Gerresheimer targets climate-neutral glass production through EU-funded Furnace for the Future project

15 Apr 2021 --- Gerresheimer and 18 other glass producers are participating in the Furnace for the Future (F4F) European joint project with the aim of achieving climate-neutral glass production. 

In collaboration with the Ardagh Group, F4F aims to drive the development, financing and operation of a hybrid electric melting furnace.

The project is currently building an industrial-scale furnace in Obernkirchen, Germany, to commercialize the production of glass containers from renewable electricity.

The demonstration facility will be built in 2022, with initial results available in 2023. Both technical and market-specific criteria for melting glass to produce glass packaging on a large scale will be evaluated.

The companies participating in the F4F project collectively produce more than 90 percent of the glass containers in the EU, equivalent to more than 80 billion containers. 

EU funding
The EU’s ETS Innovation Fund selected F4F from 311 projects, making it one of the top 70 projects applying for second-stage support. The ETS Innovation Fund is one of the world’s largest funding programs to demonstrate innovative low-carbon technologies.

“We are pleased to participate in this joint project, which will certainly benefit the entire glass industry,” says Andreas Kohl, global senior vice president of operations technics and quality for molded glass at Gerresheimer.

Gerresheimer has been committed to PCR glass for more than a decade and processes it at some production sites.“As a producer of specialty glass, we have a great deal of experience in the use of electrical energy in the glass melting process and we would be delighted to be able to contribute this.”

The glass industry already uses electric furnaces in some of its 150 manufacturing plants across Europe but only on a small scale and exclusively for the production of specialty glass.

With the new technology, it will be possible to operate electric furnaces with more than 300 tons of capacity per day, producing any color of glass and using a high percentage of recycled glass.

“No furnace in the world has been able to produce colored glass at this scale with electric melting and high levels of cullet,” Fabrice Rivet, director of environment, health and safety at the European Container Glass Federation (FEVE), tells PackagingInsights.

“Glass is a permanent material, meaning it can be endlessly recycled without losing its intrinsic properties.”

“It is inert and always remains healthy and safe for food-grade packaging no matter how many times it is recycled. By addressing our carbon emissions, we can offer a fully climate-neutral packaging solution, in addition to being fully circular.”

Recycled glass, reduced CO2
Recycled glass use can reduce CO2 emissions as less energy is needed to melt it down. For this reason, the 19 companies are investing in the development of this collaborative project to benefit from the experience gained with this technology.

“Parallel to this project, we at Gerresheimer are working on our own innovative developments of alternative melting methods for CO2 reduction, which will already be implemented at our plant in the next few years in parallel with the Ardagh project,” explains Kohl.

“Such developments are completely new designs, which can only be implemented in a new furnace. In this context, we benefit from the fact that we are planning such a new tank construction almost every year in the coming years.”F4F aims to drive the development, financing and operation of a hybrid electric melting furnace (Image credit: FEVE).

“That’s why we have the exclusive opportunity here and now to do something that helps us to protect the environment.”

In the US and India, Gerresheimer already uses twice as much electrical energy to process Type I borosilicate glass as comparable furnaces from most of the companies involved in the project. In Belgium, Gerresheimer operates its opal glass furnace fully electrically.

Gerresheimer has been committed to using Post Consumer Recycled (PCR) glass for more than a decade and also processes it at some production sites.

The use of PCR glass helps to conserve natural resources because new glass is made from silica sand, sodium carbonate, calcium oxide, dolomite, feldspar, potash and iron oxide for coloring. The use of PCR glass also reduces energy consumption in the melting process.

CO2-efficient glass production
In other glass production news, Diageo revealed its involvement in a successful pilot project to pioneer the lowest carbon footprint glass bottles “ever produced” for a Scotch whisky brand. 

The distiller’s collaboration with glass manufacturer Encirc and industry research and technology body Glass Futures used waste-based biofuel-powered furnaces to reduce the bottle-making process’ carbon footprint by up to 90 percent.

Diageo used its Black & White Scotch whisky brand for the trial, famous for its label featuring a West Highland terrier and a Scotty dog, and popular in key global export markets.

By Joshua Poole