Combining the use of overspray and blending for successful processing of very sticky cotton
Authors
Bobby Wyatt
Dean Etheridge
Abstract
Issues related to stickiness in cotton may be divided into three categories: prevention, measurement, and treatment. This paper focuses primarily on the treatment of sticky cotton at the textile mill. When honeydew (insect secretions) is the cause of significant stickiness, achieving acceptable processing through the spinning mill requires b1end ing the sticky cotton with non-sticky cottOll, applying an overspray to the raw fiber, reducing humidity, or a combination of these treatments. In the ongOing work with organically grown cotton at the International Textile Center (ITCl, severe stickiness is a recurring problem. To help alleviate the problem, an organically approved overspray was developed and has been tested over the past two seasons for use in textile mills. So far all the field testing has been done at harvest and ginning; however, the overspray was developed for use in textile mills and tests will be conducted in a coml!lercial U.s. mill during the next few months. The ITe has long used full