ABSTRACT

Waste or byproducts from cotton ginning facilities have not traditionally been considered a viable source of revenue but considered a cost liability. It was estimated that in the US, there were over 2.25 million tons of cotton byproducts generated each year across the cotton belt. Last year Texas produced 4,153,866 bales of upland cotton. From the bales produced, there was an estimated 750,000 tons of waste produced in the ginning process. The purpose of this research was to explore the cost feasibility of creating a fuel pellet operation utilizing gin byproducts from marketing, transportation, and manufacturing aspects. Economic analyses and modeling were conducted on the estimated costs and revenues to determine the feasibility of the project.