EQUILIBRIUM MOISTURE CONTENT OF COTTON PLANT COMPONENTS

摘要

Equilibrium moisture contents for cotton plant parts (leaves, sticks and burs), all trash, were obtained at temperatures ranging from 5 to 80 degrees C in a moving air stream (flow rate of 3 x 10(-4) m(3)/s) and relative humidity ranging from 0 to 98%. The temperatures used were 5, 20, 35, 50, 65 and 80 degrees C. Data were obtained for both absorption and desorption for each temperature and plant part tested. The data showed that temperature had a small effect on the moisture content for absorption, but there was a more noticeable effect for desorption. The results showed an almost linear increase in equilibrium moisture content between 20 and 70% relative humidity followed by an exponential rise as the relative humidity approached 100%. Two equations (the Modified-Oswin and a functional relationship developed by the author) were found to give acceptable fits to the experimental results. Data from the literature showed slightly higher equlibrium moisture contents for the same humidity conditions. This information will be used in conjunction with absorption and desorption rate curves to estimate the moisture content of harvested seed cotton during various phases of cotton processing.