BASIC TEXTILE SPINNING

TECHNOLOGY

Lecture # 6-12 Ginning

Mujahid Mehdi Abro

Indus University Karachi.

Processing of cotton
Cotton is the world's most important natural fiber.
In the year 2014, the global yield was 25 million tons from
35 million hectares cultivated in more than 50 countries.
There are six stages:
Cultivating
Picking
Ginning
Spinning
Weaving
Finishing

Cotton planting and picking

Cotton is primarily grown in dry tropical and

subtropical climates at temperatures between

11C and 25C. It is a warm climate crop
threatened by heat or freezing temperatures
(below 5C or above 25C), although its
resistance varies from species to species.
Excessive exposure to dryness or moisture at
certain stages of the plant development
lasting 5 to 7 months.

NO OF DAYS REQUIRED FOR THE

GROWTH OF A SEED

Cotton Planting in Pakistan

Generally cotton planting in Pakistan is from mid of

March and the crop is picked between August. The

cotton season conventionally starts in Pakistan from
the month of September in each year. The cotton bolls
are usually picked by manual in Pakistan. The cotton
boll is the seed pod of the cotton plant, attached to
each of the thousands of seeds and fibers.

Planting and picking times for cotton, by producing country

The cotton season conventionally starts in Pakistan on the 1st of September each year.

Cotton commonly known as white gold is an important cash crop for

Pakistan and majorly grow in the province of Punjab and Sindh.

Pakistan Cotton Production

In regard to Pakistan, fourth world producing country.

Top ten cotton producers2014 (In Pakistan 170 Kg average

weight/bale)
People's Republic of China
33.0 million bales
India
27.0 million bales
United States
18.0 million bales
Pakistan
10.3 million bales
Brazil
9.3 million bales
Uzbekistan
4.6 million bales
Australia
4.2 million bales
Turkey
2.8 million bales
Turkmenistan
1.6 million bales
Greece
1.4 million bales

Cotton Specie and Varieties of Pakistan

Pakistani cotton specie, gossypium arboreum, is finer

but the staple is little short but strong and suitable for
hand picking.
The best known cotton varieties of Pakistan, NIAB-78,
evolved by the Nuclear Institute of Agriculture and
Biology (NIAB) , commonly grow in Sindh and covers
well over 50% of the area under cotton cultivation in
the country; similarly an other important variety MNH93 of Punjab; which has a higher yield and has shown
tolerance to cotton leaf curl virus disease.

FIBER MAKING
COTTON GINNING
AND
MACHINERY
FOR
BETTER GINNING OPERATIONS

What is Cotton Ginning?

Ginning is the act of separating lint from seed by
mechanical means

to give spinnable cotton lint and

undamaged seed,
this process is called ginning.

Process Flow of Ginning

Selection
When seed cotton is received in the factory
the first step is to do the selection work which is

based on
staple, grade and moisture content of seed cotton.
The seed cotton with excessive moisture content are
separated and dried so as to avoid weight losses and
the danger of there heated up.

Standardization of Cotton in Pakistan

Pakistan is the fourth largest cotton producer and one of the major

exporters in the world.

However, despite natural good qualities of Pakistani cottons, their

inherent value in the international market suffers due to absence of

proper grading and standardization.
Consequently, the country was losing significant amount in foreign

exchange.
To reverse this unhappy situation, the Government of Pakistan with

the help of ADB, FAO, and UNDP have set up a Pakistan Cotton
Standards Institute at Karachi with two regional offices at Multan in
the Punjab and Sukkur in Sindh.

STANDARDIZATION
Based on the visual grading and classification of hundreds

of seed cotton and lint cotton samples by the PCSI

experts have introduced a standardization system based
on the technical differentials between the base/pass grade
and

the

higher/lower

grade

were

established

Pakistan`s seed cotton and lint cotton comprising of:

for

Following seed cotton grades has been graded so far

Super

Reject
ed

Lint cotton standard grades

Super

1/s

2/1

3/2

4/3

5/4

reject
ed

Moisture content
Moisture is the most important single factor affecting

fiber quality during ginning.

The ideal ginning moisture content 7% is acceptable.

Drying
There are two methods of drying:
(i) Natural drying system &
(ii) Artificial drying system.
The seed cotton, because of morning humidity is often too wet
to gin without some drying. Therefore, especially in our country
we dry the seed cotton through natural system. Seed cotton that
is wet will not gin satisfactory, we spread the seed cotton on a
platform and expose it to the sun for several hours during this
we also make the dandhari / khalari.
In some areas of coast region, there is no much wet cotton that
has almost always been made to dry it before ginning, therefore
they use artificial drying equipment called drier. Some of these
driers dry the seed cotton by passing it through a large cylinder
or tower through which forced a hot air at the rate of 40 to 100
cubic feet for each pound of cotton the temperature of the drying
is 150 to 250 F.

