Journal of Cleaner Production 43 (2013) 113e121

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Application of cleaner production as an important sustainable strategy

in the ceramic tile plant e a case study in Guangzhou, China
Yi Huang a, c, Jiwen Luo b, Bin Xia a, *
a
Sustainable Development Research Center, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
b
School of Chemistry and Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
c
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: As the largest output and export province of ceramic tiles in China, Guangdong has been faced with the
Received 16 May 2012 contradictory problem that the ceramic tile industry brings both huge economic benefits and adverse
Received in revised form environmental impacts. To promote energy conservation and emission reduction in the ceramic tile
5 December 2012
industry, the activity of “Cleaner Production Auditing for a Thousand Voluntary Industrial Enterprises”
Accepted 5 December 2012
Available online 16 December 2012
has been held since 2010 in Guangdong. This study presents a comprehensive application of cleaner
production in a typical medium-scale ceramic tile plant, which has initially taken part in the cleaner
production activity. On the basis of pre-auditing conducted in the selected plant, key auditing proce-
Keywords:
Ceramic tile industry
dures and main objectives were determined. After the analysis of material balance and energy efficiency
Cleaner production in key auditing procedures, 31 different measures, including facility replacement, technology
Sustainability improvement, process control, raw material and waste reutilization, plant management, and worker
Energy conservation training, have been proposed and implemented in a feasible way. Through the cleaner production
Emission reduction application, the plant achieved the expected objectives and obtained obvious progress in energy
conservation and emission reduction. For each unit product, the consumption of energy and water were
cut down by 4.3% and 22.33%, respectively. The SO2 emission per unit product was also reduced by 8%
after the cleaner production. Although the cleaner production is a continuous process in this case, it
provides a theoretical and practical basis for the sustainable development of other ceramic tile
production enterprises.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (Shular, 1996; Tikul and

Srichandr, 2010).
Ceramic tiles are the most essential construction materials used As the increasing environmentally responsibility of
in almost all buildings (Wattanasiriwech et al., 2009; Bovea et al., construction products in recent years, numerous studies have
2010). Aside from the huge economic benefits, the ceramic tile begun to deal with energy consumption and pollutant emission of
industry also brings adverse environmental impacts through high ceramic tile production. Such works include improving the ceramic
energy consumption and large pollutant discharge (Doreroglu and powder preparation process (Shu et al., 2010, 2012), controlling the
Kara, 2002; Wang and Li, 2006; Tikul and Srichandr, 2010). The efficiency of cooling process (Elsarrag, 2006; Sanchis and
ceramic tile production, which mainly include raw material Peñarrocha, 2009), using innovative coatings to minimize emis-
grinding and mixing, pressing, glazing, sintering and polishing, are sions during the sintering process (Bolelli et al., 2005; García-Ten
energy intensive (EC, 2007; Quinteiro et al., 2012). Moreover, the et al., 2011), reusing the residual materials and sewage sludge
whole productive process makes the ceramic tile production emit from ceramic tile production (Rambaldi et al., 2007;
an average of 300 kg CO2/t, 1.6 kg CO/t, 0.27 kg NOx/t, 2.4 kg SO2/t Wattanasiriwech et al., 2009; Montero et al., 2009; Hojamberdiev
and 0.23 kg HF/t according to a research by the United States et al., 2011; Gencel et al., 2012), and conducting life cycle assess-
ment of ceramic tiles for environmental performance (Nicoletti
et al., 2002; Yoshihiko, 2004; Goldoni and Bonoli, 2006;
Breedveld et al., 2007; Bovea et al., 2010). However, none of these
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ86 20 85290794; fax: þ86 20 85290025. studies have developed detailed measures for the whole produc-
E-mail address: [email protected] (B. Xia). tion process.

0959-6526/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.12.013
114 Y. Huang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 43 (2013) 113e121

