Resource efficiency and energy efficiency (REEE) in the Portuguese ceramic industry: Towards net zero carbon production

The Portuguese ceramic industry constitutes 0.5% of Gross Domestic Product in Portugal, far higher than most other European nations, and thus it is essential this sector is decarbonised, cost-effectively to preserve jobs and national revenue.By: IM Reaney, B Walsh, PM Vilarinho, Open Ceramics, Vol 15, 2023 Read more

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International Women in Engineering Day 2023

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Resource efficiency and energy efficiency (REEE) in the Portuguese ceramic industry: Towards net zero carbon production

The Portuguese ceramic industry constitutes 0.5% of Gross Domestic Product in Portugal, far higher than most other European nations, and thus it is essential this sector is decarbonised, cost-effectively to preserve jobs and national revenue. Moreover, the small size of the country and the co-location of ceramic factories dominantly in northern Portugal lowers the logistical barriers to […]

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‘Sustainable Ceramic Manufacturing’ symposium on 19th June 2023

It great to welcome many practioners from the ceramics industry and the ceramics research community at the recent ‘Sustainable Ceramic Manufacturing’ symposium on 19th June 2023 at the Materials Science and Smart Materials (MSSM) Conference in Emilo Reggia, Italy. TFIN+ Director Prof. Reaney presents an award to Jason Bridges of Johnson Tiles UK, for giving a keynote […]

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IOM3 Article: Transforming Foundation Industries

The built environment is our adaptation of the natural environment. It is complex with a multitude of materials and systems required to create sustainable cities and towns. Construction techniques and the design of buildings has improved dramatically in the last few decades, with greater emphasis placed on optimising materials use, reducing heat loss and distributing/generating […]

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EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION: FUTURE-PROOFING YOUR WORKFORCE

Recent research has shown that the Foundation Industries face particular challenges around attracting new talent and retaining them – specifically, younger people and women. Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace not only develops the talent pipeline but helps businesses and teams to ‘make better decisions, come up with more competitive products, and […]

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TFI Network+ awards funding to 5 research projects to enable transformation in the Foundation Industries 

UKRI-ISCF Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ awards over £200,000 to 5 research projects aimed at exploring enablers of transformation and social sciences in the Foundation Industries  The Transforming Foundation Industries (TFI) Network+ has awarded funding to 5 research projects in its fifth round of flexible funding. This round was themed on ‘Enablers of Transformation’ with an […]

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2022 in perspective

2022 was a very positive and successful year for the TFIN+. We achieved >600 members includingrepresentatives from academia (67%) and industry (33%), 303 followers on Twitter (>33,000 impressions) and 540 on LinkedIn (>23,000 impressions). We delivered workshops, conferences and networking within the community on topics such as energy efficiency, the circular economy or equality, diversity […]

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TFIN+ director awarded funds in the Economiser programme for ultra-low temperature sintering technology

Sheffield is the leading group in the UK in this novel technology which may prove pivotal in the path to net zero for the ceramics sector. TFI Network+ director, Prof Ian Reaney, has been leading cold sintering research at Sheffield and has recently been awarded funds from the Economiser programme (UKRI) to upgrade existing equipment […]

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Sustainability in the Portuguese Ceramics Industry

The Portuguese ceramic’s industry is composed of ~1000 companies principally concerned with construction and traditional ceramics and employs around 16,000 people. It constitutes 0.5% of GDP of Portugal (£230 billion p.a. with a population of ~10.5m), generates a turnover of ~1.2% of GDP and in 2017 was responsible for ~ 4% of the total and almost […]

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