Pre-separator/cyclone systems have been used in cotton gins for many years. The first plenum chambers were installed in the 1970's. As regulatory pressures increase, cotton ginners have been forced to spend significant amounts of money to upgrade their emission control systems. In this effort, many ginners have been forced to find new ways of controlling their emissions. As systems become more sophisticated, control efficiency tends to increase, but so does system cost and system maintenance.

In order to be effective in the cotton gin environment, air pollution abatement systems must be efficient, cost effective, and have very low maintenance. Many ginners have found that removing a majority of the gin trash from the air stream before it reaches the final air pollution abatement device helps them attain all three of the above goals.