Wincer

WASTE SYNERGY IN THE PRODUCTION OF INNOVATIVE CERAMIC TILES

The project aims to develop innovative ceramic tiles containing about 70 wt% of recycled materials, coming from urban and industrial wastes. The specific objectives of the project are related to:

• Contribution to sustainable waste management, thanks to the recovery of the amount of soda lime glass (SLG) cullet waste that today is not re-introduced in glassware (about 30% of the total glass waste).
• Reduction of the use of natural resources thanks to:

1. The use of SLG, coming from urban collection: in traditional ceramic tile formulations it acts a partial substitution for feldspar flux; until now however, it was not possible to recycle this material in percentages higher than 20-30%; o the reuse of exhausted lime (EL) and its diversion from landfill disposal. EL is an industrial waste consisting in calcium hydroxide reacted with combustion fumes in ceramic industrial plants. Until now it is reinserted in traditional ceramic body only in negligible amount (lower than 1 wt%); o the reuse of green scrap tiles, generated during the industrial process, usually reused for a closed loop productive cycle.
2. Improvement of the environmental performances of the ceramic tiles sector by reducing CO2 emissions, Energy consumption and methane use. Actually, there are no industrial products going beyond the limit of about 40% of waste recycling so, the project aim is to face residual risks in the industrial scale-up met to reach the goal of 70 wt% of recycled materials.The proposed solution is possible thanks to the “waste synergy” obtained by combining these different wastes with natural clays: this enables the production of innovative ceramic tiles with similar or improved mechanical properties respect to the traditional ones. The productive cycle is similar apart two main innovation aspects concerning the body mix preparation (70wt% of recycled wastes in substitution of natural raw materials) and the firing cycle (the maximum sintering temperature is reduced more than 150°C).

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Save