ASSESSING the ECONOMIC IMPACT of PRESCRIPTION LINT CLEANING TECHNOLOGY Claudia Leonardi LSU Agcenter Baton Rouge, LA Kenneth W
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676 2006 Beltwide Cotton Conferences, San Antonio, Texas - January 3 - 6, 2006 ASSESSING THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF PRESCRIPTION LINT CLEANING TECHNOLOGY Claudia Leonardi LSU AgCenter Baton Rouge, LA Kenneth W. Paxton Dept. of Agric. Economics and AgriBusiness Baton Rouge, LA Abstract This study evaluates the economic impact of prescription lint cleaning on the ginning industry. Specifically, the study evaluates the commercial version of the USDA-ARS developed technology that automatically controls the number of grid bars used in the cleaning process. This technology is manufactured by Continental Eagle and marketed under the trade name Louvermax®. Data from initial tests of the technology, as well as data from commercial gins, are used to estimate the potential impacts of adopting the technology. Impacts are estimated on a per bale basis and extrapolated to the industry level, based on the number of bales processed through the technology. Results indicate that adoption of the technology does “save” cotton. On average, the technology saved about 6.9 pounds per bale. At the current loan rate of $0.52 per pound of lint, this would translate into about $3.59 per bale. With over two million bales processed using the technology, this would imply an impact in excess of seven million dollars in saved lint alone. Introduction Automation of the ginning process has made tremendous progress since the mid 1990s with the introduction and adoption of automatic gin process control technology. This technology demonstrated that a significant amount of cotton could be satisfactorily ginned with considerably less processing. By matching the cleaning and drying needs to market demands for quality, the producer realizes a gain in the amount of lint without incurring grade reductions. The net result is a weight gain without offsetting penalties for grade reductions. An extension of this technology is to automatically control the internal operation of the gin machines. Anthony (1999) patented a method that allows for the automated selection of the number of grid bars in saw-type lint cleaners. The underlying assumption of this technology is that once enough trash is removed to achieve a grade objective, subsequent grid bars should be bypassed. This is true because each grid bar removes some good fiber from the cotton even if there is no trash. The only way to avoid this loss is to not use the grid bars in the cleaning process. Previous Work Several studies have evaluated the effect of the number of operating grid bars on the amount of waste and on the quality of saleable cotton resulting from the ginning process. A number of these studies are cited below. The effect of decreasing the number of grid bars was similar across studies. Decreasing the number of grid bars from 15 to 1 or 0 reduced the amount of material separated from the cotton, resulting in lower waste (Anthony, 1999; Anthony, 2000; McAlister et al., 2002). In the 1999 report, the amount of material removed with five, four, three, two, and one grid bars was 27.6, 23.5, 16.0, 12.4, and 6.6 lb. per 500 lb. bale, respectively (Anthony, 1999). Furthermore, of the material ejected through the grid bars, 67.3% for five, 54.8% for four, 48.6% for three, and 33.3% for two grid bars, respectively, could have been retained as part of the lint (Anthony, 1999). In a follow-up publication, which reported five studies, Anthony (2000) further investigated the effect of the number of grid bars on the amount of waste and lint quality. Research reported here was based on the 16-D saw-type lint cleaner, equipped with five grid bars. The number of lint cleaners varied across experiments from two to three lint cleaners, for a maximum of either 10 or 15 possible operating grid bars. Data collected in study one are not reported here because the effect of the number of active grid bars was confounded by the concurrent utilization of other applications. In study two, treatments were ten, five, four, three, two, one, and zero grid bars. Treatments were obtained by equipping the two saw-type lint cleaners with automated louvers. In order to obtain the zero treatment, both saw-type lint cleaners, together with the feed section and condenser, were bypassed. No mean for individual treatment was reported; however, it was stated that lint 677 2006 Beltwide Cotton Conferences, San Antonio, Texas - January 3 - 6, 2006 cleaner waste decreased from 18.9 to 0 lb. per bale as active grid bars decreased from 10 to 0 (Anthony, 2000). Changes in lint quality were evident, mainly when decreasing the number of grid bars from one to zero (Anthony, 2000). Lint quality did not change