Glass International May 2021

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May 2021—Vol.44 No.5

FURNACE FOR THE FUTURE INTERVIEW GLASS FUTURES/STARA GLASS FURNACE PROFILE HYDROGEN IN GLASS PREVIEW I N T E R N A T I O N A L

A GLOBAL REVIEW OF GLASSMAKING

3D laser scanning is a modern innovation that allows you to record existing structures within your glass plant quickly and accurately.

Glass International May 2021

SORG’s in-house team has the equipment and expertise to take precise measurements for new 3D designs, without interrupting operations.

Take a look at our article and ad featured inside to discover the many advantages 3D laser scanning can bring to your installation design.

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WWW.GLASS-INTERNATIONAL.COM

May 2021—Vol.44 No.5

FURNACE FOR THE FUTURE INTERVIEW GLASS FUTURES/STARA GLASS FURNACE PROFILE HYDROGEN IN GLASS PREVIEW I N T E R N A T I O N A L

A GLOBAL REVIEW OF GLASSMAKING

3D laser scanning is a modern innovation that allows you to record existing structures within your glass plant quickly and accurately.

Glass International May 2021

SORG’s in-house team has the equipment and expertise to take precise measurements for new 3D designs, without interrupting operations.

Take a look at our article and ad featured inside to discover the many advantages 3D laser scanning can bring to your installation design.

sorg.de

GI Cover May gatefold.indd 1

17/05/2021 16:57:08

We print your world Uniting inks and substrates to create a uniqueness, which is incomparable.

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We print your world Uniting inks and substrates to create a uniqueness, which is incomparable.

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Contents

www.glass-international.com Editor: Greg Morris Tel: +44 (0)1737 855132 Email: gregmorris@quartzltd.com

2

Designer: Annie Baker Sales Director: Ken Clark Tel: +44 (0)1737 855117 Email: kenclark@quartzltd.com Sales Executive: Manuel Martin Quereda Tel: +44 (0)1737 855023 Email: manuelm@quartzltd.com

May 2021

10

Chief Executive Officer: Steve Diprose Chairman: Paul Michael

Subscriptions: Elizabeth Barford Tel: +44 (0)1737 855028 Fax: +44 (0)1737 855034 Email: subscriptions@quartzltd.com Published by Quartz Business Media Ltd, Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road, Redhill, Surrey RH1 1QX, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1737 855000. Fax: +44 (0)1737 855034.

Email: glass@quartzltd.com Website: www.glass-international.com

15

Official publication of Abividro the Brazilian Technical Association of Automatic Glass Industries

Member of British Glass Manufacturers’ Confederation

China National Association for Glass Industry

10

Sustainability: Furnace for the Future Project gathers momentum

15

Profile: British Glass President President aims to give recyclers a voice

18

Stara Glass & Glass Futures Stara Glass wins Glass Futures contract

23

Environment: C-Capture Could carbon capture work in glassmaking?

27

Hydrogen in Glassmaking preview 16 speakers to discuss hydrogen’s potential

31

Digital glassmaking: Joon X How AI makes furnaces more energy efficient using data analysis

35

Digital glassmaking: PGP Glass PGP brings digital to the industry

38

Indian overview Container sector still strong

43

Furnaces: Glass Service Using AI for furnace imaging

48

Recycling: Libbey Celebrating green co-operation

50

Energy efficiency: Grenzebach/CNUD Waste recovery system improves efficiency

55

Inspection: Iris Inspection Machines From intelligent machine to collective intelligence

59

Swabbing: Novaxion Novaxion joins Rondot Group

62

Installation: Pneumofore Vacuum pump installed at IVC, Mexico

65

Furnaces: Sorg Laser scanning in plant repairs

68

Appointment: Heye International Heye appoints French sales agent

72

Event review: Mir Stekla Mir Stekla goes hybrid

75

History As flat as a pancake

Vol.44 No 5

Managing Director Tony Crinion tonycrinion@quartzltd.com

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Editor’s Comment + International news

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Assistant Editor: George Lewis Tel: +44 (0)1737 855154 Email: georgelewis@quartzltd.com

1 Glass International May 2021

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International News

GREG MORRIS, EDITOR

Be first with the news! For breaking, up to date news

FRONT COVER IMAGE: www.sorg.de

VISIT: www.glass-international.com

for daily news updates.

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All set for a year devoted to glass

Congratulations to all of those who have pushed to have a year devoted to glass around the world.

As Glass International went to press, the United Nations General Assembly was set to give approval to the International Year of Glass 2022, a campaign which started in 2018 and has gathered pace since.