China is the largest producer of ceramic tiles in the world. With

6.8 billion m2 of production in 2009, China has already occupied
Raw materials,
65% of the global production share (Yan and Hu, 2009; Tong, 2011). Ball milling Noise, dust
Auxiliary meterials
As the most developed area of the ceramic industry in China,
Guangdong Province contributes more than 30% of the national Preparation Slurry treatment Solid wastes
production (Tan and Tan, 2007), but also consumes almost 60 Section
million tons of mineral materials and more than 12 million tons of Dust, SO2, NO2,
Diesel oil Spray drying
residual materials
energy each year, meanwhile emits about 0.18 million tons of
wastewater and 7.8 million tons of greenhouse gases (Miu, 2010). Staling residual materials
The associated environmental problems have not only threatened
ecological safety and human health, but also reduced the
competitiveness of products in the international market (Zheng Pressing and forming Noise, dust
et al., 2004; Wang and Li, 2006). In order to reduce the adverse
environmental impacts of the ceramic tile industry, Guangdong Diesel oil Flue gas,
Drying
Provincial Government has taken great efforts in improving energy SO2, NO2
efficiency. However, compared with the international advanced Shaping
level, Guangdong ceramic tile products still have a great potential Section Accessory
meterials Pringting Glazing
capacity in the aspect of energy consumption (Zhang and Chen,
2008; Zeng and Deng, 2006; Kuhtz et al., 2010). In recent years,
the pressure of energy saving in Guangdong ceramic tile industry Diesel oil Sintering
Flue gas,
has rapidly increased in light of heightened concern over energy SO2, NO2
conservation and emission reduction in the country (Fang, 2011). In
2008, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Noise, dust,
Polishing
suggested that the energy consumption per unit GDP of Guangdong solid wastes
Province should be reduced to 5.70 kgce/CNY1 (equivalent to
Edging and chamfering Noise, solid wastes,
0.84 kgce/USD) in 2020. Therefore, the Guangdong Provincial Polishing dust, waste water
Government plans to cut down the energy consumption per unit Section
GDP to 5.44 kgce/CNY (equivalent to 0.80 kgce/USD) in 2015. The Antifouling treatment Waste water
ceramic tile industry, with energy consumption per unit GDP of
over 15 kgce/CNY (equivalent to 2.21 kgce/USD), has been listed as Classifying and packing Solid wastes
one of the important energy conservation industries (NDRC, 2008;
EICGP, 2011a).
As a result, numerous official resolutions, such as “The 12th Storage and selling
Five-Year Development Plan of Guangdong Building Materials
Industry” and “The Transformation and Upgrading Action Program Fig. 1. Flow sheet of the selected ceramic tile plant.
of Guangdong Ceramic Tile Industry,” have been proposed. These
resolutions suggested that promoting cleaner production in the 2. The selected ceramic tile plant and cleaner production
ceramic tile industry and transforming the industry from a resource methodology
consumption-driven model to innovation-driven model are the
main methods to accelerate the development of the ceramic tile 2.1. Integrated description of the selected ceramic tile plant
industry (EICGP, 2011b; EICGP, 2011c). At the same time, 97 ceramic
tile production enterprises have taken part in the activity of The selected ceramic tile plant is located in the Huadu District
“Cleaner Production Auditing for a Thousand Voluntary Industrial of Guangzhou City, the capital of Guangdong Province; it
Enterprises” in 2011 in Guangdong Province, representing 1.06 occupies a land area of 12.95 hm2, with 375 workers including 30
times more than those who joined in the previous year. Moreover, technicians. This medium-scale enterprise2 produces powder-
cleaner production has been considered as the most important pressed tiles, of which the water absorption is less than 0.5%.
method for ceramic tile production enterprises to realize sustain- The products consist of polished tiles and antique bricks, and the
able development. To provide the comprehensive technological and total output was 45,180.39 tons in 2010. The two types of
methodological reference for other ceramic tile plants in carrying products are produced in three sections, namely, powder prep-
out cleaner production, we selected a typical medium-scale aration section, shaping section and polishing section. The flow
ceramic tile plant in Guangdong as an example, which has sheet in Fig. 1 shows the four main steps included in the three
initially participated in the cleaner production activity in 2010 (Lin sections.
and Huang, 2008). First, in the powder preparation section, raw materials and
The contents of this study are as follows: (a) surveying the auxiliary materials are mixed and ball-milled into slurry with
integrative production process including resource consumption certain moisture and fineness. Through sifting, de-ironing, and
and pollutant emission in the selected plant; (b) auditing key spray drying, the slurry is transformed into powders. Then staling
procedures and proposing related measures for resource saving makes these powders fit the demand of the next step. All the
and emission reduction on the basis of cleaner production meth- procedures in this section compose the powder preparation step.
odology; (c) evaluating the feasibility of the suggested measures With pressing and forming, drying, glazing or printing, and sin-
and implementing them in a reasonable schedule; and (d) tering procedures in the shaping section, the powders are formed
examining the cleaner production effects according to the
expected objectives.
2
A medium-scale enterprise refers to the enterprise that whose operating
income is more than 20,000,000 CNY with more than 300 workers. This concept is
1
kgce: 1 kg standard coal. 1 kgce ¼ 29.31 MJ. CNY represents RMB Yuan in China. defined by MIIT (2011).
 Y. Huang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 43 (2013) 113e121 115

