In the UK, Pilkington United Kingdom Ltd (Pilkington UK), part of Japan-headed global glass major NSG Group, has become the world’s first flat glass manufacturer to fire its furnace on 100 percent biofuel, as part of an industry trial to find sustainable alternatives to fossil gas and oil.
A sustainable biofuel made from organic waste materials powered the St Helens glass manufacturer’s furnace entirely for four days, creating 165 000 m2 of the lowest carbon float glass ever made. The fuel emits circa 80 percent less carbon dioxide (CO2) than traditional natural gas used in the sector.
These fuel switching trials, backed by over £7 million in government funding, demonstrate how we are supporting industry to decarbonize and move away from relying on fossil fuels. This is vital to reducing emissions and driving forward the UK’s green industrial revolution, Energy & Climate Change Minister Greg Hands said.
Glass Futures project
The trial forms part of a GBP 7.1 million (≈ EUR 7.9 million) project led by Glass Futures, a not-for-profit research and technology organization.
Our world-first trial with Glass Futures proves how biofuel presents a realistic low-carbon alternative to natural gas, which will allow manufacturers to cut thousands of tonnes of CO2 from their production years ahead of alternative zero-carbon options becoming more readily available, said Neil Syder, Managing Director at Pilkington UK.
Glass Futures was awarded the contract in 2020 by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Energy Innovation Programme to research and deliver new energy sources to the glass industry.
The project aims to demonstrate that the furnace could run safely at full production on low-carbon fuel without impacting product quality. This work involves test firing hydrogen and biofuels in a scale model glass furnace at temperatures in excess of 1500 °C, simulating real-world firing conditions for alternative fuels.
It is great to see a technology demonstrated on a container furnace one year ago be adopted onto a float line just one year later. Biofuel represents a real short-term opportunity for the UK glass sector to lead the way in sustainability among energy-intensive industries, and this trial is another great example of what can be achieved when industry, academia, and public partners work together to tackle the major challenges and opportunities of the future, said Aston Fuller, General Manager at Glass Futures.
The project, which encompasses a wide range of industrial and academic partners, is also evaluating the associated technical, economic, and environmental aspects of fuels. The final report for this work is due to be published by BEIS in summer 2022.
Hydrogen also tested
In a glass furnace, burning gas is pumped into a 20-metre-long chamber to heat it to 1 600 degrees celsius, causing raw materials including sand and recycled glass to melt to the consistency of treacle. This is then floated on top of a bath of molten tin, making the glass perfectly flat before being cooled.
Pilkington UK fired hydrogen on its glass furnace in August 2021 in a world-first trial as part of the HyNet Industrial Fuel Switching project to decarbonize industrial processes across the North West of England.
Last Summer, we became the first glass manufacturer in the world to fire a furnace with hydrogen, which represented a major step forward towards our future as a net-zero industry. But a significant body of work remains before hydrogen and electrification become feasible alternatives to natural gas for glassmakers, making biofuels an important transitionary fuel. The success of this trial is also important for the many sectors that rely on glass as an integral supply chain material. We’re now far closer to glass with less embodied carbon being accessible, which will help developers to create a more sustainable built environment, said Neil Syder.
2022 International Year of Glass
In 2022, Pilkington UK marks 70 years since Sir Alastair Pilkington first began working on the float glass process from the company’s base in St Helens. The United Nations (UN) is also recognizing 2022 as the International Year of Glass, celebrating the past, present, and future of the material.
It was an honour to be invited to this demonstration in what was another world-first here in St Helens – the home of glass – to see how biofuel can become a sustainable alternative to natural gases, cutting CO2 emissions from the glass making process by an incredible 80 percent. As a council that has set its own targets to become net-zero by 2040, it’s great to see how industries are playing their part to cut carbon from everyday use, and we will continue to work closely alongside them to achieve this, said Councillor Mancyia Uddin, St Helens Borough Council’s Climate Change Champion during a recent site visit.
St Helens Borough Council has recently secured government funding of GBP 138 000 (≈ EUR 162 000) to produce a plan for a district heat (DH) network, which would harness waste heat produced by manufacturing processes at Pilkington UK’s Greengate site, or a planned Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) currently in development by the ESB group.
