Eco-friendly porcelain tile with Fusion technology from Manfredini & Schianchi

Blizzard Vitrified, a recently-formed ceramic company based in the Morbi cluster in Gujarat, India, has commissioned Manfredini & Schianchi to supply an MS-Drytech dry preparation plant with Fusion granulation technology at its new glazed porcelain tile factory.

The M&S plant is already undergoing installation and has a production capacity of 15 tonnes/h, ideal for feeding a production line with an output of around 300,000 sq.m/month in squared and rectified 60x60 cm and 60x120 cm sizes.

Blizzard Vitrified is highly attentive to the environmental sustainability of its production processes and has adopted plants equipped exclusively with state-of-the-art Italian technology designed to reduce consumption and emission levels. The plant supplied by Manfredini & Schianchi is the first of its kind for porcelain tile production in Asia and will allow the Indian company to cut its water consumption by 90%, its electrical energy consumption by 20% and its fuel (gas and coal) consumption by 60%. Moreover, no chemical additives are used in preparing the body and all production waste can be recycled.

The production process

The main grinding operation is performed in the Molomax 4/150 mill in an open grinding cycle complete with drying by means of hot air recovered from the kilns. The mill can accept incoming raw materials with moisture contents of up to 20% and produces a perfectly homogenised ceramic mix with stable moisture content. Moreover, the particle size ensures perfect vitrification, resulting in a finished product with water absorption levels of below 0.1%.

The crucial humidification stage carried out with Madirex technology is fully automated thanks to a weighing system with dedicated software which controls the body moisture content and precisely doses the percentage of water that needs to be added.

The final step prior to storage is granulation using patented Fusion technology. The resultant powder has a similar level of flowability and mould filling capacity to the finest spray-dried powders and can be dry coloured shortly before the pressing stage.