Progress 05/01/05 to 12/31/05
Outputs
Results yielded from research investigating the "Feasibility of Manufacturing a Wool-Based Soil Erosion Control Mat" were mixed; confirmation from prior research was obtained that wool is an excellent medium to aid in faster germination of vegetation, thus able to prevent soil erosion; however the manufacturing process to produce such a product is not economically nor technically feasible. Traditional wool processing machines (cards) used to spread out fibers are not able to handle dirty, raw wool. The proposed end product of this research consisted of dirty, raw wool sandwiched between two layers of backing medium. Two existing wool processing machines, a cutter and a feeder, able to handle wool in its raw form were located and retrofitted in attempts to produce the desired end product. The cutter cut the wool into small pieces, the feeder separated and opened the wool fibers to prepare them for spreading onto a backing medium. These machines were retrofitted with new
motor belts, reconfigured cutting blades and separate programmable logic controllers (PLC) to control the speed of each machine. This became problematic in the manufacturing process as the PLCs were not able to be syncronized properly and wool kept clumping up preventing even disbursement onto the backing medium. Commercialization would require development of a PLC that would syncronize all of the machines; this research was not able to fund that expense. Difficulties were also encountered while attempting to glue the edges of the netting used as backing medium which contributed to further shifting and clumping up of the wool. Much of the organic matter, key to this prospective end product, was lost in the spreading out of the fibers. Copious amounts of this organic dust have the potential of becoming a health hazard for workers in a large scale production facility. The two elements found to be most detrimental to successful commercialization of a wool-based soil erosion control mat
were as follows: the first was that the prototype did not utilize as much wool as initially projected therefore it would make little dent in national surpluses; the second factor was/is unstable prices of wool. At the inception of this project wool was priced at $0.22 per pound. As of the filing of this report, wool is selling for $0.35 to $8.00 per pound. If wool had to be purchased at these prices, a commercial venture would not be economically viable.
Impacts
The anticipated impact of this research was the creation of a value-added product for the SME (Small Medium Enterprise) sheep meat producer utilizing wool surpluses. For many years wool prices had been severly depressed due to the large quantities of these surpluses, however, according to recent reports from the American Sheep Industry, there has been an uptrend in the worldwide market prices of wool. It is because of this uptrend, as well as the instability of wool prices in general, that commercialization of a wool-based soil erosion control mat is not ecomonically viable. Every time land is reshaped by man or by nature there will be a need for soil erosion control however it stands to reason that this same uptrend in wool prices will eventually benefit the SME sheep meat producer without creation of this value-added product. Wool does remain a potential means for soil erosion contol, as proved in prior research, despite the problems encountered in attempts to
manufacture an end product using dirty, raw wool; other markets for value added wool products need to be explored such as home insullation and products for absorbtion of chemical toxins.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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