The REDiRECT project was presented at the 30th National Congress of Commodity Sciences, held in Bari on October 27 and 28, 2022. On this occasion, the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE) presented the preliminary results of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis developed as part of the project.

The congress, organized by the Italian Academy of Commodity Sciences (AISME), was an important opportunity for scientific discussion on the topics of sustainability, impact assessment, and innovation in production systems. Within this context, the presentation of REDiRECT contributed to the methodological debate related to the measurement of the environmental impacts of industrial processes.

During the event, Grazia Maria Cappucci presented the mining process modeling used to conduct the LCA analysis. The study focused on the extraction of potassium feldspar called Eurite, extracted on the Island of Elba, with the aim of more accurately representing the stages of raw material procurement.

In particular, the work involved defining new specific indicators for the extraction phase, integrated into the IMPACT 2002+ calculation method. This approach made it possible to dynamically attribute the environmental damage associated with mineral extraction, improving the level of detail and reliability of the assessment compared to traditional methodologies.

The presentation highlighted the value of the LCA approach as a decision-support tool and as a key element in the development of circular economy models based on measurable and comparable data. The preliminary results presented represent a significant step forward in the REDiRECT project's research activities, which aim to integrate sustainability and quantitative analysis throughout the ceramics and mining supply chain.

The REDiRECT team expressed its gratitude to Professor Alessandro Ruggieri, Professor Gianfranco Lagioia, and all the staff at AISME for the opportunity to disseminate the project results and for organizing the conference. Thanks were also given to colleagues at UNIPV, Maria Pia Riccardi and Andrés Fernández Miguel, and to Davide Settembre Blundo of Gresmalt for their support during the event.