Monitoring agricultural processing electrical energy use and efficiency
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Energy costs have become proportionately larger as cotton post-harvest processing facilities have utilized other inputs more efficiently. A discrepancy in energy consumption per unit processed between facilities suggests that energy could be utilized more efficiently. Cotton gin facilities were instrumented to monitor electricity use throughout the post-harvest season. Cleaning, ginning and packaging energy consumptions were comparable; large differences were observed in materials handling. In some cases motors were oversized. Energy consumption per unit processed was inversely proportional to processing rate. Energy savings can be realized by: 1) designing gins to minimize materials-handling; 2) selecting efficient motors that are closely matched to their loads; 3) maintaining equipment to minimize down-time; and 4) operating at the maximum processing rate.
