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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lubbock, Texas » Cropping Systems Research Laboratory » Cotton Production and Processing Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #192524
Title: RATIONALE FOR INTEGRATING A HEAT AND POWER GENERATING UNIT IN A COTTON GIN FUELED BY COTTON GIN TRASH

Author
item CAPAREDA, SERGIO - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item Holt, Gregory
item DIEBOLD, JAMES - COMMUNITY POWER CORP
item PARNELL, JR., CALVIN - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item WALT, ROBB - COMMUNITY POWER CORP
item LILLEY, ART - COMMUNITY POWER CORP

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/13/2006
Publication Date: 6/15/2006
Citation: Capareda, S., Holt, G.A., Diebold, J., Parnell, Jr., C.B., Walt, R., Lilley, A. 2006. Rationale for integrating a heat and power generating unit in a cotton gin fueled by cotton gin trash. In: Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, January 3-6, 2006, San Antonio, Texas. 2006 CDROM. p. 386-391.

Interpretive Summary: None Required

Technical Abstract: Pelleted cotton gin trash, processed at the USDA-ARS Cotton Production and Processing Research Unit (Gin Lab) in Lubbock, Texas, has been successfully gasified in preliminary testing using an advanced BioMax® downdraft gasification unit developed by Community Power Corporation, Littleton, Colorado. The BioMax® is an automated, skid mounted, semi-continuously fed, downdraft gasifier system which has been integrated with an engine/generator set that produces grid quality electricity from producer gas while recovering waste heat for drying or space heating. The goal of the study is to evaluate the feasibility of integrating a heat and power generation system with a cotton gin in order to save on natural gas and electric costs encountered during the ginning season. Preliminary estimates of the cotton-gin trash available and the energy consumption during the ginning season suggest that excess dense cotton-gin-trash pellets could be stored for off-season use or shipped off site to other users needing heat and power. The whole process is expected to clean up all the remaining gin trash generated during the ginning season, thereby reducing transport and disposal costs for the trash. Using the results of the study, an energy and mass balance analysis will be made for different sized gins to come up with different heat and power production scenarios including the preliminary economics.