into ceramic tiles with good decorative effect. The procedures in auditing procedures, material balances are established to
the shaping section can be summarized to two steps, namely, identify the main reasons for material loss and waste
pressing and forming step and the sintering step which comprises generation.
drying, glazing or printing, and sintering. Finally, the formed Step 4 Developing feasible measures. The cleaner production
polished tiles are edged into the normative shapes after polishing measures, which suggested by experts, administrators,
while the formed antique bricks are directly edged into normative technicians, and workers, are gathered on the basis of
shapes. All the finished products are classified and packaged for the aforementioned results. Through the evaluation
storage and selling. on the aspects of technical support, environmental
impact and economic benefit, the feasible cleaner
production measures are determined. Furthermore,
2.2. Cleaner production methodology in the ceramic tile plant
the detailed schedules are formulated for measures
implementation.
Cleaner production is an integrated approach in handling wastes
Step 5 Evaluating the effect of cleaner production. Implement the
and pollutants in industries (Visvanathan and Kumar, 1999). This
feasible cleaner production measures and evaluate their
approach refers to an environmentally friendly production mode,
effects. The implementation effects comprise the objective
which promotes the resource utilization efficiency and pollution
achievement scale and the improvement of detailed
reduction at the original produce procedures. Cleaner production
indicators that refer to “Ceramic Industry Cleaner Produc-
approach features the application of advanced technologies and
tion Evaluation System” (NDRC, 2007).
facilities, using clean energy, improving management, and imple-
Step 6 Implementing continuous cleaner production. Establish the
menting integrated utilization (SCNPC, 2012). According to the
cleaner production organization in the plant and improve
implemented ways, cleaner production can be defined to two
the management system for the continuous cleaner
types: (1) developing a complete cleaner production technology
production plans.
and applying innovative process route for the whole production
process; and (2) improving production efficiency and waste
reduction by promoting cleaner production application in key 3. Application of the cleaner production
procedures. The former one is conducive to the upgrading of the
entire industry; however, the long research cycle and large 3.1. Pre-auditing and determining the cleaner production objectives
investment requirement make it a high risk measure in the new
process route development (Zhou et al., 2011). Thus, the latter type According to the steps of cleaner production application, we
is more suitable for medium-scale ceramic plants. initially surveyed the resource consumption and pollutant emission
The cleaner production of key procedures can be carried out in in detail during each working step. The primary investigated data,
six steps as follows (NDRC and MEPC, 2004; Guo et al., 2007): which provide important information for output and depletion cost
estimation, are shown in Table 1 (Jiang and Wang, 2001; Bovea
Step 1 Organizing and planning. A cleaner production auditing et al., 2010; Zhang, 2006; Chen and Ma, 2008).
group, which comprises consultants, administrators, and
technicians, is established at the beginning of cleaner 3.1.1. Consumption
production. Then the auditing group formulates a probable The powder preparation and sintering steps consumed most of
plan and helps workers to understand the related knowl- the raw materials, water, and energy (Table 1). Among them, the
edge about cleaner production. raw materials containing stone powder, stone particles, black mud,
Step 2 Pre-auditing and determining the cleaner production and other sandy raw materials were harmless and directly used in
objectives. The auditing group visits the workshops and the powder preparation step. The accessory materials, such as
surveys the main sources of resource consumption and dyeing materials and frits (e.g., cobalt blue, aluminum power,
pollutant emission. Based on the survey results, key aluminum silicate, and so on), were consumed in the sintering step.
auditing procedures and cleaner production objectives are The fresh water consumed in the powder preparation and sintering
then determined. steps accounted for 49.07% and 28.32% of the total consumption,
Step 3 Auditing the key procedures. According to the measure- respectively. Although the polishing step consumed the largest
ment of the input and output materials in the key amount of water, most of them were recycled water and accounted

Table 1
Primary consumption and emission of the selected plant in 2010.

Total Powder Pressing Sintering Polishing Others

preparation
Consumption
Raw material (ton) 48,109 47,658.65 450.35
Water (ton) 121,453 59,599 5422 34,390 15,165 6877
Recycle water (ton) 1,369,970 18,634 1,315,430 35,906
Electricity (kWh) 17,078,200 9,393,000 1,849,000 813,800 3,848,600 1,173,800
Diesel (ton) 8546.16 2428.16 6065.68 52.32

