Water-based solutions for fully digital glazing

Esmalglass-Itaca will be present at Cersaie 2024 with its latest ceramic projects realized with DigitalGlass and Natural Ink.

The Esmalglass-Itaca booth at Cersaie 2024 is centred around the theme of water, a resource that plays a leading role in its digital processes. Based on the concept of Origin, the exhibition booth stands out for its imposing, original structures where the various states of water and its transformative capacity are used to highlight the brand’s various proposals. DigitalGlass takes centre stage as a disruptive, cutting-edge solution alongside a display of ceramic products created using Natural inks.

The solutions for complete production process digitalisation offered by Esmalglass-Itaca have enabled the Altadia Group member company to further strengthen its position as a world-leading supplier of digital frits, glazes and inks. For over a decade, the Spanish glaze and colour producer has been at the forefront of the industry, continuously innovating to meet market demands. These efforts have led to the development of effective, high-quality solutions that at the same time are less polluting and wasteful. As a result, the company is now able to supply the ceramic industry with effective solutions to its current needs.

Through its digital processes, Esmalglass-Itaca offers solutions to some of the biggest challenges in the ceramic industry, such as reducing emissions and energy consumption, minimising water usage in industrial processes and eliminating odours and waste.

Some of its latest solutions include the DigitalGlass range of water-based glazes, the high-quality Natural digital inks and SlimBody, a complete solution for the production of thin ceramic tiles.

These solutions represent a major step forward in terms of ceramic industry technology and testify to Esmalglass-Itaca’s commitment to quality and sustainability through the adoption of new technologies and continuous improvement based on forty years of research and development.

One of the highlights of the company’s range is the DigitalGlass series of water-based glazes for inkjet application that avoid the use of organic solvents.

This is a more environmentally friendly solution for a number of reasons: it lowers water consumption by a factor of up to ten, reduces odours by 90%, decreases hydrocarbon production and consequently emissions and cuts waste by up to 40%.

In addition, the use of water-based glazes as part of a fully digital process allows for automation and more rapid design changes, in turn leading to a reduction in labour and time-to-market. Most importantly, it is able to optimise production processes while protecting the environment.

One of the standout products in the company’s premium ink set is the Natural Ink range, which solves the problem of flue odours, improves colour intensity and allows for significant savings in ink usage.

Other notable products include the Shape-Ink Matt ink and Shape-Grit Matt grits, which can be used to create digital reliefs while enhancing volume and definition for more natural textures.

Another product that stands out for its important contribution to the ceramic industry is SlimBody, a complete solution for the production of thin ceramic tiles that reduces gas consumption by 15% and CO2 emissions by 12% and improves productivity by 30% while maintaining the same quality as standard products.