Lifecycle Assessment of Hard Porcelain for Tableware Production

摘要

Sustainable, resource-saving and environment-friendly production is an increasingly important topic for companies. On the one hand, because of the finite nature of numerous raw materials and, on the other hand, on account of the growing social acceptance with regard to environmental awareness and the demand for environmentally friendly produced products. This can be seen above all with the issue of climate change. Methods such as lifecycle assessment are increasingly important instruments in industrial practice to identify the environmental impact generated by the production or the entire lifecycle of a product. These studies are becoming more and more important in many different industrial sectors such as the automotive industry, energy generation or even tableware production to meet demands in existing markets and access new markets. Often the careful and selective use of raw materials and resources entails possibilities for financial savings. In addition, it offers a possibility for comparison of different products and manufacturing processes in respect of their environmental impact. Against this background, in this case, a lifecycle assessment was compiled at the porcelain manufacturer BHS tabletop AG (Fig. 1) based in Selb/DE.