Robert Barriga
Global Sourcing and Product Development
15 May 2013
Industry Research Paper 2
“The Importance of Low Micronaire Cotton” A new study at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health has found a new way of cleaning up oil spills. Following the Deepwater Horizon event that caused 11 deaths and a fire that was visible from about 35 miles away (Crittenden, 2010), researchers realized that they needed to find a better way to clean up oil spills. Seshadri Ramkumar, the lead author of this new study studied a variety of textiles such as barley straw, kapok, and polypropylene wool but realized that raw cotton had not yet been tested. After some extensive research he found that low micronaire cotton was the best form of picking up crude oil. However, crude oil is not easy to pick up. In comparison with refined motor oil, crude oil is dense and releases toxic vapors. Oil spills can affect shorelines, water, animals, and even the people in the surrounding areas. Having a new form of oil pickup can relieve the issues that major oil spills cause. (Texas Tech University, 2013). The secret is in low micronaire cotton. Micronaire is a property of cotton that determines the maturity and fineness of the fibers in cotton. If a micronaire value is too low it can easily cause breakage during the manufacturing process. A low micronaire value can also cause streakiness where the dye does not hold well and starts to bleed. A really low or high micronaire value can cause damage to a garment and lose the quality and cost of it. However, a low micronaire value in cotton is the new way of picking up crude oil. ("Micronaire." 2.2.1-Cotton Value Addition). In West Texas about 10 percent of the cotton that is grown there has a low micronaire value to it. Because of the defects that it has, it just gets discounted and not used. Since this low micronaire cotton is not mature enough to be used, it can be shrunk and you can pack more fiber. When testing
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