Emission
Waste water (t) 1,389,355 50,969 5151 27,576 1,265,015 40,644
SO2 (mg/Nm3) 420.9 511.1
Dust (mg/Nm3) 96.7 134.1
NOx (mg/Nm3) 340.3 418.9
SW (ton) 1227
Noise (dB) 93e101 83e91 78e92 94e101
116 Y. Huang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 43 (2013) 113e121

for 96.02% of the total consumption. In the energy consumption, the 3.1.3. Determine the key auditing procedures and the objectives of
powder preparation and sintering steps consumed 55.00% and cleaner production
4.77% of the total electric power, respectively. Meanwhile, the According to the aforementioned analysis for resource
diesel oil consumption of these two steps accounted for 28.41% and consumption and pollutant emission, the powder preparation and
70.98% of the total consumption, respectively. In summary, calcu- sintering steps, which occupied most of the consumed raw mate-
lated as standard coal, these two steps took 93.68% of the total rials, fresh water and energy, were determined as the key auditing
energy consumption in 2010. The comprehensive energy procedures in this cleaner production. Meanwhile, on the basis of
consumption per product and electricity consumption per product survey data and the “Ceramic Industry Cleaner Production Evalu-
were 322.08 kgce/t and 378.00 kWh/t, respectively, thereby ation System” (NDRC, 2007), the cleaner production objective
meeting the energy consumption quota set by the ceramic tile contents are made up of comprehensive energy consumption per
industry (Table 2). unit product, SO2 emission per unit product and water reuse rate.
The original values and the determined objective values are shown
3.1.2. Emission in Table 3.
The pollutants of ceramic tile production consist of wastewater,
exhaust gas, solid waste, and noise. The wastewater in this plant
contained SS, CODcr, Pb and Cr, with initial concentration 3.2. Auditing the key procedures
ranges of 1144e1261 mg/L, 201e258 mg/L, 1.028e1.593 mg/L and
0.028 mg/L, respectively. Silicate is the main component of sludge, In order to find the reasons for material loss and waste gener-
which can be reused as the raw material for ceramic production. ation, we surveyed the detailed material balance and energy
Through the sedimentation treatment by sewage treatment consumption in the auditing key procedures, which consist of the
station, wastewater can be recycled completely and finally powder preparation and sintering steps.
meet the demands of polishing, equipment washing and other
procedures. 3.2.1. The balance of raw materials and water
Exhaust gas is mainly generated by the procedures of spray The powder preparation step mainly includes the procedures of
drying, drying and sintering. The flue gas from the sintering slurry preparation, spray drying and staling (Shu et al., 2010; Fig. 1).
procedure, which has been recycled as preheating gas, is dis- Raw materials and auxiliary materials are mixed and ball-milled
charged with the exhaust gas produced in the drying procedure. into slurry. With slurry treatment, the mix slurry turned into the
According to the survey, the exhaust gases that comprise SO2, dust, required slurry containing certain moisture and fineness. After
and NOx complied with the secondary standard in the “Emission spray drying, the slurry turned into powders, thus meeting the
Standard of Air Pollutants for Industrial Kiln and Furnace (GB9078- demands of the next step by staling. We chose a batch of product
1996),” which is suitable for industrial furnaces built after 1997 and analyzed material balance based on the field observation. The
(MEPC, 1996). However, the concentration of exhaust gas should be particular information of material consumption during the whole
reduced to fit the new standard required in the “Emission Standard powder preparation process then was obtained (Fig. 2). The mate-
of Pollutants for Ceramics Industry (GB25464-2010)” since 2012 rial loss ratios of the three procedures were 0.91%, 4.07% and 1.05%,
(MEPC and AQSIQ, 2010). respectively. The lost materials included residual materials and
The solid wastes are waste sludge, waste brick, waste package dust, whereas the steam was removed according to the require-
and other materials, including silicon oxide and metallic oxide (e.g., ment. Among them, the residual materials in machines can be
SiO2, Al2O, Fe2O3, CaO, and so on.) The silicon oxide accounts for carried out by washing water, and recycled after waste water
more than 65% content of the wastes and have limited impact on treatment with no adverse impact on the environment. The dust
the environment. Thus, these solid wastes can be used as the raw particles from spray drying tower and dust separator have several
materials of ceramic tiles and other building materials. adverse impacts on workers’ health and the environment. Other-
The noise of production in this plant has reached the require- wise, we found a high rework rate in the powder preparation step,
ment of the fourth standard in the “Emission Standard for Industrial which may be attributed to the insufficient moisture in the slurry.
Enterprise Noise at Boundary (GB12348-2008),” which is less than The sintering step consists of drying, glazing or printing, and
65 dB(A) in daytime and less than 55 dB(A) at night (MEPC and sintering procedures. We chose a batch of product and researched
AQSIQ, 2008). In order to protect the health of workers, the plant the material consumption process except for the glazing or printing
is planning to improve the production automation level and reduce procedures, which consume accessory materials and have no
the working time in the noisy environment. impact on the raw material and water balance (Fig. 3). As the steam
was removed according to the requirement, the material loss ratios
of drying and sintering procedures were 0.55% and 2.39%, respec-
tively. The residual defective ceramic tiles can be completely
Table 2
Contrast with advanced levels before cleaner production.a
recycled, whereas the dust particles emitted from the drying

