2 Preliminary Studies of Cotton Non-lint Content Identification by Near- Infrared Spectroscopy

The high demand for cotton production worldwide has presented a need for its standardized classification. There currently exists trained classers and instrumentation to distinguish key cotton quality parameters, such as some trash types and content. However, it is of interest to develop a universal instrumental method with higher trash identification specificity. A program was implemented to determine the capabilities of Near-Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to identify various forms of cotton trash, including hull, leaf, seed coat, and stem. A NIR bench-top instrument was used to analyze small cotton trash samples. Subtle spectral differences between the cotton trash samples were used to classify the non-lint material components. The current method is beneficial due to the ease of use, short analysis time, and non-destruction of sample.