This paper presents the findings of a study of gas emissivity and the volumetric gas flow rate from a patented modified cellulose mix used
in production of disposable sand casting moulds. The modified cellulose mix with such additives as expanded perlite, expanded
vermiculite and microspheres was used as the study material. The results for gas emissivity and the gas flow rate for the modified cellulose
mix were compared with the gas emissivity of the commercial material used in gating systems in disposable sand casting moulds. The
results have shown that the modified cellulose mix is characterized by a lower gas emissivity by as much as 50% and lower gas flow rate
per unit mass during the process of thermal degradation at the temperature of 900°C, compared to the commercial mix. It was also noted
that the amount of microspheres considerably affected the amount of gas produced.
In the paper, the research on the process of optimizing the carbon footprint to obtain the low-carbon products is presented. The optimization process and limits were analyzed based on the CFOOD project co-financed by the Polish Research and Development Agency. In the article, the carbon footprint (CF) testing methods with particular emphasis on product life cycle assessment (LCA) are discussed. The main problem is that the energy received from the energy-meters per the production stage is not directly represented in the raw data set obtained from the factory because many production line machines are connected to a single measurement point. In the paper, we show that in some energy-demanding production stages connected with cooling processes the energy used for the same stage and similar production can differ even 25-40%. That is why the energy optimization in the production can be very demanding.