HIGH MOISTURE STORAGE EFFECTS ON COTTON STICKINESS

Authors: Chun, David; Brushwood, Donald

Submitted to: Textile Research Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/14/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Some cottons are contaminated with excessive insect and natural plant sugars during production. These excessive sugars can cause severe processing and quality problems in textile manufacturing and, consequently, affect the market value of cotton. Studies were conducted to examine the feasibility of storing cotton at high moisture contents to reduce sugar content and thereby improve processability and quality. Stickiness was reduced by storing the cotton at 15 percent moisture content under cool temperatures. At higher moisture contents and temperatures, fiber quality was degraded and microbial damage occurred. Some of these deleterious effects was reduced by treatment with ammonia and urea while retaining the sticky reducing potential of high moisture content. The effect of heavy processing on cotton stickiness was also studied. Heavy processing of sticky cottons tends to increase the apparent stickiness by increasing the number of thermal detector spots. These observations should contribute to better understanding of stickiness reduction using moisture, to possible long term effects of module storage on cotton quality, and to suggest to the researcher, grower and processor, ways to moderate stickiness in cottons without reducing cotton quality.

Technical Abstract: Microbial population increases occurred over time with high moisture content cottons (30% and 40%) increasing at greater rates than with low moisture content cottons (ambient [~7%] and 15%). While stickiness was significantly reduced with high moisture content cottons, reflectance and strength decreased over time with the high moisture content cottons. Yellowness increased with the high moisture content cottons. However, cottons stored under a cool temperature and with a moisture content of 15% not only had less stickiness, but suffered no significant deterioration of quality of the cottons. When stored for 15 days at room temperature, 30% moisture content cottons tended to increase in yellowness or decrease in strength and reflectance. Treatment with the 30% moisture content significantly reduced percent sugar and thermal detector spots of all treatments. However, some reduced effect on reflectance and strength was observed when the treatment was with the high level of ammonia, but probably not enough to compensate for overall quality loss. Heavy processing of sticky cottons tends to increase the number of thermal detector spots.