EPA OKs Tech cotton for oil spill

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal ^ | June 5, 2010 | Matthew McGowan

[Sacajaweau]

Can the oil be squeezed out?? Are we going to wind up with this stuff for our salads??

[anymouse]

Obviously a man is in charge of the oil spill otherwise a woman would have already started using the following:

Then again the could just hire this guy. ;)

"Soaks up 20 times it's weight in liquid. It's made by Germans. You know Germans always make great stuff."

Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Texas Tech, in Lubbock, is surrounded by high plain cotton fields. The last time I was through there, modules of cotton were lining the turn rows of every field for miles on end. Louisiana is also fairly close and we produce quite a bit of ‘white gold’ here as well. My hubby just planted several hundred acres day before yesterday.

[Sacajaweau]

For some reason, I just don't think of USA as being the cotton capital of the world.

I'm a little spoiled with the Egyptian Cotton products I buy. Occasionally, I'll buy Pima. I know...shame on me.

[WestTexasWend]

China and India actually produce far more cotton than the US, but the US is the worlds leading exporter of cotton.
(With their huge populations, China and India need all they can grow for domestic use. The US almost always has a surplus, which gets exported mainly to China, Turkey, Indonesia and Mexico.)

When I answered your earlier question about the source of the cotton used in Fibertect, I should’ve added “linters” in the mix. Those are the short fibers that cling to cottonseed, and are likely more useful in this application than the coarser moates. This is a great use for something that’s abundant, renewable and otherwise largely wasted.

[FreeStateYank]

Think it is some sort of centrifuge.

[ohiogrammy]

Yes, wonder what is going on with that?

[Redbob]

"arry Hobbs, the company's vice president of manufacturing, said the plant has the capacity to immediately begin churning out 10 million pounds of the material..."

Over what time period?
A day? A week? A month?
10 years?

[WestTexasWend]

Can’t tell you, but from their website it appears Hobbs Bonded Fibers is no lightweight (pun unintended) in textile production. >>>

http://www.hobbsbondedfibers.com/

My guess: more than a week, probably 3 or 4 months, and certainly less than 10 years.