Environmental Consultancy for the Ceramic Industry

A sector under sustained regulatory pressure

Ceramic manufacturing is energy-intensive, dust-intensive and concentrated - which is why it attracts regulatory attention as a cluster rather than as individual units. Nowhere is that clearer than Morbi, where the tile and sanitaryware industry has spent several years working through a fuel transition that is still generating consequences.

The gasifier transition and what it left behind

Coal gasifier use was directed to stop and units were required to move to cleaner fuel, principally piped natural gas. What followed matters more than the direction itself: environmental damage compensation was raised against a large number of units, and in February 2026 the National Green Tribunal's western bench dismissed the appeals brought against it.

The third is the one sites overlook. Shifting fuel without amending the consent and without emission data that demonstrates the change leaves a unit compliant in practice and exposed on paper.

Where the emissions actually are

• Spray dryers and kilns - the main point sources, and the ones consent conditions are written around.
• Raw material handling and storage - fugitive dust, rarely monitored, frequently the first thing an inspection notices.
• Body preparation and glaze lines - particulate and, depending on formulation, specific parameters worth testing rather than assuming.

Getting this right is a monitoring problem before it is a reporting problem. Stack emission monitoring that is properly located, isokinetic where it needs to be, and traceable to an accredited laboratory is what makes a result defensible when it is questioned - which in this sector, it will be. Boundary ambient air quality data is frequently requested alongside it.

Buyers are asking for carbon numbers

Ceramic tile is an export product, and export buyers increasingly attach sustainability questionnaires to purchase decisions. A defensible product carbon footprint or life cycle assessment, prepared once to a recognised method, answers those requests far better than a fresh estimate for each customer.

Services for ceramic units

• Consent amendment after fuel or capacity change
• Stack emission monitoring and reporting
• Ambient air quality and boundary monitoring
• Compliance audit and legacy notice review
• Statutory returns and Form-V
• Product carbon footprint for export buyers
• Environmental Clearance for expansion

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened with coal gasifiers in the Morbi cluster?

Gasifier use was directed to stop and units were required to move to cleaner fuel, principally piped natural gas. Environmental damage compensation was subsequently raised against a large number of units, and appeals against it were dismissed by the National Green Tribunal's western bench in February 2026. Units that assumed the matter would lapse now have a liability and a compliance history to manage.

We have already shifted to PNG. Is there anything left to do?

Usually yes. The consent has to reflect the fuel actually in use, emission monitoring has to demonstrate the change, and any compensation demand or legacy notice needs to be closed on the record. A site can be burning the right fuel and still be non-compliant on paper.

Which emissions matter most for a tile plant?

Particulate matter across spray dryers, kilns and material handling, along with the combustion products of whatever fuel is in use. Fugitive dust from raw material storage and handling is the one that draws inspection attention most often and is the least monitored.

Do export buyers ask ceramic units for carbon data?

Increasingly yes, through supplier questionnaires and sustainability programmes rather than through a single regulation. A product carbon footprint prepared to a recognised method answers most of those requests once, instead of a different estimate each time.

Do you work with units outside the Morbi cluster?

Yes. The technical issues - fuel, particulate control, consent conditions, waste - are the same for ceramic units anywhere in India, and the work is not tied to a single estate.