Cogeneration Supporting the Energy Transition in the Italian Ceramic Tile Industry

Ceramic tile production is an industrial process where energy efficiency management is crucial, given the high amount of energy (electrical and thermal) required by the production cycle. This study presents the preliminary results of a research project aimed at defining the benefits of using combined heat and power (CHP) systems in the ceramic sector. Data collected from ten CHP installations allowed us to outline the average characteristics of prime movers, and to quantify the contribution of CHP thermal energy supporting the dryer process. The electric size of the installed CHP units resulted in being between 3.4 MW and 4.9 MW, with an average value of 4 MW. Data revealed that when the goal is to maximize the generation of electricity for self-consumption, internal combustion engines are the preferred choice due to higher conversion efficiency. In contrast, gas turbines allowed us to minimize the consumption of natural gas input to the spray dryer. Indeed, the fraction of the dryer thermal demand (between 600–950 kcal/kgH2O), covered by CHP discharged heat, is strictly dependent on the type of prime mover installed: lower values, in the range of 30–45%, are characteristic of combustion engines, whereas the use of gas turbines can contribute up to 77% of the process’s total consumption.

Sustainability in Italian Ceramic Tile Production: Evaluation of the Environmental Impact

Sustainable development has recently become the driving force of all the policies leading environmental, economic, and social aspects of our life. In the construction sector, a large number of technological innovations has been introduced thus leading to an assessment of the environmental impact of the production processes. In the present study, the environmental impact of the Italian ceramic tiles production is analyzed and discussed. The evolution trends of the main atmospheric pollutants and the management of water and solid wastes of ceramic tile plants have been investigated over a period greater than 10 years, considering three different layouts of production cycles. The current evaluation shows that the Italian ceramic tiles industry has considered the environmental assessment as a fundamental practice for its development since the late 1980s. The reported data prove the high level of excellence reached by the Italian ceramic tile production and demonstrate how attention to the environmental impact is a fundamental key for the ceramic tile sector.