Liquor Ratio (MLR) & Water Consumption Calculator

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 batch weight and the machine liquor ratio fix the bath volume.
2. Each rinse fill is counted as a further bath of the same volume — a simplification that is close to true on a jet and conservative on a winch.
3. Total volume is converted to cubic metres and priced.
4. Water per kilogram is reported separately, because that is the figure a sustainability report and a machine purchase decision both turn on.

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

Substituting

Move the same batch to a 1:5 machine and total water falls to 15 m3 — a 37% cut, before counting the salt, the steam to heat it and the effluent that follows it.

How to use it

1. Work through the input groups in order — Batch and Process. 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 Dye Bath Volume in the dark results panel — that is the headline figure, expressed in L.
4. Check the supporting rows underneath (Total Water per Batch, Water per kg of Fabric, Water Cost per Batch and Water Cost per kg) 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

• Water and effluent budgeting for a dyehouse, batch by batch or programme by programme.
• Machine selection — justifying a low liquor ratio machine on water, salt, steam and effluent together rather than on water alone.
• Recipe dosing — chemicals specified in grams per litre have to be multiplied by the bath volume this tool gives.
• Sustainability reporting — litres per kilogram is the unit most buyer scorecards and benchmarks are written in.

Reading the result

Typical bands and what each one is telling you.

Assumptions and limits

• Dropping from 1:10 to 1:6 cuts water, salt, steam and effluent together. It is the single highest-leverage change in an exhaust dyehouse.
• Every input is bounded to the range normal practice occupies (Fabric Batch Weight 1 to 100000 kg, Liquor Ratio (1 : x) 1 to 50 :1 and Rinse Fills after Dyeing 0 to 20 no., 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.

Standards and further reading

• ZDHC and Higg FEM report water use per kilogram of production, which is the waterPerKg output.
• IPPC BAT reference document for the textiles industry — benchmark specific water consumption figures by process.

Questions people ask