Environmental profile of Spanish porcelain stoneware tiles
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Other documents of the author: Ros Dosdá, Teresa; Celades López, Irina; Monfort, Eliseo; Fullana-i-Palmer, Pere
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Show full item recordcomunitat-uji-handle:10234/9
comunitat-uji-handle2:10234/176601
comunitat-uji-handle3:10234/176618
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INVESTIGACIONMetadata
Title
Environmental profile of Spanish porcelain stoneware tilesDate
2018-08Publisher
SpringerBibliographic citation
Ros-Dosdá, T., Celades, I., Monfort, E. et al. Int J Life Cycle Assess (2018) 23: 1562. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-017-1377-9Type
info:eu-repo/semantics/articlePublisher version
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-017-1377-9#enumerationVersion
info:eu-repo/semantics/updatedVersionAbstract
Purpose
Porcelain stoneware tile (PST) iscurrently the ceram-
ic tile of greatest commercial and innovation interest. An envi-
ronmental life cycle assessment of different varieties of PST
was undertaken to enable ... [+]
Purpose
Porcelain stoneware tile (PST) iscurrently the ceram-
ic tile of greatest commercial and innovation interest. An envi-
ronmental life cycle assessment of different varieties of PST
was undertaken to enable hotspots to be identified, strategies
tobedefined,differencesbetweenPSTvarietiestobeevaluated
andguidanceforPSTmanufacturerstobeprovidedinchoosing
the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) programme that
best suited their needs according to grouping criteria.
Methods
Analysis of previous information allowed three
main parameters (thickness, glaze content and mechanical
treatment) to be identified in order to encompass all PST var-
iations. Fifteen varieties of PST were thus studied. The cover-
age of 1 m
2
of household floor surface with the different PST
varieties for 50 years was defined as functional unit. The study
sets out environmental data whose traceability was verified by
independent third parties for obtaining 14 EPDs of PST under
Spanish EPD programmes.
Results and discussion
The study presents PST inventory anal-
ysis and environmental impact over the entire life cycle of the
studied PST varieties. The natural gas consumed in the
manufacturing stage accounted for more than 70% abiotic deple-
tion
–
fossil fuels and global warming; electricity consumption
accounted for more than 60% ozo
ne layer depletion, while the
electricity generated by the cogeneration systems avoided signif-
icant environmental impacts in the Spanish power grid mix. The
variationsinPSTthickness,amountofglazeandmechanicaltreat-
ments were evaluated. The PST variety with the lowest environ-
mentalimpactwastheonewiththelowestthickness,wasunglazed
and had no mechanical treatments. Similarly, the PST variety with
the highest environmental impact was the one with the greatest
thickness, was glazed and had been mechanically treated.
Conclusions
The PST life cycle stage with the highest envi-
ronmental impact was the manufacturing stage. The main
hotspots found were production and consumption of energy
and raw materials extraction. Variation in thickness was a key
factor that proportionally influenced almost all studied impact
categories; the quantity of glaze strongly modified abiotic de-
pletion
–
elements and eutrophication, while the mechanical
treatments contributed mainly to ozone depletion. The study
of all PST varieties led to the important conclusion, against the
current trend, that differences among them were found to be so
significant that declaring a number of PSTs within the same
EPD is not directly possible, and it needs preliminary verifi-
cation to ensure compliance with the product category rule. [-]
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