External lab trial: Replacing Ukrainian clays and other expensive clays

This report shows porcelain tile formulations containing Ukrainian clays versus low-cost clays with BioKeram.

Ukrainian clays are exported worldwide as “super white” materials for specific tile formulations. The price and availability of these and other high-quality clays are unpredictable.

The ceramics industry has explored more economical alternatives. They found local clays to be a good solution when utilising additives to improve the initial lower clay quality. We have shown that BioKeram and other lignin-based biopolymers improve these clays’ properties at a lower cost than expensive clays.

BioKeram was found to be very effective in increasing the dry strength of the other ceramic tile formulations tested. With the addition of BioKeram, dry MOR values increased by 30% - 50% for wall tile bodies. This allows the producers to use less expensive, less plastic clays whilst improving the final tile quality.