Indicators Present Domestic Domestic International

level limited advanced advanced Table 3
level level level The objectives of the cleaner production.
Comprehensive 322.08 340 300 280e337
Indicators Units Original Objective Relative
energy consumption
values values change
per unit product
in 2010 by the end ratio
(kgce/t)
of 2011
Electric power 378.00 400 320 112e256
consumption Comprehensive kgce/t 322.08 312.08 3.10%
per unit product energy consumption
(kWh/t) per unit product
SO2 emission per unit kg/t 1.00 0.95 5.00%
a
The data of domestic limited level and domestic advanced level refer to the product
standard promulgated by SAC and AQSIQ (2007); the international advanced level Water reuse rate % 91.00 93.00 2.20%
data refer to the research by Liu et al. (2009).
 Y. Huang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 43 (2013) 113e121 117

Blender
0.31 t dust 5.85 t steam
15.92t raw materials
Feeder
22.79 t slurry 16.25 t powder 16.08 t powder
Ball mill Spray drying tower Stock tank
7.08 t water (include 7.04 t water) (include 1.13 t water) (include 1.12 t water)

Stock tank
0.38 t residual materials 0.17 t residual materials
(include 0.06 t water) (include 0.01 t water)

0.21t residual materials

(include 0.04 t water)

Fig. 2. Material balance in the powder preparation step.

5.26 t steam 1.43 t dust

(include 0.07 t water)
263.09 t wet adobe
Dry kiln
(include 17.10 t water) 10.54 t steam
Glazing line
256.40 t dry adobe 256.40 t tiles 239.98 t semi-finished products
Roller hearth kiln
(include 11.77 t water) Plant printing (include 11.77 t water) (include 1.2 t water)
machine
5.88 t defective tiles waste
(include 0.03 t water)

Fig. 3. Flow sheet and material balance in the sintering step.

procedure have adverse impacts on workers’ health and the had advance combustion system and temperature automatic
environment. system. However, the energy utilization rates of the two roller
hearth kilns were 54.18% and 37.56%, respectively; in addition,
3.2.2. Energy efficiency of the main facilities their heat loss rates were 14.8% and 33.99%, respectively, failing to
The main energy consumption facilities in the key auditing reach the advanced level of 10%. Through the analysis, we found
procedures include ball mill, spray drying tower, roller hearth kiln that the dated facilities and the electric facilities without
and dry kiln. Their energy efficiencies are shown in Table 4. The frequency conversion technology control led to the inefficient
20 sets of ball mill consumed 46.2% of the total electric power, utilization of energy.
which amounted to 6.46% of the comprehensive energy
consumption in the plant. The energy utilization of the ball mills
was only 44.44%. The two sets of spray drying tower consisting of 3.3. Measures suggestion and feasibility analysis
types 3000 and 3200 consumed 29.76% of the total comprehen-
sive energy consumption, and their energy utilization rates were Considering the problems identified in the key auditing proce-
17.61% and 20.23%, respectively. The existing monolayer hori- dures and the apparent problems in the other procedures, 31
zontal drying kiln used the recycle heat coming from roller hearth measures have been proposed through the recommendations of
kilns; however, the dry kiln was inefficient because of the invalid experts and the suggestions of workers (Table 5). These measures
insulation and uneven heat distribution. There are two lines of can be categorized into six aspects, namely, facility replacement,
roller hearth kiln, which consist of #1 and #2 roller hearth kilns. technology improvement, process control, raw material and waste
Compared with the #2 roller hearth kiln, the #1 roller hearth kiln reutilization, plant management, and worker training (Hutchings
et al., 2005; Barros et al., 2007; Yin and Xia, 2001; Zhang and
Tan, 2010; Gong, 2010).
In order to select and implement the suggested measures
Table 4 reasonably, we predicted the probable benefits and costs of each
Main facilities and energy utilization in the key auditing procedures.
measure combined with the actual production situation of the
Facilities Amount Average heat\electricity Energy selected plant. On the basis of investment cost and implementa-
consumption per utilization tion time, the aforementioned measures can be divided into no/
semi-finished product rate
low-cost measures, medium-cost measures and high-cost
14T ball mill 20 sets 99.6 kWh/t powder 44.44% measures, identified as L, M and H, respectively (Table 5). In the
Spray drying 1 set 2756.57 kcal/kg water 17.61%
tower
current study, the no/low-cost, medium-cost, and high-cost
(Type 3000) measures refer to those that cost less than 10,000 USD, more
Spray drying 1 set 2485.53 kcal/kg water 20.23% than 10,000 USD but less than 50,000 USD, and more than
tower 50,000 USD, respectively.
(Type 3200)
The no/low-cost cleaner production measures are targeted and
Monolayer 2 sets e e
horizontal can easily be implemented in a short period of time with low
drying kiln investment cost. The 22 no/low-cost measures (Table 5) mainly
1# roller 1 set 927.56 kcal/kg dry adobe 54.18% include the aspects of process control, raw material and waste
hearth kiln reutilization, plant management, and worker training. Such
2# roller 1 set 1356.46 kcal/kg dry adobe 37.56%
hearth kiln
measures can directly reduce resource consumption, including
100,000 kWh of electric power, 7036.07 tons of fresh water, and
118 Y. Huang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 43 (2013) 113e121

Table 5
The suggested measures of cleaner production.

