Innovative approach for the digital ceramic tile glazing process, using a continuous in-line glazer

Descripción del proyecto

Empleo de tecnología digital para mejorar la seguridad y la eficiencia de la vitrificación de baldosas cerámicas

Europa cuenta con empresas de referencia mundial en la industria de las baldosas cerámicas. Con todo, los fabricantes de baldosas tienen que lidiar con los métodos de vitrificación lentos y peligrosos de serigrafía y pulverización, que provocan una pérdida notable de material y constituyen una grave amenaza para la salud de sus trabajadores. El objetivo del proyecto financiado con fondos europeos Glazetile es emplear la tecnología digital para crear un proceso de vitrificación en línea más eficiente y seguro. Esta tecnología acelerará el proceso de vitrificación, reducirá los costes y proporcionará productos de mayor calidad en un entorno de trabajo más seguro. En conjunto, el proyecto aumentará la sostenibilidad de los fabricantes europeos de baldosas.

Objetivo

The ceramic tile industry is a critical industry within the EU, accounting for over 200,000 jobs in the EU-27, with an annual production value of €28 bn. World-leading companies in this sector are headquartered in the EU. According to Grand View Research, the Ceramic Tiles Market size worth is estimated to reach a value of €151.18bn by 2024.
The main challenge faced by the ceramic tile industry is of long processing times – glazing is one main processing stages that is also slow. This process is currently carried out through highly unsustainable screen printing and spraying technologies that uses organic solvents and experience significant glaze and solvent loss. These technologies are slow and pose serious health threat to ceramic tile workers due to continuously exposure to high levels of toxic organic solvent and Silica.
Although inkjet printing for the decoration of ceramic tiles is a mature technology and several machines are currently commercially available, there is currently no digital machine able to apply and dose the ceramic glazes on the tiles in a continuous in-line process. Further spray technologies available use glazes with of <40 microns and mixtures of water and organic solvents in different ratios as suspension media, and thus use a lot of energy in glaze milling and extractors to maintain acceptable level of volatiles in the atmosphere.
The Glazetile project seeks to develop a new family of digital machines (named DigiGlaze and DigiGraphic) to achieve in-line deposition of glass/ceramic glazes using water based suspensions with particle size of < 50 microns. Our water based suspensions eliminate the vapour origins from organic solvents and create a healthier and safer working environment. In addition to this, the glazes deposed with our technology have a better tactile impression when the tile is touched. Glazetile thus reduces the cost of glazing and decorating, producing a higher quality end-product.

Ámbito científico

Programa(s)

Tema(s)

EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020 - SME instrument

Convocatoria de propuestas

H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoria

Convocatoria de subcontratación

H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1

Régimen de financiación

SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

Coordinador

S.C.E. SRL

Aportación neta de la UEn

€ 50 000,00

Dirección

VIA GIARDINI 1271/A
41126 MODENA
Italia

Pyme

Sí

Región

Nord-Est Emilia-Romagna Modena

Tipo de actividad

Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)

Enlaces

Contactar con la organización

Participación en los programas de I+D de la UE

Red de colaboración de HORIZON

Coste total

€ 71 429,00

Participantes (1)

TECNO ITALIA SRL

Italia