Rapid drying of ceramics reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions while preserving product quality

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

According to the European Environmental Agency (2018), industry is the third largest source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, because of the direct and indirect combustion of fossil fuels, needed to generate heat and electricity during the manufacturing processes. The so-called Energy-Intensive Industries (EIIs), which include the ceramic industry is characterised by high levels of electric and thermal energy consumption throughout the production line and therefore contribute to a significant extent to GHG emissions. Specifically, the drying process accounts for about 23% of the total thermal energy consumed during the ceramic manufacturing process. Ceramic drying process involves long drying cycles requiring gradual rising temperatures (from 50 to 90C in 16-18 hours). The significant amount of fossil fuels burnt during this process (mainly natural gas) entails significant environmental impacts.

OBJECTIVES

The LIFE RAPID DRY project aims to optimise the drying process of ceramic manufacturing, reducing energy consumption and GHG (CO2) emissions while preserving product quality. This will be reached thanks to two main innovations: 1) A cost-effective chamber dryer, which would optimise currently available techniques and deliver increased energy savings. A prototype of the chamber dryer (including automatic control of dryer circuits, humidity and temperature, and of fans distributed in zones with an independent thermal contribution) will be set-up to demonstrate how the drying process can be improved both in terms of environmental impacts and quality standards; 2) Rigorously modified ceramic bodies (fire clay and vitreous china), which would optimise the drying process, maintaining quality and resistance. This will be obtained by changing the rheology (flow properties) and the grain size distribution of the slip formulations, and by adding chamotte to themixture (derived from grinded broken ceramic pieces). The modified ceramic materials will also reduce raw materials consumption and increase the quantity of recycled ceramic waste.

The combined application of the proposed innovations has the potential to significantly reduce production costs, leading to:

Increased competitiveness of the European ceramic industry on international markets, without compromising the high quality level;

Improved capacity of the EU ceramic industry to increase their market share in the high-end segment, limiting the impact on the environment;

Reduced risk of carbon leakage of the ceramic industry in line with Directive 2018/410/EU to enhance cost-effective emission reductions and low-carbon investments and the related Decision 2019/708/EU.

More generally, the combined technologies will also contribute to the EU 2030 Climate and Energy Framework and to the Circular Economy Action Plan.

RESULTS

Expected results:

A Prototype chamber dryer with the following environmental benefits: - 34% of thermal energy saved per fired piece (from 290 to 190 Kcal/kg); - 21% of electric energy saved per fired piece (from 0.019 to 0.015 kWh/kg); and - 39% of CO2 emissions avoided per fired piece (from 0.08 to 0.049 kg CO2/kg).

New formulations of ceramic slips with the following environmental benefits: - Reduced raw materials consumption by introducing secondary raw materials (chamotte for grinding broken ceramic pieces) in the range of 5 to 15%; and

Reduced cost of ceramic slips by about 3 - 8% compared to the standard.

Reduced time needed for the drying cycle to 8-10 hours.

Demonstration in an operational environment to fully validate the technology through: - Trials on 2 700 sanitaryware bodies (standard Italian slips), 2 700 sanitaryware bodies in Romania, and 1 200 pieces of tableware in Italy; - 5 400 sanitaryware and 1 200 tableware with industrial slips dried successfully during the project; - 76 pieces using the new slip formulations dried in standard and prototype dryers.