Economics of Oversized Cyclones in the Cotton Ginning Industry

Cost of reducing pollution to meet increasingly stringent air quality standards particularly for the U.S. cotton ginning industry is rising overtime. Most industry participants use cyclones to control air pollutants. These cyclones have no moving parts and their initial investment costs are relatively low. However, they require a substantial amount of energy to run them. Since the electricity rates are rising, the ginning industry is constantly looking for opportunities to increase cyclone operating efficiency and reduce the cost of complying with the local, state, and federal air pollution standards. Dust particles of size PM10 and PM2.5 are the pollutants of main concern for the industry. Researchers in the USDA’s Southwest Ginning Lab in Las Cruces are conducting experiments to evaluate whether using bigger diameter cyclones at lower inlet velocities can reduce the energy costs. If these experiments show that the bigger diameter cyclones can achieve the same level of air pollution control, it may substantially reduce energy cost and boost ginning industry profitability. This study uses the results from the ginning lab to evaluate the impact of using bigger cyclones at lower inlet velocity to reduce energy use, decrease emission, and increase profitability of the ginning industry.