Category Cleaner Detailed measures Cost level

production
options
A Facility A1 Strengthen Increase the thickness of the kiln outside wall with 2e5 cm sepiolite M
replacement the insulation of kiln
A2 Enlarge the capacity Replace the stone lining with the high alumina lining in the ball mills M
of ball mill
A3 Improve polishing Replace the original polishing machine by new machine M
effect
A4 Employ large Replace the 8 sets of 14T ball mill machine with 4 sets H
tonnage ball mill of 40T ball mill
A5 Renew the spray Replace the exit 2 sets of spray drying tower by a new spray H
drying tower drying tower of type 5000
A6 Improve the efficiency Change the combustion fans of spray dryers from brake L
of combustion fan control type to frequency conversion type
A7 Update the #2 Update the old #2 roller kiln by a new energy-saving roller H
roller hearth kiln kiln in sintering procedure
A8 Renew the drying kiln Replace the existing monolayer horizontal drying kiln H
by horizontal double drying kiln
B Technology B1 Save working time Use STPP (Sodium tripolyphosphate) instead of the ordinary L
improvement of ball milling water reducer
B2 Apply the patented Apply the approved 8 patented technologies H
technologies
B3 Reduce the thickness Adjust formula and sintering curve to reduce the thickness L
of brick of partial tiles
C Process control C1 Keep spray drying tower Adjust the production schedule to reduce converting time L
continuously working of spray drying towers
C2 Control the air quantity Change the air quantity of kiln fan for different production L
of kiln fan
C3 Enhance the water Calibrate the water flow meter for each procedure L
metering
D Raw material D1 Reduce packing foam Replace the whole-packaging by using half-package L
and waste D2 Reuse waste packing Recycle the bins, bags and foam materials with the help of suppliers L
reutilization materials
D3 Reuse fan cooling water Utilize the cooling water of the high power fan repeatedly L
D4 Recycle office paper Use the double side of office paper L
D5 Recycle residual Recycle the sludge, dust and other residual materials in machines L
materials
D6 Recycle waste glaze Reuse residual glaze material during the glazing and printing process L
D7 Expand the sewage Build a new large-scale sewage treatment station in the plant H
treatment station
E Plant management E1 Keep workshop clean Clean workshop ground for dust reduction and raw materials recycling L
E2 Strengthen visual Fix process monitoring board in each workshop L
management
E3 Facility maintenance Improve the management system of facilities maintenance L
E4 Standardize production Develop more detailed operating specifications for workers L
operation
E5 Supervise material deliver Identify the pipelines and valves with different colors L
E6 Standardize material stack Standardize the material stacking in terms of region, style, variety, L
and so on
E7 Prevent channel seepage Repair the seepage control system of channels in the workshops L
F Worker training F1 Worker training Organize workers to join in the energy conservation knowledge training L
regularly
F2 Set restrooms Set restrooms in the workshops to meet the need of workers for short L
break
F3 Install water dispensers Install water dispensers in the restroom to help workers resist the high L
temperature

about 30 tons of diesel oil. These direct benefits are equivalent to The other nine measures in the cleaner production are medium-
55,350 USD3 annually and totally cost 38,257 USD when measures cost and high-cost measures that have high cost and obvious long-
implemented. Suppose the sulfur content of diesel oil is 0.5% in this term environmental benefits. The medium-cost and high-cost
study, the SO2 reduced from the saving diesel oil is about 0.3 tons. measures include the aspects of facility replacement and tech-
Meanwhile, 269 tons of solid wastes can be reduced by the no/low- nology improvement (Table 5). In the cost-benefit analysis, the
cost measures. These benefits present remarkable effects from the facility depreciation and investment returns should be considered
no/low-cost measures. Thus, these measures are feasible and can in the high cost investment. We only considered the depreciation of
quickly be realized in the short run. new facilities because the replaced facilities bought in the early
years are almost out of the depreciation period. Integrated the
direct economic and environmental benefits, the obvious benefits
3
According to the market price of China in 2011, the costs of electric power, fresh
are shown by the predictable results (Table 6). Through the calcu-
water and diesel oil in this study are 0.18 USD/kWh, 0.27 USD/t and 1181.68 USD/t, lation of the payback period, we found that the internal return rates
respectively. of these measures are more than 30% and the payback periods are
 Y. Huang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 43 (2013) 113e121 119

Table 6
Predicted costs and benefits of medium-cost and high-cost measures.

