The mini gin was developed with the aim of ginning the cotton seeds in the very own production unit that integrates a cotton farmer association or cooperative. Such procedure has farmers add more value to their production, as the fiber is traded directly with the industry and seeds can be used as animal feed for ruminants. The mini gin with hydraulic baling press is composed of several devices that perform the cleaning of the cotton bolls, the seed removal by separating the fiber from the seed, and the packing of bales. The source of power is constituted of two three-phase electric engines, a 7.5HP one to ignite the ginner and a 15HP to activate the baling press. Operation starts with filling the machine with the cotton bolls, which go through the cleaning device to remove impurities, and then there is the ginning, through a cylinder of 50 saws of of 11x3/4” in diameter, providing fiber in blanket shape and seeds to be bagged. The fiber is manually led into the baling press to produce bales of a conventional size and average 115 kg of weight. The mini gin has the capacity to process up to 360 kg of cotton in an hour, or around 2880 kg/day in 8 working hours, or twice the amount if it operates in two shifts. Considering the cotton productivity in the Brazilian Northeast and working 8 hours per day during a period of 4 months a year, the mini gin could process the production of an area equivalent to 350 ha. Its operation takes five people.
This technological solution was developed by Embrapa in partnership with other institutions.