Project description
Utilising digital technology to enhance safety and efficiency of ceramic tile glazing
Europe boasts world-leading companies in the ceramic tile industry. However, tile manufacturers are challenged by the slow and hazardous glazing methods of screen printing and spraying that result in significant material loss and pose a serious health threat to workers. The EU-funded Glazetile project aims to make use of digital technology to create a safer and more efficient in-line glazing process. It will speed up glazing at reduced costs while producing higher-quality products in a safer working environment. Overall, the project will lead to greater sustainability for European tile manufacturers.
Objective
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.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering control systems
- engineering and technology materials engineering
- engineering and technology environmental engineering air pollution engineering
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences environmental sciences pollution
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health occupational health
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
41126 MODENA
Italy
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.