Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Stoneville, Mississippi » Cotton Ginning Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #264137
Title: Characterization of cotton gin particulate matter emissions - Second year

Author
item BUSER, MICHAEL - Oklahoma State University
item Boykin Jr, James
item Whitelock, Derek
item Holt, Gregory

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/27/2011
Publication Date: 4/1/2011
Citation: Buser, M.D., Boykin Jr, J.C., Whitelock, D.P., Holt, G.A. 2011. Characterization of Cotton Gin Particulate Matter Emissions - Second Year. In Proc. Beltwide Cotton Conf, Atlanta, GA. 4-7 Jan. 2011. CD ROM pp 620-627.

Interpretive Summary: In 2006, the United State Environmental Protection Agency implemented a more stringent air quality standard for very fine dust. All cotton gins will eventually be impacted by this standard. The primary issues affecting the cotton industry across the country in regards to the implementation of the standard are that very little scientifically sound information is available on cotton gin emissions of this very fine dust, that some recent research indicates that current EPA sampling methods could be over-estimating cotton gin emissions by 14 times, and that studies have shown that EPA recommended dispersion models used by the states could be over-predicting cotton gin boundary line concentrations by as much as a factor of 10. In response to these issues, a four-year industry-supported study to evaluate cotton gin dust emissions at several gins at locations across the cotton belt was begun by the three USDA-ARS Cotton Ginning Laboratories and Oklahoma State University. During the projects second year, 2010, two gins were extensively sampled in Missouri and West Texas and lab analyses were conducted on more than 4000 samples.

Technical Abstract: Due to EPA’s implementation of more stringent standards for particulate matter (PM) with an effective diameter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), the cotton ginners’ associations across the cotton belt agreed that there is an urgent need to collect gin emission data. The primary issues surrounding PM regulations for cotton ginning industry are the limited or lack of available PM2.5 data, that current dispersion models can potentially over-predict property-line PM concentrations at cotton gins, and that federal reference method PM samplers may over-predict emissions or concentrations when sampling in agricultural environments. In response to the gin associations’ requests, a cotton gin PM emissions sampling project was planned and begun in 2008. During 2010, the second year of the sampling campaign, two gins were extensively sampled in Missouri and West Texas and lab analyses were conducted on more than 4000 samples. This paper highlights the individual sampling campaigns and summarizes the information collected to date.