Estimación de emisiones difusas de PM10 y rendimiento de MTD’s en el sector cerámico

Particle emission into the atmosphere is one of the major impacts of the ceramic industry from both channelled sources (stacks) and fugitive sources. The latter give rise to so-called diffuse or fugitive emissions, which have traditionally received little regulatory attention and have been the focus of few technical studies. However, this situation is changing in view of the importance of the relative contribution of these emissions in certain industrial activities, such as the ceramic industry, which is leading to specific requirements for fugitive emission control in environmental authorisations, as well as in the recent introduction of the need to quantify these emissions in the emissions declarations required by the European Union (EPER-PRTR). One of the current issues in fugitive particle emission control is, in fact, the quantification of fugitive particle emissions. In this study, an instrument for estimating these emissions has been developed, based on methodologies proposed in the literature, which is applicable to ceramics manufacturing processes in different technological scenarios. Two estimation methods have been used: an analytical method, based on the use of equations and emission factors, and a completely experimental method. Appropriate combination of both methods has allowed estimation of the mass flow in fugitive particle emissions at two industrial facilities, in two technological scenarios. The treatment of the results has enabled the efficiencies achieved in reducing the fugitive emissions of particulate matter at the studied facilities to be estimated.La emisión de partículas a la atmósfera constituye uno de los mayores impactos de la industria cerámica, tanto por focos canalizados (chimeneas) como por focos difusos. Estos últimos producen las denominadas emisiones difusas o fugitivas, a las que tradicionalmente se les ha prestado poca atención, tanto por la normativa legal como por los estudios técnicos. No obstante, esta situación está cambiando dada la importancia de la contribución relativa de estas emisiones en algunas actividades industriales, como es el caso de la industria cerámica, lo que se está traduciendo en el establecimiento de requisitos específicos para su control en las autorizaciones ambientales, así como en la reciente introducción de la necesidad de cuantificar dichas emisiones en las declaraciones de emisiones requeridas por la Unión Europea (EPER-PRTR). Uno de los problemas que se plantea en el control de las em