The energy consumption in the ceramic tile industry in Brazil

The ceramic industry occupies a prominent place in the Brazilian industrial context, representing about 1.0% in the GDP composition. On the other hand, it represent about 1.9% of all energy consumed in the country, and 5.8% of the energy consumed in the Brazilian industrial sector in 2014. Regarding the power consumption by the ceramic industry, most is derived from renewable sources (firewood), followed by use of fossil fuels, mainly natural gas (NG). This study was conducted to quantify the energy consumption in the production of ceramic tiles (CT), by means of experimental data obtained directly in the industry and at every step of the manufacturing process. The step of firing and sintering has the highest energy consumption, with approximately 56% of the total energy consumed. In sequence, have the atomization steps with 30% and the drying with 14%, of total energy consumption in the production of ceramic tiles, arising from the use of NG. In addition, it showed that the production of ceramic tiles by wet process has energy consumption four times the dry production process, due to the atomization step. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.