The Advanced Cotton Laboratory at Texas Tech University has been exploring new opportunities for cotton for the past few years now. Research has resulted in a biodegradable oil absorbent, a new green process to dewax cotton, and identification of molecular markers for cotton’s comfort property.
A five-member delegation from Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) – a public sector organization under the Central Ministry of Textiles, Government of India – recently visited Lubbock to explore the United States’ cotton sector. The team was also interested in learning about new cotton products and opportunities.
The team was interested in evaluating the cotton-based oil absorbent wipe technology developed at Texas Tech University using low micronaire, discounted cotton. As seen in a YouTube video demonstration during the visit, the technology worked well and received positive feedback from the Indian cotton experts, who analyze cotton fibers daily.
“Research on low micronaire cotton is a useful value-addition work for application in the automobile sector,” stated Manish Rawat, of CCI in Mumbai, who did a hands-on experiment to validate the technology. “Furthermore, we can use low micronaire cotton in different segments. For example, if oil containers fall in the oceans, the biodegradable oil sorbent can recover oil from the spill, which indeed is a very big research achievement in the cotton industry.”
Arjunsinh Dave, of CCI in Rajkot, Gujarat – the largest cotton growing state in India – enthusiastically evaluated the cotton technology and stated, “The cotton absorbent product will result in the industrial utilization of low micronaire cotton, which will be a tremendous new opportunity for the cotton industry.”
Source: Cotton Grower