Vijayan Gurumurthy Iyer

Properties of Covering Materials of Roller Used in Cotton Roller Gin: Unsafe Chromium Contamination and Pollution from Cotton Ginning Industries and Development of Eco-friendly Alternatives Vijayan Gurumurthy Iyer

The author of this book has investigated and documented the properties of cotton gin-roller coverings and background of the roller ginning process. Most of the cotton ginning operations are performed by using double roller (DR) ginning machines which serve an important role in the ginning factories. The rollers used in these industries are commonly made of Chrome Composite Leather-Clads (CCLC) covering fixed to a shaft. The CCLC coverings contain about 18 000 to 36 000 mg/kg (ppm) of chromium . When the seed-cotton is processed in DR gins, the lint cotton is contaminated with chromium of about 140 to 1990 ppm as total chromium, which is carcinogenic substance as against the safe limits of 0.1 ppm. Also, gin and textile mill workers are directly exposed to this carcinogenic substance and are vulnerable to health hazards. To offset this problem, pollution-free rubberized cotton fabric (RCF) washers/ rollers both for laboratory and commercial studies have been fabricated and experimented. This could be used commercially as an alternative in the roller ginning industries for the benefit of environment, society, mill owners, traders, workers, employees and the government.