Preview

Low Micronaire Cotton

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
669 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Low Micronaire Cotton
Romina Gonzalez
Robert Barriga
Global Sourcing and Product Development
15 May 2013
Industry Research Paper 2
“The Importance of Low Micronaire Cotton” A new study at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health has found a new way of cleaning up oil spills. Following the Deepwater Horizon event that caused 11 deaths and a fire that was visible from about 35 miles away (Crittenden, 2010), researchers realized that they needed to find a better way to clean up oil spills. Seshadri Ramkumar, the lead author of this new study studied a variety of textiles such as barley straw, kapok, and polypropylene wool but realized that raw cotton had not yet been tested. After some extensive research he found that low micronaire cotton was the best form of picking up crude oil. However, crude oil is not easy to pick up. In comparison with refined motor oil, crude oil is dense and releases toxic vapors. Oil spills can affect shorelines, water, animals, and even the people in the surrounding areas. Having a new form of oil pickup can relieve the issues that major oil spills cause. (Texas Tech University, 2013). The secret is in low micronaire cotton. Micronaire is a property of cotton that determines the maturity and fineness of the fibers in cotton. If a micronaire value is too low it can easily cause breakage during the manufacturing process. A low micronaire value can also cause streakiness where the dye does not hold well and starts to bleed. A really low or high micronaire value can cause damage to a garment and lose the quality and cost of it. However, a low micronaire value in cotton is the new way of picking up crude oil. ("Micronaire." 2.2.1-Cotton Value Addition). In West Texas about 10 percent of the cotton that is grown there has a low micronaire value to it. Because of the defects that it has, it just gets discounted and not used. Since this low micronaire cotton is not mature enough to be used, it can be shrunk and you can pack more fiber. When testing



Cited: Crittenden, Guy. "Understanding the Initial Deepwater Horizon Fire." Understanding the Initial Deepwater Horizon Fire. Haz Mat Management, 10 May 2010. Web. 16 May 2013. Davis, John. "Low-Grade Cotton Brings Top Value in Oil Spill Cleanup." Texas Tech Today RSS. Texas Tech Today, 15 May 2013. Web. 16 May 2013. "Micronaire." 2.2.1-Cotton Value Addition-. International Trade Centre, n.d. Web. 16 May 2013. "Texas Tech Researchers Find Environmental Application For Low-Grade Cotton." PR Newswire. PR Newswire, 15 May 2013. Web. 16 May 2013. Texas Tech University. "Low-grade Cotton." United States Of America :. Fibre 2 Fashion, 16 May 2013. Web. 16 May 2013.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Before cotton, hemp was very common in forms of fibers which could be used for twine, paper and many other things. Once people came out with cotton gins and other very efficient ways to harvest and make fabric out of…

    • 1774 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Safety is always an important factor when considering new methods for obtaining raw energy sources such as coal, oil, and natural and shale gas. The process of fracking can be considered relatively safe when compared to oil drilling and mining. For example, in 2010 an offshore drilling station suffered a malfunction in a blow back valve that caused a massive explosion killing 11 people and spilling an estimated 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico (Center for Biological Diversity, 2011). While the cost of lost lives is immeasurable, the costs of lost profits from the spilling oil, and the clean-up, are astronomical. The consequences of oil spills are not only immediate, but can also be felt for years after. Similar to the BP oil spill, in 1989 the Exxon Valdez ship ran aground spilling an estimated 750 thousand barrels of crude oil, an…

    • 2063 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    7. Plunkett Research, Ltd. “Apparel & Textiles Industry Overview.” n.d. http://www.plunkettresearch.com/Industries/ApparelTextilesFashions/ApparelTextilesFashionsTrends/tabid/158/Default.aspx (accessed 9 November 2010)…

    • 3773 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people do not realize the impact of the oil spills that occur in the ocean. It is like putting water into a heated oil frying substance. It is quite catastrophic. With all the oil spills that have already occurred it is important to help clean ,and prevent oil spills from reoccuring. There is indeed a lot of reasons as to why we should clean and help prevent oil spills from happening but here are the three main reasons. First reason being oil spills cause immense harm to the marine habitats that intern affect the entire ecosystem disrupting its cycle. A second major reason being is all the things that the oil contains and where they go. The third reason we found that plays a major role involving…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cotton Gin History

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Cotton can be used for numerous things; use can make margarine and oil out of the seeds, long cotton fibers are used for clothing, and the short fibers can be shipped to the paper industry, and with the stalks and leaves and be put in the ground to make soil better. With Whitney’s invention America was able to produce mass amounts of cotton, about 7.3 billion pounds per…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Next Uk