across treatments when the zero grid bars treatment was excluded, except for color grade index, as determined by the High Volume Instrument (HVI) and manual leaf classification (Anthony, 2000). The manual leaf classification increased from 3 to 4.0 (P ≤ 0.05), decreasing the number of active grid bars from 10 to 1 (Anthony, 2000). The color grade index obtained by HVI decreased from 101.3 to 98.7 as the number of grid bars decreased from 10 to 1 (Anthony, 2000). Opening and cleaning waste increased from 1.4 to 4.6%, decreasing grid bars number from 10 to 0 (Anthony, 2000). Experiment three was conducted to confirm the amount of waste obtained in experiment two. Therefore, experiments two and three were very similar, with the exception that experiment three was conducted in a controlled environment and different cotton varieties were utilized (Anthony, 2000). Results were confirmed; the amount of lint cleaner waste per bale decreased from 27.5 to 0 lb. (P ≤ 0.05), decreasing the number of grid bars from 10 to 0. In study four, data were verified in the field utilizing a commercial gin (SERVICO Gin Co.) located in Courtland, Alabama. The gin held three lint cleaners, working in series, that were operated with either one or two active grid bars on the first and second lint cleaner, respectively, or with five active grid bars on each of the three lint cleaners (Anthony, 2000). Ginning cotton with either 15 or 3 active grid bars produced 30 and 8 lb. of waste, respectively (Anthony, 2000). The last study was a combination of four parts. In the first part, 100 pound lots of cotton were ginned utilizing different arrangements of grid bars: 10, 5, and 2 grid bars (Anthony, 2000). The waste was 26.0, 17.5, and 9 lb. for 10, 5, and 2 active grid bars, respectively (Anthony, 2000). In the remaining three parts, the author was interested in investigating variability in the amount of waste produced across cotton trailers, varieties, and growth locations. The cleaning sequence utilized within each of the following experiments was different. When 21 trailers of seedcotton of unknown varieties were processed, lint cleaner waste ranged from 6.4 to 19.3 lb. per 500 lb. of ginned lint. The waste of 16 different cotton varieties ranged from 11.4 to 18.7 lbs. per 500 lb. bale. Twenty-five varieties were grown simultaneously at two locations only few miles apart and had very similar waste. Waste averaged 18.4 and 18.9 lb. at locations 1 and 2, respectively (Anthony, 2000). Therefore, other factors such as variety and trailer, may affect the amount of waste produced. Overall, based on data reported above, the author concluded that fiber loss can be reduced by 50% or more, which corresponds to approximately 10 lb. per cotton bale. Therefore, assuming a cotton value of $0.60 per lb., reducing the number of active grid bars increased the bale value by $6. The number of operating grid bars was further investigated utilizing a 24-D saw-type lint cleaner, which was modified to contain seven grid bars (McAlister et al., 2002). Also, in the 24-D saw-type lint cleaner, grid bars were activated by opening and closing louvers. The utilization of all seven grid bars was tested by adding one grid bar at the time. Each grid bar combination was replicated twice within each of the two varieties tested, for a total of 28 observations. Lint waste decreased from 22.7 to 9.1 lb. (P ≤ 0.05), when decreasing the number of operating grid bars from 7 to 1 (McAlister et al., 2002). In the present experiment, the effect of the number of operating grid bars differed among varieties. The Stoneville 4691 variety (hairy leaf) responded more pronouncedly to the change in grid bar numbers than the Delta Pine and Land 50 variety (smooth leaf). Overall, modifying the number of grid bars did not affect the lint quality, except for the leaf grade and the waste percentage present in the cleaned lint. Leaf grades deteriorated as the number of operating grid bars decreased; and was 4.5 for one and 3.9 for seven grid bars, respectively (McAlister et al., 2002). Opening and cleaning waste increased from 1.5 to 2.3% (P ≤ 0.05), when decreasing grid bar numbers from 7 to 1 (McAlister et al., 2002). The interaction between variety and number of operating grid bars was further investigated in a commercial gin plant (Anthony et al., 2003). Sixteen cotton bales, eight for each of the two varieties tested, were processed utilizing the Continental Eagle version of 24-D saw-type lint cleaner operating with either two or eight grid bars (Anthony et al., 2003). The cotton utilized in the test contained approximately 10% foreign matter before being cleaned. The authors suggested that the amount of foreign matter was higher than what normally would be allowed in order to utilize a lint cleaner with a reduced number of active grid bars (Anthony et al., 2003).