Dust levels and particle-size distributions in high-capacity cotton gins

Abstract

Dust samples were collected inside high-capacity cotton gins with the personal, stationary personal, and the vertical elutriator cotton dust samplers. Dust particles collected on the filters were sized with a particle measurement computer system. Particle-distribution data revealed that gin dust contains a high percentage of dust particles larger than 20 micrometers in diameter.

Response of Lint Foreign Matter and Dust to Gin Machinery1

“…Some particles smaller than 1 S gm are likely to be deposited in the lungs, whereas larger particles settle rapidly from the atmosphere and rarely pass the filtering mechanisms of the human upper respiratory tract. Dust in cotton textile mills causes byssinosis, a respiratory disorder, in susceptible workers [51; however, surveys of gin workers in several countries have not shown conclusive evidence of byssinosis [8].…”