    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages

    They receive cotton from 591 suppliers from 46 different countries. Before selecting a supplier, they carry out audits to gain a clear view on how the supplier can comply with their Code of Practice, which has minimum requirement relating to workers’ right and working conditions. Even with Next’s support and guidance, some suppliers cannot trace their raw materials accurately and cannot determine whether it’s sourced sustainably or not. Due to this challenge, they cannot consider themselves sustainable.…

    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fairtrade Issues

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page

    Nearly half of the chemicals used in cotton production are considered toxic to be classified as hazardous by the World Health Organisation.…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    So I'm going to talk to you about you about the political chemistry of oil spills and why this is an incredibly important, long, oily, hot summer, and why we need to keep ourselves from getting distracted. But before I talk about the political chemistry, I actually need to talk about the chemistry of oil.…

    • 3481 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, the United States Congress to pass the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which was made effective on 18th August of 1990, and with it commenced a new standard in the prevention of oil pollution, response, and liability (Sump, 2015, p.439). The oil industry implemented drug/alcohol testing for tanker workers, adjusted tanker routes, expanded training and examination regimes for workers, enhanced navigational gear, and introduced redundant power frameworks on vessels (Coil, Lester, and Higman, 2014). Also, Coil, Lester, and Higman (2014) wrote that spill response innovation improved via new methods and equipment, the oil spill response central points was formed, and a more detailed oil spill provisional mechanism was…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oil is one of the most important resources that empower the economy. It is mainly used for transportation, cooking, heating, and also electricity generation. Without oil, transportation, manufacturing, and production of food may not be possible. Oil came from fossils and dead organisms that submerged to the bottom of the ocean, or what we so called Oil Wells. It was collected by oil rigs by digging the bottom surface of the ocean. Deepwater Horizon oil spill is one of the biggest and controversial oil spill in the world. In one of the President Barrack Obama’s interview, he stated that “the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced” (Horowitz). This oil spill affected and left significant damage to human, animals, and to the environment that will last not just years, but centuries, or maybe more.…

    • 1282 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Gulf Oil Spill

    • 1276 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Imagine having to clean up 3.19 million barrels. There are many different variables that come into play, such as what time of oil it is, how the seawater mixes with the oil or how the currents, tides, winds and temperatures move the oil throughout the Gulf. The most basic process of cleaning up an oil spill is to control the spread of the oil using physical barriers. When oil mixes with water it tends to float to the surface and disperse across the surface. There are two methods to cleaning up an oil spill the first is physical. To clean up the oil on the surface works first surround the oil with floating booms to keep it from spreading even further. To pick up the surface oil they usually will use boats that skim the spilled water from the surface through the oil. Once most of the oil is removed workers use sorbents to mop up the trace amounts left behind. Sorbents act like a sponge and are able to soak up the oil. The second method of cleaning up an oil spill is dispersants. Dispersant is a chemical that breaks down oil into smaller particles that mix with water more easily. By doing this bacteria and evaporation can degrade these smaller particles more easily than if they were in bigger groups. Additionally, waves can wash away the smaller particles too. Dispersants are used mostly protect a certain area like a marsh or harbor. However dispersants can enter the food chain and harm animals. Dispersants…

    • 1276 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    BP Oil Spill

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the field trials, four small areas were used to find the effectiveness of seeding. These field trials failed to demonstrate enhanced oil biodegradation by these products. There were no significant differences between the four areas during a 27 day trial period; the oil was already highly degraded by the time these field trials were conducted.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    These methods included hot water treatment, high pressure cold water treatment, mechanical cleanup, and bioremediation. Overall, this cleanup effort cost $2.1 million, a cost which may have been easily avoided if Exxon Shipping Company simply would have spent a little bit more to take more proficient safety precautions. Although it is obvious that it would be heavily preferred that the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill incident had never occurred, it did aid in leading to the creation and passing of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. In addition to this, it has allowed for observation of and research on a marine ecosystem’s response to an oil spill, and how it is able to recover. In this specific situation, the ecosystem has had some significant biological changes, such as warming water, receding ice, and a decline in various fish and mammal species. Another positive outcome of this disaster it the ability to try various cleanup methods, such as the ones listed previously, and observe which are most…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Birth of Industrial Age

    • 1301 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Volti, Rudi (1999) Cotton Gin. Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Science. New York, New York…

    • 1301 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oil spills are a big part of pollution in water. The oil spill of 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico is noticed as the worst oil spill in American History. Extreme amounts of oil and money was wasted. Within a couple of days of the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf, underwater cameras showed the BP pipe was leaking oil and gas into the ocean floor about 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. By the end of the occasion, they figured out that 3.19 million barrels of oil had been sent out into the Gulf.1 Oil spills affect marine ecosystems. In the last thirty years,…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics