LINT QUALITY AND TURNOUT OF STRIPPER COTTON WHEN BYPASSING THE SECOND STAGE EXTRACTOR

Abstract

Equipment such as stick machines, bur machines, extractorfeeders, and combination bur and stick machines havecommonly been referred to as extractingtype machinery or extractors. Extractors provide the capability of removing bursand sticks from seed cotton prior to ginning and are therefore an essential part of a cotton gins seed cotton cleaning system.Most cotton gins processing stripper cotton have more than one stage of extraction. The effect that bypassing the second stageof extraction has on turnout has not been studied to any considerable extent. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigatethe impact on turnout and fiber quality due to bypassing the second stage stick machine. Results indicate that bypassing thesecond extractor in the gins seed cotton cleaning system, when handling fieldcleaned cotton, did not significantly affectfiber properties or lint turnout. For nonfield cleaned cotton, however, the bypassing of the second stage extraction adverselyaffected Rd color (reflectance), HVI trash area, leaf grade, and AFIS dust concentration after one lint cleaner. Bypassing thesecond extractor also significantly increased the total lint cleaner waste for both field cleaned and nonfield cleaned cottons.However, the amount of lint lost throughout the system was unaffected. Overall, the effect of the second stage extractors onturnout and lint quality can vary depending on the machine design, condition, feed rate, and on the nature of the cotton itself.However, in this study, bypassing the second stage of extraction did not significantly affect turnout when processing eitherfield cleaned or nonfield cleaned cotton.