HCL Acid Delinting
Fuzzy seed is continuously dried and warmed in a drier that consists of a rotating drum with hot air flowing through the interior. Warm and dry fuzzy seed is fed into a seed charging hopper and collected until the delinting drum is ready for the batch.
Warm and dry fuzzy seed is then charged into the empty, rotating delinting drum. As the drum is filled to the correct level, the end doors are closed and HCL gas is injected.
HCL acid is delivered to the plant site in pressurized containers. HCL gas is drawn from the containers through a piping system that delivers the gas to a vaporizer which heats the gas. The operator injects the gas into the delinting drum by opening the purge valve and then warm gas is transferred to the rotating delinting drum.
The seed is exposed to the HCL gas under pressure to insure adequate penetration of the lint fibers. When adequate exposure time is reached, the exposed seed is conveyed into the buffing drum where the final removal of the fibers takes place. Each batch of seed requires approximately twice as much time in the buffer as is required in the delinting drum. Therefore two buffing reels are needed to maintain the production rate of one delinting drum. The scrubbing action in the buffer removes the HCL treated fibers from the seed. Air is drawn through the buffers to convey the waste lint to collection equipment for disposal. Black seed is removed from the buffing reels on an alternating basis and conveyed into the cleaning and conditioning equipment.
|
|