Evaluation of Cleaning and Washing Processes for Cotton Fiber

Abstract

Fine dusts in trash samples collected on Pneumafil filter during carding of washed cottons were separated into 20 to 38-&mu;m and <20-&mu;m fractions, their ash contents determined, and elemental analyses performed on the resulting inorganic residues. The quantity of fine dusts separated was affected by carding rate and the use of an electrostatic eliminator on the card. The lower the carding speed, the lower the fine dust content per bale. The electrostatic eliminator significantly increased the amount of fine dusts per bale even at the lowest carding speed. Ash contents varied with washing conditions, carding rate, and whether the electrostatic eliminator was employed. A wide variety of elements was present in the fine dusts, but unexpectedly high levels of Cu, Zn, Fe, and Al were found, which indicate contamination of these cottons.

Alkali Metal Ions and Their Effects on Smoldering and Ignition of Cotton Upholstery Fabrics-A Literature Review

“…Methods of removing these ions from the fiber have also been reported [28,35,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61]. A single wash with water or standard wet process of scouring generally reduces potassium content to below 100 ppm.…”

Evaluation of Cleaning and Washing Processes for Cotton Fiber

“…The COTTONMASTER breaker-cleaner card unit was used in this series of washing trials, however, not with the intention of removing microdust, but to enable us to form a continuous cotton batt to supply fiber to the continuous scouring and bleaching equipment at our Greenville Fiber Processing Center. Hersh [8], Fornes and Gilbert [7], and Chewning [2J discuss dust levels generated during carding and spinning of fiber processed through the equipment sequence deseribed above for Figure lB. However, it is important to remember that comparative dust-level data, per se, is not of prime importance in relation to washed cotton.…”

“…Since this is beginning to appear more and more likely to be the case; as we examine the data reported by Battigelli El] and Fischer [6], we may be able to adapt either the rayon deep-bed system in some fashion as characterized in Table I, or the shallow-bed type of equipment we use in Greenville as characterized by Table III-an abbreviated version of Table II. Tables II and III illustrate the range in washingprocess stages used in the washed-cotton screening trials conducted by Cotton Incorporated. Table V lists the actual washing process conditions used for each of the washing treatments evaluated by the various authors [1,2,[6][7][8]11] in this series of papers.…”

“…i Fiber finish applied to fiber in trials No. 7 to exactly what type of equipment is selected, or exactly what degree of washing disciplines must be practiced, will not have a very large effect on the cost of washing cotton. The scale of operation will, however, be quite significant.…”

“…That part of the problem that we can not resolve domestically will be exported.° Literature Cited Introduction The ten types of cotton prepared for this study as described in Parts I and II of this series [7,9] were processed in the model card room at the School of Textiles, North Carolina State University. The model card room is designed to measure the dust concentrations generated in the room while processing individual bales of cotton and to collect trash from these bales.…”