Project Number: 6655-41440-003-11
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: Jan 01, 2008
End Date: Dec 31, 2008

Objective:
Determine the impact of fiber surface chemistry on the moisture content measurements of cotton. Improve the accuracy and reliability of such measurements such as the Arizona Instruments Max 2000, the HVI 1000, and the Chinese Moisture Meter. Propose a possible alternative reference method for cotton moisture free of biases based upon surface chemistry.

Approach:
Determine surface chemical properties by conductivity, HPLC, and ICP methods. Utilize the reference oven method to check the performance of the AI Max 2000 and VaporPro for measuring moisture content of cotton. Answer fundamental questions associated with the effort to sort out the differences between ¿free¿ and ¿bound¿ moisture in cotton . Using the protocols from step 1., determine the differences in the amounts of extractables removed by the heating methods with unheated controls.