Source: AgriLife Today
Finding sustainable markets for gin trash, wood chips and other waste products could be viable in producing more electrical power for a growing global population, according to researchers.
A demonstration was held recently on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station showcasing a biomass-fueled fluidized bed gasifier, utilizing cotton gin trash and wood chips to power an electric generator. The fluidized bed gasification system was developed in the 1980s when a patent was issued to Drs. Calvin Parnell Jr. and W.A. Lepori, who were both part of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station now Texas A&M AgriLife Research.
Cotton gin trash and other biomass feedstocks have been used as fuel to generate heat energy for power production. The technology has been a focal point for Dr. Sergio Capareda, AgriLife Research agricultural engineer in the department of biological and agricultural engineering at Texas A&M, who researched the technology while working on his graduate degree during the late 1980s. Parnell and LePori were Capareda’s graduate advisors.
Cotton gin trash is produced in abundance at cotton gins across Texas and usually left unutilized, Capareda said. During harvest season, piles of cotton gin trash can be found at gins throughout the state.
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