Plastic contamination research remains a top priority of the USDA ARS Cotton Ginning Research Unit at Stoneville, Miss.

“This work has been ongoing for several years,” said Research Leader Joe Thomas. “Plastic contamination is still the premier issue for stakeholders. All three USDA gin labs, as well as other research entities, are collaborating and working together on this issue.”

Thomas said USDA gin labs in Lubbock, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico, as well as the Cotton Structure and Quality Research Unit (CSRQ) in New Orleans, are looking at ways to eliminate plastic contamination in U.S. cotton.

“We’re taking a different approach at Stoneville, focusing on contamination in the lint after it goes through the gin stand,” Thomas said. “Stoneville is focusing on contamination after ginning.”

Upgrades include both technology and personnel additions.

Thomas came aboard about a year ago. Also on board are Cody Blake and Sean Donohoe. New to the research team is Peter Alegee who came aboard Dec. 20, 2021.

“We’re back to where the lab was several years back,” Thomas said.

Blake will work on sustainable by-products, among other thigs. Donohoe a mechanical engineer, will apply his expertise to mechatronics, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Alegee is an agricultural engineer who will work on several ginning issues, including improved energy efficiency and noise abatement.

Facility upgrades

Physical upgrades include four new ovens in the moisture lab, HVI unit, and new software. “We have upgraded software to serve automation, AI, mechatronics and robotics,” Thomas said.

He said adding fiber optics throughout the facility improves wireless network capability. The upgrade enhances machine-level wireless capability.

Other upgrades include a research CNC plasma cutter for sheet metal and improved facilities to handle modules.

A new micro gin and flow-thru lint cleaner and module feeder will come in January.

“We will build mini round-bale modules and conventional modules, so we can work on a research level instead of handling 6,000-pound modules.”

A few additional upgrades include a mini-module feeder and gin stand/feeder combo for the micro gin plant, a picker harvester with onboard moduling and new software tools to support research efforts.

 “We’ve invested a lot of money wisely in people and facilities,” Thomas said. “These are just a few of the upgrades demonstrating our commitment to invest in this research center.

“We have the support of our stakeholders,” he adds. “This is an important program and we’ve made a lot of progress. Now, we look forward to getting beyond COVID-19 restrictions and back to fulltime, in-person research. We have been finding ways to get research done, even with restrictions,” he said.

Priorities

Other key research priorities at the Stoneville gin lab include energy efficiency, eliminating seed coat fragments, roller ginning, and developing cotton gin by-products, among others.

Seed coat fragments

Thomas said seed coat fragment research focuses on getting rid of those particles after ginning.  “We are not focused on detecting fragments but on separating them from the attached fibers. This has been a big issue.”

Thomas is excited about roller gin work. “I am very passionate about roller ginning,” he said. “The industry needs roller gin technology, especially for upland cotton. We plan to put in a micro roller gin either this year or next to supplement our research.”

Energy efficiency

Energy efficiency research looks beyond the mechanics of ginning.

One effort will look at the relationship of variety traits and energy use. “We’re looking at gin stand power usage and trait selection by cotton breeders. We want to give breeders a tool to help them make variety selection choices that consider the amount of energy needed to remove fiber from seed as part of the cultivar selection criteria.”

Robotics and artificial intelligence research will focus on several processes.

Thomas said Donohoe will work on automation and efficiency. “Labor is driving this effort,” he said. “It is difficult to get good labor with the skill set required in a modern cotton gin. Automation will replace the human factor where it makes sense.”

He said modern gins operate “too fast for a human to keep up with. We can use AI to develop systems to predict problems and make correct decisions.”

He said automation and AI also will address maintenance and ways to keep gin equipment running longer.

Research efforts also employ unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to detect contamination in the field. Thomas said UAVs have potential to move into fields and locate trash. “We’re concentrating on using UAV to identify trash and tag it with GPS coordinates for other systems to use to locate and collect the identified article.”

By-products

Turning gin trash into useful products offers opportunities, too, Thomas said.

“Dr. Blake and Dr. Alegee are looking at innovations with cotton gin by-products, developing sustainable by-products such as pelletized cotton gin trash and raw materials for biofuels and feed.”

He said converting gin trash into pellets makes fuel and feed by-products easier to handle, use, and transport.

Pelletization produces a denser, easier flowing material. Transporters can haul more per transportation unit. “Using pellets for feed or biofuel offers a more homogenous, more uniform product that’s easier to manage and use.”

Thomas said other research efforts include looking at seed size, fiber attachment, seed coat strength, and seed moisture dynamics.

“We want to find what the seed moisture content is in real time in the field or in the gin. We have a good handle on how wet or dry cotton is but not the seed. We are working on tools to aid in that area.”

Thomas said USDA-ARS operates three gin labs, each with unique missions relative to location. “But we also have a unique cooperative relationship,” he said. “We have very few projects that we do not collaborate on. We don’t have chili pepper or stripper cotton in Mississippi, but we are constantly in touch with each other on numerous projects. We all work on projects that affect cotton across the Belt.”

 He said one USDA administer has described gin research as “one cotton gin lab in three locations.”

“We work with other cotton stakeholders on cooperative projects.” He said Cotton Incorporated, the National Cotton Council, universities, and industry work together to consider ways to enhance cotton efficiency and sustainability.

“We focus on what our stakeholders want us to focus on,” Thomas said. “Cotton is a unique commodity and has a good story to tell about sustainability. The industry, overall, is a tightknit group from growers to ginners, to warehousemen, all the way to the mills.”

He said the gin lab focuses on efforts to improve efficiency and sustainability.