Cleaner Investment Economic benefits Environmental

production cost (USD) benefit
Economic effectsa Depreciationb
measure
(USD per year)
A1 Strengthen 47,267 Save diesel consumption indirectly 9453 Reduce air pollutants
the insulation of kiln indirectly
A2 Enlarge the capacity 29,542 Ball milling capacity increased by 20%, 5908 Save energy and reduce
of ball mill milling time reduced to 14 h, pollutants emission
and production increased by indirectly
approximately 37%
A3 Improve polishing 36,928 Increase the productivity and 7386 e
effect improve the product quality
A4 Employ large tonnage 138,848 Save a total of 697,700 kWh of electric 27,770 e
ball mill power annually valued at 125,586 USD
A5 Renew the spray 206,795 Save 213.06 tons of diesel oil valued 25,849 Reduce about 2.13 tons
drying tower at 251,768 USD of SO2c
A7 Update the 2# 443,131 Save 118.07 tons of diesel oil valued 55,391 Reduce about 1.18 tons
roller hearth kiln at 139,521 USD of SO2
A8 Renew the drying 369,276 Reduce the diesel oil consumption 46,160 Reduce the air pollution
kiln indirectly indirectly
B2 Apply the patented 147,710 Increase the productivity and improve 29,542 e
technologies the product quality
D7 Expand the sewage 147,710 Reduce about 23,084.15 tons of fresh 29,542 e
treatment station water annually value at 6233 USD
each year; electricity consumption
cost 59,084 USD and materials
consumption cost 14,771 USD
Total 1,567,207 More than 212,252 USD annually Reduce about 3.31 tons
of SO2 directly
a
Only the direct economic effects are estimated; the costs of electric power, fresh water and diesel oil are 0.18 USD/kWh, 0.27 USD/t and 1181.68 USD/t, respectively.
b
The depreciation period is calculated as five years when the fixed investment is less than 150,000 USD, otherwise the depreciation period calculated as eight years.
c
According to the sulfur content which is 0.5% in the diesel oil, the directly reduced SO2 is calculated.

less than three years except for the renewing of kiln #2. In terms of consumption, waste utilization, and pollutant emission. Table 8
technical feasibility, in addition to the implementation of the shows the original indicator values and the corresponding values
patented technologies that may encounter several difficulties in after cleaner production. For energy consumption indicators, we
training workers, the other measures have been successfully evaluated energy consumption per unit product in the procedures of
applied in the domestic ceramic tile plants with the help of existing ball milling, spraying, drying, and sintering, which consume large
technology. Thus, according to the difficulty of technical feasibility, amounts of energy as stated in Section 3.2.2. The contrasting results
we listed the implementation of patented technologies as a long- showed that facility replacement measures, which mainly include
term plan which will be completed in 15 months; in comparison, employing large tonnage ball mills, changing the spray drying tower,
other medium-cost and high-cost measures have been listed as and renewing the #2 roller hearth kiln in the sintering procedure,
medium-term plans that can be completed within 6e9 months. effectively promoted energy conversation. The resource consump-
tion indicators consisted of raw material consumption per unit
product, fresh water consumption per unit product, and water reuse
4. Implementation effects
rate. Although the raw material consumption per unit product only
slightly changed after the cleaner production, the other two water
According to the cleaner production implementation plan, all
resource indicators presented good effects. Such effects can be
the measures in the short-term and medium-term plans have been
attributed to the measures of expanding the sewage treatment
carried out and finished by the end of 2011. On the basis of the key
station, keeping the spray dryers continuously working, repairing
auditing objective content presented in Section 3.1.3, the auditing
indicators including comprehensive energy consumption per unit
product, SO2 emission per unit product, and water reuse rate were
Table 7
measured after this cleaner production and then listed in Table 7. The comprehensive effects after implementing cleaner production.
After implementing the measures, energy consumption per unit
Indicators Before After Change
product was cut down by 4.30%, representing a reduction from
ratio
322.08 kgce/t to 308.23 kgce/t. Diesel oil and electrical power
Comprehensive 322.08 kgce/t 308.23 kgce/t 4.30%
consumption per unit product also dropped down by 4.23% and energy consumption
4.69%, respectively. Fresh water consumption decreased to per unit product
105,420.78 tons, whereas the recycled water reached Electric power 378.00 kWh/t 360.29 kWh/t 4.69%
1,400,590.22 tons with 93.00% recycling rate. In general, the water consumption
per unit product
consumption per unit product was reduced by 22.33% from 3.00 t/t
Diesel oil consumption 0.18916 t/t 0.18116 t/t 4.23%
to 2.33 t/t. Compared with the objective values in Table 3, the per unit product
cleaner production measures achieved the expected effects. Water consumption 3.00 t/t 2.33 t/t 22.33%
In addition to the realization of overall goals, we also evaluated per unit product
the implementing effects using 17 indicators that refer to the SO2 emission 1.00 kg/t 0.92 kg/t 8.00%
per unit product
“Ceramic Industry Cleaner Production Evaluation System” (NDRC, Water reuse rate 91.00% 93.00% 2.20%
2007) in four aspects of energy consumption, resource
120 Y. Huang et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 43 (2013) 113e121

