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Submitted to: ASAE Annual International Meeting
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 9/12/2000 Publication Date: 7/10/2000 Citation: HOLT, G.A., LAIRD, J.W. ADVANCEMENTS IN COTTON BY-PRODUCT (COBY) PROCESSING - ABRASION REDUCTION TESTING. 2000. AMERICAN SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERS. PAPER NO. 001152. Interpretive Summary: A value-added system has been developed at the USDA-ARS, Lubbock, TX gin lab to process byproducts from cotton industries. The system, known as the COtton BYproduct (COBY) Process, was designed to produce feed, fuel, fertilizer, or mulch utilizing the same basic equipment. During the development of the process, it appeared that a side benefit was the reduction in abrasiveness of the byproducts being treated. To test this hypothesis, an abrasion test unit was designed, built, and tested. Results from testing indicated that treating the byproducts in the COBY process produced little, if any, reduction in abrasiveness. However, the results also revealed operational flaws in the design that were eliminated in the design of a second test unit. The primary shortcoming of the initial test unit was that it did not adequately approximate the operation of the COBY process, and therefore, yielded results that did not reflect the process. The second test unit more closely approximates the operation of the COBY process and testing should begin in the near future. This report describes the basic flow of the COBY process, along with pictures of the two abrasion test stands, and results from the testing of the initial abrasion setup. Technical Abstract: Abrasiveness of Cotton Gin Byproducts (CGB) has been a major cost factor associated with processes that have been used to add value or handle the product. Costs associated with CGB cleaning and equipment wear often times amount to half the cost of processing. A value-added process, known as the COBY process, developed at the Lubbock, TX USDA-ARS cotton ginning laboratory, showed signs of reducing the abrasiveness of CGB. In an effort to determine if, and to what degree the abrasiveness was reduced, an abrasion test stand was built and evaluated on four different treatments of CGB. The treatments included: 1) Dry CGB with no additives, 2) CGB with hot water added, 3) CGB with a 4% gelatinized starch and hot water mixture, and 4) CGB with an 8% gelatinized starch and hot water mixture. Results with our initial abrasion test unit indicated no significant reduction in abrasion due to treatments encountered in the COBY process. However, the tests also revealed problems with the testing equipment that resulted in erroneous data. A different testing device has been fabricated and installed that will more closely approximate one of the major wear points in the COBY process. The new test stand should eliminate a major problem encountered with the first test unit. This new abrasion test stand is being prepared to perform test runs in the near future. |
