LIFECERAM: Zero Waste in Ceramic Tiles Manufacture

摘要

Ceramic tiles manufacture in the ELI generates wastes in different production process stages. The estimated total amount of wastes is almost 1,5 Mt/a. A significant percentage of these wastes cannot be recycled in current ceramic manufacturing processes or products owing to the resulting changes in the behaviour of the ceramic compositions during manufacturing and the final tile properties. As a result, a significant amount of wastes is either landfilled or used as filler material providing very low added value. The main purpose of the LIFECERAM project is to achieve zero waste in ceramic tiles manufacture with two principal objectives: to develop a new type of ceramic tile for outdoor use (urban flooring) with a high ceramic wastes content, and to design a highly sustainable body preparation process, based on dry milling and granulation technologies, capable of recycling all types of ceramic wastes. This paper sets out the results of the ceramic wastes characterisation, from a physical and chemical viewpoint and with regard to wastes behaviour in the ceramic process. The compositions, made up in their entirety of wastes, were characterised from both technical and environmental viewpoint. Different dry milling and granulation systems were concurrently evaluated to select the most appropriate systems for the preparation of the urban flooring body press powder.