Which dyeing machine uses the least energy per tonne of fabric: jig, winch, jet, beam, pad batch or continuous range?

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Pali manual prints energy per tonne of fabric by machine: pad batch 1.5 to 4.5 gigajoules (GJ), jig 1.5 to 7.0, jet 3.5 to 16.0, beam 7.5 to 12.5, winch 6.0 to 17.0 and continuous 7.0 to 20.0. The ranges overlap heavily: jet, winch, beam and continuous share most of the same span.

The table as the manual prints it

• Jig, dyeing: 1.5 to 7.0 GJ a tonne. Winch, dyeing: 6.0 to 17.0. Jet, dyeing: 3.5 to 16.0. Beam, dyeing: 7.5 to 12.5.
• Pad batch, dyeing: 1.5 to 4.5. Continuous or thermosol, dyeing: 7.0 to 20.0.
• Yarn: package or yarn preparation and dyeing of cotton, 5.0 to 18.0; hank dyeing 10 to 16.0; hank drying 4.5 to 6.5.
• The manual credits the table to Carbon Trust of the United Kingdom, and prints no year and no note on whether the energy is heat only or heat and power. Treat it as a published range, not a guarantee for any machine.

In kilowatt hours a kilogram

One GJ a tonne is one megajoule a kilogram, 0.278 kilowatt hours (kWh) a kilogram. So jig 0.42 to 1.94, winch 1.67 to 4.72, jet 0.97 to 4.44, beam 2.08 to 3.47, pad batch 0.42 to 1.25 and continuous 1.94 to 5.56 kWh a kilogram. These are our conversions of the printed ranges.

How to read the ranges

• Jet dyeing spans 3.5 to 16.0, a factor of 4.6 from bottom to top. Winch spans 2.8, jig 4.7, continuous 2.9. A well run jet and a badly run one differ more than a jet and a jig.
• Pad batch has the lowest ceiling, 4.5, and beam the narrowest ratio of top to bottom, 1.7 (7.5 to 12.5). The table does not say why.
• The table is per process step. Do not add the steps up to a unit figure: the manual gives separate benchmarks for a whole route, covered in the page linked below.

What to do with it

1. Find your machine's row and compare your own figure. Being above the top of the range may point to a loss to look for, such as steam leaks, long washes or poor condensate return, once you check your figure covers the same energy.
2. Work out yours from fuel and power for the month: fuel energy plus electricity, divided by kilograms dyed. Use the same unit throughout.
3. Keep dyeing steps separate from stenter and finishing, so a machine change shows up in its own line.

A jet dyeing house against the manual's range

• Month: 100 tonnes dyed on jets; fuel burnt 90 tonnes of wood at 3,800 kilocalories (kcal) a kilogram (kg) = 342 million kcal
• 342 million x 4.1868 = 1,432 million kilojoules (kJ) = 1,432 GJ; per tonne of fabric 14.3 GJ
• Manual range for jet dyeing: 3.5 to 16.0, so 14.3 is near the top
• In kWh a kilogram: 14.3 x 0.278 = 3.98
• Fuel only: add the electricity bought for the same month to compare like with like

The month is an example with assumed numbers; 3,800 kcal a kilogram is the wood value implied by the Tiruppur manual's dyeing unit table. Use your own fuel test.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so monthly fuel and power are on file to divide by kilograms dyed. The machine split needs your own sub meters or batch logs.

• Cotton and polyester dyeing energy per kg
• Pali manual: stenter and scouring energy per tonne
• Jet dyeing machine efficient pump saving
• Low liquor ratio dyeing: steam and CO2 saving
• Free calculators

Sources: Bureau of Energy Efficiency and Petroleum Conservation Research Association, Cluster Manual, Pali Textile Cluster (via SAMEEEKSHA)

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. The ranges are as printed in BEE's Pali manual from another publisher's table, with no year given. Check them against your own metered figures.