Table 8
More detailed evaluation of indicators after cleaner production.

Evaluation Indicators Units Before After Change ratio

category
Energy Ball milling procedure kgce/t 12.24 9.98 18.46%
consumption Spraying procedure kgce/t 78.31 71.44 8.77%
Drying procedure kgce/t 18.5 17.91 3.19%
Sintering procedure kgce/t 179.06 174.59 2.50%
Resource Raw material consumption t/t 1.05 1.038 1.14%
consumption Fresh water consumption t/t 3 2.33 22.33%
Water reuse rate % 91 93 2.20%
Comprehensive Recycle rate of waste tile % 100 100 e
utilization Recycle rate of waste adobe % 100 100 e
Recycle rate of waste glaze % 92 95 3.26%
Waste heat utilization of kiln % 39.8 58.2 46.23%
Output value of comprehensive USD/t 23.78 24.08 1.26%
waste utilization
Pollutant emission Waste water discharge m3/t 0 0 e
Maximum emission mg/m3 511.1 200 60.87%
concentration of SO2
Maximum emission mg/m3 134.1 28 79.12%
concentration of dust
Boundary noise (day) Leq[dB(A)] 64.6 64.1 0.77%
Boundary noise (night) Leq[dB(A)] 52.7 49.1 6.83%

the seepage control system of channels in the workshops, and exceeded the domestic ceramic tile energy consumption quota
repeatedly utilizing the cooling water of high power fan. The after cleaner production, they are still lagging behind the domestic
changes of comprehensive utilization indicators indicated that advanced level and international advanced level (Table 2), espe-
waste heat utilization from the kiln has been obviously improved, cially for the electric power consumption per unit product, which
and the output value of comprehensive waste utilization is gradually has a great potential capacity in energy conversation. Thus, cleaner
increased. In addition, these improvements in energy consumption, production is a continuous process and should be implemented
resource consumption, and waste utilization have led to the envi- both in the perspectives of enterprise and social views. This process
ronmental benefits in pollutant emission reduction (Table 8). requires the establishment of sustainable cleaner production
agencies and a perfect management system, which can examine
5. Conclusion and further suggest feasible plans. Therefore, developing the
cleaner production awareness of enterprise managers and imple-
This paper includes the main process of cleaner production menting the long-term schedule of cleaner production are effective
application in a typical medium-scale ceramic tile plant in ways to promote energy saving and pollutant reduction in ceramic
Guangdong Province. On the basis of pre-auditing, cleaner tile plants (Li and Liu, 2010). In general, cleaner production stim-
production objective determination, key procedures auditing, ulates the ceramic tile production enterprise to be independently
measures suggestion, and measure feasibility analysis, 31 measures innovative and environmentally friendly, allowing the ceramic tile
in six aspects of facility replacement, technology improvement, industry to realize the target of sustainable development.
process control, raw material and waste reutilization, plant
management, and worker training have been implemented. The Acknowledgments
implementation effects included energy consumption conservation
in main energy consumed procedures, raw material and water This study was supported by the project of “Cleaner Production
consumption reduction, comprehensive utilization improvement, Auditing for a Thousand Voluntary Industrial Enterprises” and
and main pollutants emission reduction. “Cleaner Production and Circulation Economic Key Technology”.
The quantitative effects can be concluded as follows: (1) For Special appreciation is also given to the Guangdong Provincial
each unit product, the consumption of energy and water were cut Department of Science and Technology (GDST). The authors would
down by 4.30% and 22.33%, respectively. (2) The total raw material like to thank the Guangzhou Environmental Protection Bureau
consumption was reduced by 1.14%. Fresh water consumption (GEPB) and the Ceramic Association of Guangdong Province (CAG)
decreased by 22.33%, whereas the water reuse rate increased to for their technical support.
93%. (3) The resource comprehensive utilization was significantly
improved, especially the waste heat utilization of kiln which
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