Engineering analysis and economic impacts of air pollution abatement strategies for cotton gins

Abstract

Cotton gins emit particulate and lint fiber into the atmosphere as a result of their ginning process. All the gins in Texas are required to install Baseline Best Available Control Technology (BBACT) in order to obtain a permit to construct or operate. Gins that are located in densely populated areas or those which are in violation of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) regulations may be required to install additional controls. TNRCC Permit Engineers define the additional controls that a gin must install to reduce emissions. However, some of these controls may not be financially viable for the gins. The ginners can use the criterion of 'economic reasonableness' to negotiate an appropriate abatement strategy. Several additional air pollution abatement strategies using combinations of cyclones, rotary drum filters, and baffle type pre-separators have been defined. Procedures to estimate costs of equipment and emission factors for various abatement equipment are described in detail. Models to determine the costs of cyclones and to simulate the ginning volumes for cotton gins in Texas were developed. Two criterions (return on investment and cost per ton of reduced emissions) were used to determine economic reasonableness.