PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

A major environmental problem in the ceramic tile industry is pollution in the form of carbon emissions from energy-intensive production. The study set out to measure how much carbon is released throughout the ceramic tile production chain and to pinpoint which steps contribute the most. It also explored a few grounded options for cutting those emissions, especially in stages where energy use tends to spike. A cradle-to-gate LCA was carried out assuming a functional unit of 1 m2 ceramic tile, with primary data extracted from the corporate information for January-December 2024. The system boundary primarily focuses on gate-to-gate processes, while upstream raw material extraction was incorporated through secondary data (emission factors) rather than direct system modelling. According to the LCA results, the carbon footprint of ceramic tile production was estimated at 7.3401 kg CO2-eq/m2, with fuel combustion and electricity consumption dominating the impact, contributing 67.29% and 30.60% of total emissions, respectively. Sensitivity analysis confirmed that overall emissions are primarily driven by energy-related inputs, particularly kiln fuel use. Based on these findings, two mitigation scenarios were assessed. The installation of a waste heat recovery (WHR) system reduced emissions by 10.09%, while its combination with partial substitution of natural gas by biogas and hydrogen-enriched fuel increased the reduction potential to 17.16%. Life cycle cost analysis further demonstrated the economic feasibility of both options, yielding negative abatement costs of -82.53 USD/t CO2 for the WHR scenario and -17.50 USD/t CO2 for the combined scenario, indicating that meaningful emission reductions can be achieved alongside long-term cost benefits.