Cellulase Biopolishing: Activity, Weight Loss & Strength

The formula

This is the expression the tool evaluates. Every term is named underneath, with the unit it must be supplied in.

How the result is derived

Step by step, from the values you type to the figure on screen.

1. The 14 inputs are read from the form on every keystroke: Enzyme Dose, Declared Activity, Treatment Time, Enzyme Cost, Bath Temperature, Optimum Temperature, Temperature Halving Width, Bath pH, Optimum pH, pH Halving Width, Removal Constant, Weight Loss Ceiling, Strength Loss Factor and Target Weight Loss.
2. Each value is checked against the accepted range in the input table below. A value outside its range stops the calculation rather than producing a misleading figure — the results blank out and a message appears.
3. The validated values are substituted into the expression above, which resolves Weight Loss together with every supporting figure in one pass — no value is carried over from a previous entry.
4. The supporting outputs — Enzyme per kg of Fabric, Activity Dosed, Temperature Factor, pH Factor, Activity Lost to Conditions, Activity Actually Working, Estimated Strength Loss, Short of the Ceiling, Time the Target Loss Needs and Enzyme Cost — come from the same pass, so they always describe the same case as the headline figure.
5. Results are rounded for display only. The full-precision value is used throughout the chain, so reading a rounded intermediate figure back into the tool by hand can shift the last digit.

What each input means

Where to read each value on the floor, the unit it must be in, and the range the tool accepts.

What the tool returns

The headline figure and every supporting value it is built from.

Worked example

The tool loads with this case already solved — the Weight Loss shown above is its answer. Change one value and the difference from this baseline is the sensitivity of the result to that variable.

How to use it

1. Work through the input groups in order — Enzyme Dose, Bath Conditions and Response. The defaults are a realistic case, so you can change one value at a time and watch what moves.
2. There is no calculate button. Every figure recalculates as you type or drag, which is what makes this usable for a what-if sweep rather than a single answer.
3. Read Weight Loss in the dark results panel — that is the headline figure, expressed in %.
4. Check the supporting rows underneath (Enzyme per kg of Fabric, Activity Dosed, Temperature Factor, pH Factor, Activity Lost to Conditions, Activity Actually Working, Estimated Strength Loss, Short of the Ceiling, Time the Target Loss Needs and Enzyme Cost) before acting on the headline — they are where an implausible input usually shows itself first.
5. Reset to defaults returns every field to the reference case, which is the quickest way to check whether a surprising result came from the tool or from an input you had changed earlier.

Where this is used

• Process planning — establishing Weight Loss before a trial is booked, so machine time and material in Wet Processing (Dyeing & Printing) are committed against a calculated figure rather than an estimate.
• Costing and quotation — Weight Loss is an input to the cost sheet, and quoting from a worked number rather than a remembered one is what keeps a margin intact.
• Troubleshooting — when the floor result drifts from plan, entering the measured values (starting with Enzyme Dose) shows how much of the gap in Weight Loss each variable explains.
• Teaching and study — the accepted ranges bracket normal Wet Processing (Dyeing & Printing) practice, so moving one variable at a time shows the shape of the relationship rather than a single answer.

Assumptions and limits

• Both derating curves are symmetric halving rules, which is a reasonable description near the optimum and a poor one far from it: real enzymes fall away far more steeply on the hot side than the cold, because above the optimum they are not merely slowed but denatured, and that damage is irreversible in a way that a cold bath is not. Treat the cold side of this model as usable and the hot side as optimistic. Weight loss is modelled as saturating on the assumption that the accessible surface is finite, which fits defuzzing well; the deeper hydrolysis that follows once the surface is clean does not saturate and is exactly where strength is lost for no gain in hand, which is why the strength factor is applied linearly to a saturating loss and will understate the damage on a long treatment. Deactivation at the end of the cycle is not modelled and is not optional: cellulase left active on wet goods carries on working through storage, and a batch that measured correctly at the machine can be materially weaker by the time it is inspected. Raise the temperature or the pH decisively to stop it. The removal constant must be fitted on the actual construction - a fine open single jersey and a heavy twill do not respond alike at the same activity.
• Every input is bounded to the range normal practice occupies (Enzyme Dose 0.05 to 10 % owf, Declared Activity 50 to 20000 U/g and Treatment Time 5 to 240 min, and so on for the rest). Those bounds are guard rails against typing errors, not a claim that the formula fails one unit outside them.
• The calculation is deterministic: the same inputs always give the same result. It carries no allowance for machine condition, operator skill, ambient conditions or lot-to-lot material variation unless an input above explicitly represents one.
• Nothing is sent anywhere. The maths runs in your browser, so the numbers you type never leave the page.

Questions people ask