Influence of a Gin-Applied Cotton Additive on Dust Levels, Processing Performance, and Yarn Quality

Hydrocarbon-base oil was applied to seed cotton in the feed-control system at the gin; one-half of the test cotton received the additive and the remaining cotton received no additive. One-half of the test cotton was processed through two tower driers with no heat applied and the other half through two driers operating at 150° F. One-half of the bales were randomly assigned to "direct" mill processing, and the remaining bales were placed in storage until they were processed approximately 8 months later. The moisture content of lint containing the additive was higher than that of lint with no additive, a difference attributed to the action of the additive in preventing loss of moisture from the fibers. The color quality of lint containing the additive was lower than that of lint with no additive. Lint with the additive produced less card waste and 48 percent less dust in the cardroom than did lint without the additive. Differences in fiber-length, strength, and fineness characteristics of cotton with and without the additive were numerically small and of no practical significance. Generally, strength of yarn spun from cotton with the additive was lower than that of yarn spun from cotton without the additive. Cotton with the additive produced fewer ends down in spinning than did cotton without the additive. Mechanical performance of processing machinery was not adversely affected by the additive. The color quality of lint from cotton subjected to heat drying was generally lower than that of lint from cotton not subjected to heat drying. Opening and picking waste was lower and card waste was higher for cotton that was heat-dried than for cotton that was not heat-dried. There was only a slight reduction in cardroom dust levels when cotton was heat-dried, which was apparently caused by an interaction between the additive and heat drying that nullified the usual effect of heat drying on cardroom dust levels. Yarn spun from heat-dried cotton was weaker, contained more neps, and had a higher irregularity coefficient of variability than yarn spun from cotton that was not heat-dried. Cotton stored before mill processing produced lower cardroom dust levels than did cotton processed directly from the gin. Yarn produced from the stored cotton had a higher yarn-appearance index, fewer neps, greater strength, greater elongation, and lower irregularity coefficient of variability than did yarn spun from cotton processed directly from the gin. There were fewer neps in the card web but more ends down during spinning for stored cotton than for cotton processed directly from the gin. Mill-processing performance was affected somewhat by applying the additive at the gin but was no different from that observed while processing cotton to which an additive had been applied at the mill.