Heap Settler
OR
Khilari Machine
The main function of heap settler is to reduce the

moisture content and loose the condensed cotton. In heap

settler cotton is fed manually from the heap to the suction
duct. Seed cotton is loosened by the beating action of the
separator. Finally the loose cotton is blown out onto a
platform for further storage and processing.

Rock & Boll Trap or Rock Catcher

A device for separating heavier materials from seed

cotton. Rock Catcher is a very use-full device which can be
made out of G.I. pipes and can be easily fitted in seed
cotton suction line / pipe at a convenient place. This device
does not let the bricks, wooden pieces and immature cotton
in ginning for protects the costly spares of gin-machines.

Storing Seed Cotton

Seed cotton can be safely stored in modules/heaps not

more than 18 X 12 X 10 ft. if its moisture content is kept at
12% or less. Wet cotton or containing green plant material
will heat during storage and quickly deteriorate. Cotton
damage in this manner produces low grades and poor
quality seed. Modules/heaps should be checked daily. A
ventilation machine should be used to save the seed cotton
modules from heating or discoloring.

Pre Ginning Machines

The use of pre ginning

machine is of vital importance
for production of good grade
cotton.

Cleaner/Opener

This is a simple spiked two or more rolls machine to

clean and open the seed cotton before ginning as

loose and fluffy seed cotton will result in improved
quality of ginning.

Stick machine

A machine for removing sticks and green leaf from seed cotton, consists of reclaimer
saw rolls, and doffing brush rolls.

Feeder extractor cleaner

This machine is the best for cleaning dust, leaf and

particularly the bolls from seed cotton. It consists of

feeder rolls, channel saw rolls, bristle brush or
doffing rolls.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GIN

1. Knife roller gin
2. Saw gin
3. McCarthy gin

Types of McCarthy GIN

I. Single acting McCarthy gin.
ii. Double roller McCarthy gin.

Saw Gin / Gin Stand

(The heart of the Ginning Process)

Essentially, the saw gin consists of a series of circular

saws, between (12 18 inch) in diameter, mounted closely

on a axle and made to rotate at high speed in order to
tear/pull the lint fibers away from seed. The seed cotton is
fed to continuously into a rounded box or rough of gin
stand through the huller ribs, and the action of saw keeps it
revolving in a loosely compacted roll. The seed falls through
a grid in to a collecting box or seed conveyor, while the lint
is wiped off the teeth of the saws by high speed brushes or
an air blast. After passing through a condenser, is conveyed
to the baling press mechanically or pneumatically.

Saw Gin / Gin Stand

This machine consists of :

feeder rolls,

pre-cleaner rolls,

ginning saws,

ginning ribs,

hulling ribs,

hulling roll and

nozzle.
The correct repair, setting operation at the right speed
and regular maintenance and repair of gin stand and
its parts has a great bearing on the quality of ginning.

Feeder Rolls

These rolls are controlled by discgrid and lever, which

are operated by saw gin fitter/ operator to control the
feed of seed cotton to the gin stand, there are
generally 7 rows of holes in the discgrid. The extreme
outer row is called No.1 very efficient ginning and
cleaning is obtained by using the feed No.2 if all
settings are correctly done.

Pre cleaner rolls

There are generally 4-6 such spiked

rolls in one gin stand fitted with a

wire netting of 3 mesh x 12 gauge.
These rolls clean leaf, dust and
motes.

Roller Gin
The modern roller gins are operated by various kind
of engines or electric power. There are two types of
roller gin:
Single standard width roller gin,
and
(ii) Double acting roller gin.
(i)

Single standard width roller gin

Roller gin consists of a lather covered roller which is made

to revolve in close contact with a fixed metal blade, the lint in
the seed cotton sticks to the lather roller (packing roll) and is
pulled through the gap between the roller and blade, which is
too narrow for the seed to pass, the separation is helped by
a moving knife (Rotary knife) or beater bar pushing the seed
away from the fixed knife (stationary knife). The lint is lifted
off the roller and connected for onward transmission to the
balling press, while the seed follows its own channel.

Double acting roller gin

Double acting roller gin has two beater blades per roller,
roller gins are considered better than saw gins for ginning
cotton with very long or very short staple cotton. A single
standard width roller gin stand turns out 50 lbs., of lint
cotton per hour, while a 90 saw gin stand yields more than
650-lbs, lint during the same period of time.

Post Ginning Machines

In order to get the maximum efficiency, the use of

post cleaning machines is also very important for
good grade / quality required for cleaning of lint.

Bale press

Packaging

is the final step in the processing of lint cotton at the gin. There are four

types of gin presses that product bales of differed size and densities flat, modified
flat, gin standard and gin universal.
Cotton

bale press of various styles are in use, such as single, double box down

packing and the double box up packing. The bale press consists of a ram, one or
more rams, and a hydraulic system. A pressure of 800 to 1200 tons is then applied to
the bale about 22 pounds per cubic feet. Flat bales are normally packaged with
six steel bands having a strength of 3400 pounds.
A bale

is usually uniform in weight as possible 175 to 180 kg, and size 48 height 18

width and 22 length.