Optimización energética en la fabricación de baldosas cerámicas mediante el uso de aceite térmico

Abstract

The ceramic tile manufacturing process consumes a great amount of energy, mainly thermal energy, which is obtained from natural gas combustion. The increased cost of this fuel and the current economic situation make cost a critical issue that can hurt company competitiveness. The ceramic tile firing process in roller kilns does not exactly stand out for its energy efficiency, because about 50% of the energy input is lost through the kiln combustion flue gas and cooling gas stacks. With a view to improving the reuse of the energy consumed in the firing operation, two heat exchangers were installed in the stacks of a kiln. In these heat exchangers, the kiln gases transfer their sensible heat to a thermal oil that then passes this on, through two other exchangers, to the drying gases in the recirculation ducts of a vertical dryer. This study presents an experimental industrial plant in a fine-tuning test phase, in which the preliminary results indicate an energy efficiency improvement in a range of 60-90%, depending on the operating conditions and processed materials.