Management tool to optimize energy and water consumption in the sanitary-ware industry

[EN] Over the years the ceramic industry has been widely studied. However, little attention has been devoted to the particular area of sanitary-ware manufacturing, although it is a great consumer of energy and water. The aim of this research is to analyze and quantify how and where energy and water...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Cuviella Suárez, Carlos, Colmenar Santos, Antonio, Borge Diez, David, López Rey, África
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universidad de León
Repositorio:BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:buleria_____::0a75b7032146d90c2fc93d3c93c209cb
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10612/28125
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Energía
Ingenierías
Ceramic industry
Energy saving
CO2 emissions
Water saving
Sanitary-ware production
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Over the years the ceramic industry has been widely studied. However, little attention has been devoted to the particular area of sanitary-ware manufacturing, although it is a great consumer of energy and water. The aim of this research is to analyze and quantify how and where energy and water are consumed by mapping the whole process. Once the key points and amounts of consumption are located, a global map of single flows is established by thermodynamically modeling every relevant sub-process as a balance of mass and energy. The research focuses on demonstrating that this modeled map can be optimized by diverting energy flows from one sub-process to another searching for the minimum incoming energy within the global process, which derives in a minimization of residual energy, waste water and emissions. Results show that almost one third of the energy and emissions can be saved and more than a half of the water can be saved as well in the resin mold technology of manufacturing. This research provides a tool to know how the resources are consumed in the sanitary-ware industry and show the possibilities to reduce them as well as the global impact.