Cotton bale

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A bale of cotton on display at the Louisiana State Cotton Museum in Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish in northeastern Louisiana Bale of cotton at LA State Cotton Museum IMG 7387.JPG
A bale of cotton on display at the Louisiana State Cotton Museum in Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish in northeastern Louisiana

A Cotton bale is a standard-sized and weighted pack of compressed cotton lint after ginning. The dimensions and weight may vary with different cotton-producing countries. [1]

Contents

Significance

A bale has an essential role from the farm to the factory. The cotton yield is calculated in terms of the number of bales. [2] Bale is a standard packaging method for cotton to avoid various hassles in handling, packing, and transportation. The bales also protect the lint from foreign contamination and make them readily identifiable. [3]

Cotton bale management system

Bale management encompasses the systematic procedures of categorizing, blending, and assessing bales based on fiber attributes, with the aim of achieving desired quality yarn production at an optimized cost. [4] Cotton fibres differ in terms of staple length and other physical characteristics; this is a inherent feature. [5] Bale management, also known as "bale mixing," is the process of analysing, classifying, and then blending fibres from various bales [which also includes the bales received from other stations] according to their fibre properties in order to create yarn of a specific quality at the most affordable price. [6]

Standards

Bale

A "bale of cotton" is also the standard trading unit for cotton on the wholesale national and international markets. Although different cotton-growing countries have their bale standards, for example, In the United States, cotton is usually measured at approximately 0.48 cubic meters (17 cu ft) and weighs 226.8 kilograms (500 pounds). [7] In India, the standard bale size is 170 kg. [8] [9] [10] [11]

Parameters

The most important parameters of a cotton bale are:

  • Density (448 kg/m3) [10]
  • Measurements of the bales (nominally 1.40 m X 0.53 m X 0.69 m) [12] [10]
  • Weight (Varies, but ‘statistical’ bale weighs 480 lb) [10]
Country-wise bale weight [11]
Sr.No.CountryBale in kg
1 Australia 227
2 Colombia 233
3 Egypt 327
4 India 170 [13]
5 Pakistan 170
6 Mexico 230
7 Nigeria 185
8 South Africa 200
9 Sudan 191
10 Tanzania 181
11 Uganda 181
12 United States of America 225

Advances in standardization are reducing the variation in weights, sizes, dimensions, and densities of cotton bales. [8] [14]

Candy

Candy is another trading unit. A candy weighs approximately 2.09 bales (356 kg). [15] In India, ginned cotton is traded in terms of candy also which weighs 356 kg (355.62 kg). [16] [17] [11]

Trash

When cotton is harvested and exposed to ginning, it carries more than 64% cottonseed, 2% waste and 34% fibrous matter (also known as lint). [18] Lower trash percentage in cotton increases the recovery. [19] Cotton bales are not pure cotton; they contain foreign contaminants, residual trash and leaf (and other non lint material) that have a direct impact on the recovery in yarn spinning. [20] [21]

Cotton cultivation

Harvesting

Ginning and bale making

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cotton</span> Plant fiber from the genus Gossypium

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus Gossypium in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor percentages of waxes, fats, pectins, and water. Under natural conditions, the cotton bolls will increase the dispersal of the seeds.

<i>Gossypium</i> Genus of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae

Gossypium is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Gossypieae of the mallow family, Malvaceae, from which cotton is harvested. It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Old and New Worlds. There are about 50 Gossypium species, making it the largest genus in the tribe Gossypieae, and new species continue to be discovered. The name of the genus is derived from the Arabic word goz, which refers to a soft substance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cotton gin</span> Machine that separates cotton from seeds

A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation. The fibers are then processed into various cotton goods such as calico, while any undamaged cotton is used largely for textiles like clothing. The separated seeds may be used to grow more cotton or to produce cottonseed oil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Textile</span> Various fiber-based materials

Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the only manufacturing method, and many other methods were later developed to form textile structures based on their intended use. Knitting and non-woven are other popular types of fabric manufacturing. In the contemporary world, textiles satisfy the material needs for versatile applications, from simple daily clothing to bulletproof jackets, spacesuits, and doctor's gowns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yarn</span> Long continuous length of interlocked fibres

Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or other lubricants to withstand the stresses involved in sewing. Embroidery threads are yarns specifically designed for needlework. Yarn can be made of a number of natural or synthetic materials, and comes in a variety of colors and thicknesses. Although yarn may be dyed different colours, most yarns are solid coloured with a uniform hue.

This timeline of clothing and textiles technology covers events relating to fiber and flexible woven material worn on the body. This includes the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, and manufacturing systems (technology).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worsted</span> Fabrics manufactured from worsted yarns

Worsted is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk. That village, together with North Walsham and Aylsham, formed a manufacturing centre for yarn and cloth in the 12th century, when pasture enclosure and liming rendered the East Anglian soil too rich for the older agrarian sheep breeds. In the same period, many weavers from the County of Flanders moved to Norfolk. "Worsted" yarns/fabrics are distinct from woollens : the former is considered stronger, finer, smoother, and harder than the latter.

