This report describes a study of air pollutants from cotton gins. Cotton gins separate cotton fibers from cottonseed and trash. During the 1976 crop year, 2.6 x 10 to the 6th power metric tons of lint cotton were ginned. Particulates composed of cotton dust, cotton lint, fine-leaf trash, and other trash are released to the atmosphere during each step of the ginning process. The average particulate emissions for the entire process is 3.14 g/kg of cotton ginned. Potential environmental effects from ginning were assessed by determining the source severity at a typical plant boundary. Severity is defined as the ratio of the ground level particulate concentration to a reduced TLV. Source severities for nine individual emission points at a typical gin ranged from 1 to 40, while the severity for one other point was less than 0.01. Cotton gins in the United States use a combination of cyclones, separators, condensers, and inline filters to separate cotton and trash from the conveying air stream and to reduce air emissions.

Prepared under contract 68-02-1874. Issued Jan. 1978. Includes bibliographical references. Microfiche.