Lint, linters

Linters, gin motes, blended stock and batting Lint and linters minus trash Gross trash... 

Establishment of the location of microorganisms, that is, whether primarily on the fiber and or on the botanical trash entrained with the fiber, is of practical importance for attempts to remove GNB from cotton materials. This study shows that GNB are more highly concentrated on gross botanical trash found in cotton materials than on cleaned lint or linters. However, since the trash removal procedure involved separation of only those botanical fragments > 50 pm, it may be that some GNB on cleaned fiber are localized on smaller particles still entrained in the lint or linters. 

While data in Tables IV and V show that GNB are more highly concentrated on separated trash than on cleaned lint or linters, it does not follow that removal of all gross trash from cotton materials will produce a material which Involves a lower risk of medical symptoms among those exposed to the dust. Thus for raw cottons In Table IV assuming that 35.7 x 10 GNB occur on all botanical trash [2.8% of sample weight (Table I)] and 0.8 x 10 ... 

The cotton fibres are removed from seeds by a process called "ginning . The recovered fibres are called "lint . The seeds, to which very short fibres called "linters are still attached, are sent to a cotton-seed mill where the seeds and "linters are separated from each other... 

Cotton "lint , the substance from which cloth is made, is too expensive for use in the explosive industry. It has also been found that these long fibres are much more difficult to nitrate than the shorter and less expensive "linters . Hence the purified "linters constitute the principle source of cellulose for the manufacture of nitrocellulose explosives and plastics (See also under Cotton, Chemical ... 

The relatively long fiber lengths (about 1 in. (25.4 mm) or longer) on the cottonseed relate to the fiber that is used by the textile industry. This raw cotton fiber, which can be spun into textile yarns, is called lint. However, another type of fiber, linters or fuzz fibers, which are very short, is also produced on the seed along with the lint [44]. The distribution of the lint and fuzz fibers over the seed surface is neither uniform nor random. The base of the seed mostly produces lint fibers, whereas cells near the tip of the seed mostly produce fuzz fibers. 

Length (commercial lint averages 1 in. (25.4 mm) and first-cut linters average about 0.5 in. (12-15 mm)... 

In addition to the various markets for cotton lint, there are also markets for cottonseed and its products [616]. Cottonseed represents about 15-20% of the total value of cotton. Vegetable oil for human consumption, whole cottonseed, meal, hulls for animal feed, and linters for batting and chemical cellulose are the major end uses for cottonseed [616]. 

Cotton plantations are intrinsically tied to the history of the erstwhile Confederate States of the USA. Cotton is a crop that, besides fibre (cotton lint), delivers food (cottonseed oil) and feed (meal). For each 100 kg of cotton fibre produced, the plant produces about 150 kg of cottonseed. About 50 cottonseeds are contained in a pod, which opens when it is ripe. After removal of the cotton, the seeds are still covered with fine hairs (linters), which are removed with delintering machines. The linters are used as a chemical cellulose source in personal care products, in batting for upholstered furniture and mattresses, in high-quality paper and for celluloseether production. 

Fig. 1. Cotton butterfly with lint and linters (fuzz fibers).

Delinting. The cleaned seeds are conveyed to the lint room where the short fibers, known as linters, are removed. The delinting machines use a series of circular saws designed to cut the short fibers. The linters are then collected and pressed into bales. Most mills run the seed through the delinting machine twice. 

The seed hairs, called lint, are removed by saw-like machines (gins). Slots in the machine allow lint to pass and keep the seed back. Modem gins are multifunctional that also dry, blend and clean the lint and the seed. Packing of the long cotton fibers into bales of 220 kg follows. The seed, 65% by weight and 15% by value, is source of ->cottonseed oil and cotton linters (->cellulose). 

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