The seed is the beginning of all crops - indeed, all agriculture. Its importance can not be over-emphasized. Biologically the individual seed can never be better than at the moment when it reaches physiological maturity, but the overall physical characteristics of the seed lot can be modified to enhance the quality.

For cotton seed this seed lot enhancement consists of removing excess fibers, removing weak, immature, and dead seed, removing weed seed and any other extraneous materials, applying chemical protectants, and then packaging in a manner which can maintain quality during storage and be conveniently handled by the farmer.

In the machine flow for a basic dilute acid delinting plant, bulk fuzzy cotton seed is loaded into a metering feed hopper. Seed is fed from this hopper, at a precisely controlled rate, by a variable speed auger which assures uniform flow and allows precise adjustments throughout the system. A scalper removes rough trash and sand and helps separate seed for more efficient delinting. The flame delinter removes long tags of excess lint from the seed. This reduces the amount of aqueous acid solution needed to thoroughly wet the fibers on the seed, which further results in less drying being required. The acid reactor mixes the fuzzy seed with the aqueous acid solution from the mixing tank. Quantities of sulfuric acid, water and surfactant are electronically proportioned into the mixing tank according to demand from a conductivity meter. The centrifuge removes the excess aqueous acid solution from the cotton seed and returns the solution to the mixing tank.

Acidified seed are conveyed to the rotary drum dryer by means of a stainless steel auger. In the dryer, water is evaporated concentrating the acid, and hydrolyzation of the lint begins. The buffer, through its rotating action and specially designed internal flights, scrubs off the hydrolyzed lint leaving a smooth seed ready to be neutralized and efficiently cleaned. Dust, acidified lint, and hot air are removed from the dryer and buffer by centrifugal fans and blown into cyclones. Hot air escapes to the atmosphere and the linters can be neutralized at this point if desired and then conveyed into storage. The delinted seed is neutralized and fed into an air screen cleaner.

After the air screen cleaner, the seed is separated on a gravity table into three fractions; good seed, rejected materials, and middlings. The middlings are fed onto another gravity table which separates good seed from rejects. The good seed from both gravity tables go through a treater where chemical disinfectants, fungicides, insecticides, and other materials can be applied. The seed is then packaged according to the customer's needs.

Rejected seed and extraneous materials are collected from the scalper, cleaner, and gravity tables and put into a storage bin. A separate air system collects dust contaminated with chemicals from the treater and packaging area.

At Continental Eagle Corporation every effort is made to provide modern and efficient equipment especially selected to fill the needs of the discriminating seed producer. Each system is custom designed to fulfill the customer's particular needs. Let Continental Eagle's staff of experienced seedsmen and engineers consult with you on your conditioning plant requirements.

The chemical delinting system most often recommended by Continental Eagle was conceived by Cotton Incorporated in the early 1970's in response to increasing environmental protection pressures and rising chemical costs. This distinguished research group investigated the problems thoroughly and decided that, in most cases, the dilute sulfuric acid delinting system with a centrifuge was the best solution. The first commercial plant began operations in the spring of 1975 and is still operating. Today this is still the best method of chemical delinting for many applications.

Note that there is ample flexibility in the Continental Eagle Design to allow for the addition of machinery for conditioning seed crops other than cotton. An arrangement can be made to by-pass the acid delinting portion of the plant while efficiently utilizing the cleaning, treating, and packaging equipment for other crop seeds. If certain specialized machines are needed, such as length or thickness graders, they can be incorporated in such a way that they also can be by-passed when not needed. Many have found that this kind of arrangement utilizing the seed conditioning facility and personnel throughout most of the year results in a more efficient and profitable venture.