Lint cleaners (see figure 2.8) remove leaf particles, motes, grass, and bark that remain in cotton after seed cotton cleaning, extracting and ginning. Most gins that process machine-harvested cotton have one or more stages of lint cleaning.
Figure 2.8: Typical saw-type lint cleaner
Lint cleaning generally improves the grade classification (colour, leaf, and smoothness) of the lint. However, the extent of grade improvement decreases with each succeeding cleaning. Lint cleaners can also decrease the number of bales that are reduced in grade because of grass and bark content. Lint cleaners reduce bale weights and may decrease staple length, thus affecting bale value. In some cases, the net effect of multiple stages of lint cleaning is a loss in bale sales value as well as an increase in neps and short fibre content which decreases the cotton’s spinning value.