more clean than usual.
Disadvantages of cotton saw ginning
• Possibility of fiber breakage due to drawing up the fiber from the surface of the seed.
• Increase neps.
• Increase short fiber content.
 TYPES OF COTTON GINNING…

II. Roller ginning of cotton:

Modern ginning is automatic ginning where productivity is maximized. For industrial purposes, this type of ginning
technology is preferable.
Advantages of roller ginning of cotton
• Saw ginning ensures the quality of fiber is better which is better than the other process.
• High production because of the use of advanced technology in the ginning process.
Disadvantages of roller ginning of cotton
• The moisture of seed mixes up with fiber in processing which causes cake cotton fault.
 FAULTS IN GINNING PROCESS OF COTTON

• Gin-cut fiber
• Crushed seeds
• Neps formation
• Too much wastage
GRADING OF COTTON FIBERS
 GRADING OF COTTON FIBERS

• The quality of cotton fiber differs from place to place and plant to plant. The difference in quality can be
expressed in grading and staple length.
• The grade is generally determined by three factors such as (a) color, (b) trash content, and (c) ginning quality.
 GRADING OF COTTON FIBERS…

Color:
Best cotton is generally white in color. White cotton loses its brightness and becomes yellowish in nature because of
continued exposure to weathering and the action of microorganisms. Following are the color groups that are present
in cotton fiber:
• White : --
• Light Spotted : Lt Sp
• Spotted : Sp
• Tinged : Tg
• Yellow Stained : YS
• Light Grey : Lt Gy
• Grey : Gy
 GRADING OF COTTON FIBERS…

Trash Content:
Trash is the impurities that are present there in the cotton fibers. The trash includes materials such as leaf, stems, hulls, bark, seeds, shale, motes, grass, sand, oil, and
dust. Cotton that contains a minimum amount of trash after ginning has the highest spinning value. Depending upon the trash content, cotton can be graded as
follows:
• Strict Good Middling : DGM
• Good Middling : GM
• Strict Middling : SM
• Middling : M
• Strict Low middling : SLM
• Low middling : LM
• Strict good Ordinary : SGO
• Good ordinary : GO
Sometimes, depending upon the trash content, plus (+) can be given to any grade like SLM+ or SGM+.
 GRADING OF COTTON FIBERS…

Quality of ginning:
• In ginning process, we separate the cotton fibers from the seed. During this process, there is a chance of the
formation of entanglements of fibers (neps). Neps are adversely affecting yarn and fabric appearance as well as
quality. The presence of neps and neps are two important factors to determine the quality of cotton. Neps are
small tangled knots of fiber that are visible as dots. This type of cotton is known as neppy cotton. Neps are
large clumps or matted masses. of fibers that contribute to the rough appearance. This type of cotton is known
as nappy cotton.The quality of ginning is considered as better if it produces zero or minimum number of neps.