Sustainable Production of Sanitaryware by Digitalization of the Firing Process

The sustainability of high temperature processes is a key issue on the way to a decarbonized circular economy. Digitalization of the processes offers a good opportunity to immediately improve energy and material efficiency without the need for major investments in new production kilns. In this context, an ongoing joint project of three companies and one research partner is devoted to the development and application of digital technologies to make the production of large and complex ceramic products signifi-cantly more sustainable. The concept and current status of the project, which is focused on sanitaryware as a prototypical example, is described.