Restrictive factors in implementation of clean technologies in red ceramic industries

Abstract

The objective of the present work is to identify a set of restrictive factors that impede the implementation of clean technologies in the red ceramic industries of the southeast region of Brazil. Despite the significant number of these industries and their importance in Brazilian civil construction, there has been no analysis of many of these factors, which leads to a lack of investment in clean technologies, limiting their development and modernization. Some clean technologies in this area are as follows: replacement of fossil fuels by biomass in the product sintering process, implementation of energy efficiency, reduction of raw material consumption, among others. For the structure of this study, a bibliographical review was performed to map the restrictive factors for the introduction of clean technologies in several industrial regions of the world. In total, 28 possible restrictive factors were identified and grouped into one of four categories: Institutional, Financial/Economic, Technological, and Social/Cultural. Based on this literature review, a field survey was carried out with 37 managers in the ceramic industry in the southeast region of Brazil to map their perception of these 28 identified factors. As a result, 19 restrictive factors were considered, among which the following stand out: a lack of incentive policies in the Institutional Group, which determines necessary interventions with the public power; an absence of financial incentives in the Financial/Economic Group demonstrates that other sources of financing should be explored; there is minimal infrastructure available for teaching and research in the Technological Group, suggesting that a greater interaction with research and development institutions is necessary to increase innovation in this area; and a lack of knowledge of administrative issues on the part of managers in the Social/Cultural Group underlines the need for improved management training. These results can be used to contribute to the body of knowledge on the ceramic industry in Brazil, and can be used to support decision-making and management.