A cotton picker is either a machine that harvests cotton, or a person who picks ripe cotton fibre from the plants. Picking of cotton is applied in the time of year once it totally / fully matures when approximately one hundred sixty to one hundred seventy days once planted. Once the ball bursts former are going to be able to decide.The machine is also referred to as a cotton harvester.

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The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry.

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Textile manufacturing is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods such as clothing, household items, upholstery and various industrial products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Units of textile measurement</span> Systems for measuring textiles

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A staple fiber is a textile fiber of discrete length. The opposite is a filament fiber, which comes in continuous lengths. Staple length is a characteristic fiber length of a sample of staple fibers. A fiber is made up of natural substances and is known for being longer than it is wide. It is an essential criterion in yarn spinning, and aids in cohesion and twisting. Compared to synthetic fibers, natural fibers tend to have different and shorter lengths. The quality of natural fibers like cotton is categorized on staple length such as short, medium, long staple, and extra-long. Gossypium barbadense, one of several cotton species, produces extra-long staple fibers. The staple fibers may be obtained from natural and synthetic sources. In the case of synthetics and blends, the filament yarns are cut to a predetermined length.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur James Turner</span>

Arthur James Turner, CBE, FTI was a British scientist who worked in the field of textile technology. He was the first director of the Technological Laboratory created by the Indian Central Cotton Committee (ICCC) in Bombay in 1924. He was awarded the Warner Memorial Medal by the Textile Institute in 1931 in recognition of outstanding work in textile science and technology and was appointed to the CBE in 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uster Technologies</span> Swiss manufacturer of analytical instruments and on-line monitoring systems

Uster Technologies, in its industry often called USTER, is a Swiss manufacturer of analytical instruments and on-line monitoring systems for the textile industry, based in Uster, Switzerland. It emerged as a management buy-out form of the textile division Zellweger Uster of the Zellweger Luwa Group in 2003. From 2007 until 2012 the company was publicly traded and listed on the main segment of SIX Swiss Exchange. Since 2012 Uster Technologies is a subsidiary of Toyota Industries Corporation.

Cotton classing is the measurement and classification of cotton by its specific physical attributes. This information is attached to individual bales, thus clarifying their value and helping producers market them. For cotton buyers, i.e. the spinning mills, this precise information about the cotton fiber enables them to achieve consistent yarn quality by optimizing raw material selection and blending.

Dimensional stability pertains to a fabric's ability to maintain its initial size and shape even after undergoing wear and care, which is a desirable property. Dimension stability in fabrics or Shrinkage is the change of dimensions in textile products when they are washed or relaxed. The change is always expressed relative to the dimensions before the exposure of washing or relaxing. Shrinkage is also called residual shrinkage and measured in percentage. The major cause of shrinkages is the release of stresses and strains introduced in manufacturing processes. Textile manufacturing is based on the conversion of fiber into yarn, yarn into fabric, includes spinning, weaving, or knitting, etc. The fabric passes through many inevitable changes and mechanical forces during this journey. When the products are immersed in water, the water acts as a relaxing medium, and all stresses and strains are relaxed and the fabric tries to come back to its original state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cotton production in the United States</span>

The United States exports more cotton than any other country, though it ranks third in total production, behind China and India. Almost all of the cotton fiber growth and production occurs in the Southern United States and the Western United States, dominated by Texas, California, Arizona, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. More than 99 percent of the cotton grown in the US is of the Upland variety, with the rest being American Pima. Cotton production is a $21 billion-per-year industry in the United States, employing over 125,000 people in total, as against growth of forty billion pounds a year from 77 million acres of land covering more than eighty countries. The final estimate of U.S. cotton production in 2012 was 17.31 million bales, with the corresponding figures for China and India being 35 million and 26.5 million bales, respectively. Cotton supports the global textile mills market and the global apparel manufacturing market that produces garments for wide use, which were valued at USD 748 billion and 786 billion, respectively, in 2016. Furthermore, cotton supports a USD 3 trillion global fashion industry, which includes clothes with unique designs from reputed brands, with global clothing exports valued at USD 1.3 trillion in 2016.

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In textile spinning, yarn realisation (YR), or yarn recovery, is an operational parameter of yarn manufacturing. It is the percentage conversion of raw material to finished yarn. The rest of the waste fibers with less value are compared to the weight of the produced yarn from a given weight of raw material. The quantity of waste removed during the various phases of yarn spinning, such as blow-room, carding, and combing, is often used to determine yarn realisation. Yarn realisation ranges between 85% and 90% in carded cotton yarns and between 67% and 75% in combed cotton yarns.

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References

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  13. Cotton Sector
  14. "ISO 8115:1986". ISO. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
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