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LOGO: Journal of Cotton Science

 

First Stage Mote System Particulate Emission Factors for Cotton Gins: Particle Size Distribution Characteristics

Authors: Michael D. Buser, Derek P. Whitelock, J. Clif Boykin, and Gregory A. Holt
Pages: 491-503
Engineering and Ginning

This report is part of a project to characterize cotton gin emissions from the standpoint of total particulate stack sampling and particle size analyses. In 2006 and again in 2013, the United States (U.S.) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a more stringent National Ambient Air Quality Standard for particulate matter with nominal diameter less than or equal to 2.5 µm (PM2.5). This created an urgent need to collect additional cotton gin emissions data to address current regulatory issues, because EPA AP-42 cotton gin PM2.5 emission factors were limited. In addition, current EPA AP-42 included combined mote cleaner PM10 (particulate matter with nominal diameter less than or equal to 10 µm) and total particulate emission factors and not individual mote system emission factors. The objective of this study was to characterize particulate emissions for 1st stage mote systems from cotton gins across the cotton belt based on particle size distribution analysis of total particulate samples from EPA-approved stack sampling methods. Average measured PM2.5, PM6, and PM10 emission factors based on the mass and particle size analyses of EPA Method 17 total particulate filter and wash samples from five gins (14 total test runs) were 0.00063 kg/227-kg bale (0.0014 lb/500-lb bale), 0.0054 kg/bale (0.012 lb/bale), and 0.0091 kg/bale (0.020 lb/bale), respectively. The 1st stage mote system particle size distributions were characterized by an average mass median diameter of 16.4 µm (aerodynamic equivalent diameter). Based on system average emission factors, the ratio of PM2.5 to total particulate was 2.49%, PM6 to total was 21.6%, and PM10 to total was 36.0%.