ASOCIACIÓN DE INVESTIGACIÓN DE LAS INDUSTRIAS CERAMICAS. (AICE) INSTITUTO DE TECNOLOGIA CERAMICA (ITC)

The Instituto de Tecnología Cerámica (ITC), managed under the Asociación de Investigación de las Industrias Cerámicas (AICE), is one of Europe's leading technology centers and accredited testing laboratories serving the ceramics and advanced-materials industries. Established in 1969 as a joint institute between AICE and the Universitat Jaume I de Castellón de la Plana (UJI), ITC is headquartered at the UJI campus in Castellón, Spain, with an additional branch facility in Almassora (Polígono Industrial Supoi-8)—the heart of Europe's most concentrated ceramic tile manufacturing cluster. With more than five decades of continuous activity, ITC is recognized internationally as a benchmark testing, certification, and research partner for ceramic manufacturers, raw-material suppliers, equipment makers, and regulatory bodies across Spain and beyond.

ITC holds ENAC (Entidad Nacional de Acreditación, Spain's national accreditation body) accreditation under UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17025, with accreditation number 2/LE004 (current revision Edition Nº 29, dated 12 July 2024). Uninterrupted ENAC accreditation has been maintained since 1988, covering a scope of testing across ceramic tiles, sanitary ware, bathtubs, structural ceramics, flooring, and related construction materials. This long-standing accreditation positions ITC among the most credible independent testing authorities in the European ceramics sector, enabling it to issue test reports recognized by international buyers, certification bodies, and regulatory authorities.

The institute's testing portfolio comprises more than 475 distinct test methods. For ceramic tiles, ITC performs the full suite of physical, mechanical, and chemical tests prescribed by the UNE-EN ISO 10545 standard series, including dimensional conformance (ITC is the only ENAC-accredited laboratory in Spain capable of dimensional testing under UNE-EN ISO 10545-2 for tiles up to 3 meters in length), water absorption, breaking strength, modulus of rupture, thermal shock resistance, frost resistance, slip resistance, surface and deep abrasion, chemical resistance, stain resistance, coefficient of thermal linear expansion (UNE-EN ISO 10545-18, unique in Spain), and determination of small colour differences (UNE-EN ISO 10545-16, also exclusive to ITC in Spain). ITC is the only laboratory in Spain able to perform all tests required for the French QB-UPEC and QB-WallPEC ceramic tile quality marks.

In sanitary ware and bathroom equipment, ITC is the only ENAC-accredited laboratory in Spain for testing toilets, bidets, shower trays, and bathtubs, and was the national pioneer in offering third-party certification for these product categories. Testing covers dimensional verification, structural load-bearing and strength performance, water tightness, glaze surface quality, and compliance with applicable European and national standards. For construction ceramics such as clay roofing tiles and structural masonry products, ITC similarly holds accreditation for standardization tests under UNE-EN 13004 and related specifications.

Beyond finished-product characterization, ITC operates advanced analytical chemistry and materials science laboratories capable of chemical analysis of solid, liquid, and gas samples from ppb detection levels upward. Instrumental techniques include scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) for surface and microstructural defect analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for compositional analysis of nanometric layers, X-ray diffraction (XRD) for phase identification, and a broad range of spectroscopic and chromatographic methods. These capabilities enable comprehensive chemical characterization of ceramic bodies, glazes, frits, engobes, and raw materials such as feldspar, kaolin, and ball clay, as well as composites, glasses, metals, and carbonaceous materials. The laboratory also performs food-contact suitability testing of ceramic articles and packaging materials, including migration testing for potentially hazardous substances.

ITC operates the only ENAC-accredited capability in Spain for measuring the nitrogen oxide (NOx) elimination performance of photocatalytic materials under ISO 22197-1:2016 and UNE 127197-1:2013, supporting the expanding market for air-purifying ceramic products used in urban and architectural applications. Additionally, the institute conducts industrial hygiene measurements that are unique in Spain, including accredited determination of respirable dust and crystalline silica (quartz and cristobalite) fractions in workplace air—a critical service for ceramic manufacturing facilities operating under European Directive 2017/164/EU worker health requirements.

ITC's research and applied-services activities are organized into thematic knowledge areas: advanced materials, decarbonization of industrial processes, digital transformation of manufacturing, circular economy and waste valorization, sustainable and green chemistry, environmental health, urban solutions with ceramic materials, and computational modeling and simulation. The institute operates a fully equipped ceramic-processing pilot plant with grinding, drying, forming (pressing and extrusion), and kiln-firing capabilities that replicate real industrial conditions at reduced scale, enabling process optimization studies, new-product development trials, and systematic quality troubleshooting. These capabilities, combined with an exceptionally broad accredited testing scope, decades of specialized sector expertise, and formal alignment with ESG (environmental, social, and governance) criteria, make ITC a uniquely comprehensive testing and technology partner for any organization operating in the global ceramics, construction materials, and advanced-materials supply chain.