Thanks to the tireless work of the steering committee, led by Alicia Duran and backed by Glass International columnist John Parker and David Pye, hundreds of organisations around the globe have signed up in support of the proposal.

Such overwhelming support from glass organisations around the world helped persuade the UN to give its approval to the campaign.

A Year of Glass should certainly help put the material in the public spotlight, with increased publicity and visibility.

The steering committee has a number of activities planned throughout the year and these will no doubt gain exposure to those outside the industry.

In recent years it feels the benefits of glass have reached a wider audience.

We all heard of the Blue Planet affect and the backlash against plastic as a result. Consumers turned to glass because of its inert and environmental qualities.

An International Year of Glass is an opportunity to strengthen consumers’ attitudes towards glass and to promote the material’s qualities to a global audience.

Saint-Gobain Glass in £30 million UK plant investment Saint-Gobain Glass is to invest £30 million in its glass manufacturing factory in Eggborough, East Yorkshire, UK. The company is carrying out a major construction programme to completely rebuild and install a new state-of the-art float glass furnace, as well as upgrade other areas of

the factory.

The project represents the largest industrial investment in the UK by the Saint-Gobain Group since the Eggborough plant was built in 2000.

Due to be completed by late summer of this year, the installation of the enlarged capacity furnace will replace the exist-

ing furnace that has reached the end of its design life.

The new furnace will use less energy and will help the company to optimise manufacturing efficiency, increase production capacity, and further enhance Saint-Gobain’s environmental and sustainability credentials.

International Cookware to invest €21 million in Duralex upgrade After acquiring the Duralex brand in Janaury 2021, International Cookware is investing 21 million euros to create an industrial hub in the Center-Val de-Loire region of France.

The project will see Duralex’s workforce of 500 in-

crease to almost 800, and its turnover from 110 million euros to 150 million euros.

It also expects to double the turnover of the plant and to go from a production rate of 40 to 75%.

International Cookware, which owns the Pyrex trade-

mark, hopes that the investment will help with training and the creation of a glass industry within the Center-Val de-Loire region in Northern France.

The project is to be spread over four years and aims to upgrade Duralex’s Orléans plant.

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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

Apple awards $45m to Corning Incorporated

Diageo is the latest company to collaborate with glass manufacturer Encirc and Glass Futures to use biofuel-powered furnaces to reduce the carbon footprint of the bottle-making process by up to 90%.

The trial produced 173,000 Black & White bottles, that

also used 100% recycled glass, reportedly making the batch the most environmentally-friendly ever produced for a Scotch whisky brand.

Following the trial’s success, Diageo agreed a 10-year partnership to accelerate collaboration and innovation in the

glass industry.

John Aird, Senior Packaging Technologist at Diageo said: “We see Glass Futures as a great opportunity to develop new technology and to help deliver net zero manufacturing and we are delighted to support them in that mission.”

BA Glass invests €60 million in Sofia, Bulgaria site BA Glass is to invest €60 million in the construction of a new furnace at its Sofia, Bulgaria container glass manufacturing site.

The investment is part of the group’s plan presented in 2017 when acquiring the Southeast Europe operations

from Yioula Group.

After having intensively invested in the Plovdiv plant, BA Group will build a new furnace in the Sofia plant and recruit more than 100 workers The project, as well as the investments made in Plovdiv plant, will represent an im-

portant improvement for the environmental impact of the plant.

One of these are the photovoltaic panels that are being installed in the roofs of the two facilities.

Glass production is planned for the first quarter of 2022.

EME completes South Korean batch plant upgrade EME has completed a batch plant upgrade for South Korean container glass manufacturer Techpack Solutions.

German batch plant specialists EME modernised the

material dosing and weighing section, while also exchanged the high-duty pan mixer in this area.

It also upgraded the cullet dosing, weighing and added

a container scale system to Techpack’s modern scale system.

Additionally, EME also completely upgraded the batch plant’s control system.

Sisecam ignites Russian glass packaging furnace

Turkish manufacturer Sisecam has ignited a glass packaging furnace at its Pokrov, facility, Russia.

Production from the 70t/ day furnace was temporarily halted in July 2013 but was re-ignited in March this year.

The furnace went through the cold repair process in 2019 after a $15 million investment.

It means Sisecam’s glass packaging production capacity in Russia has increased to 1.03 million tonnes a year.

Fives secures Chinese lehrs contract

Following the burst of the solar glass production, Fives has supplied more than 60 annealing lehrs in China over the last 12 months.

A new contract for a 6m lehr – the widest lehr currently in China and internationally – with a production capacity of 600 tonnes per day has recently been signed by Fives Stein Metallurgical Technology (Shanghai), a Fives’ subsidiary in China, with Hebei Yingxin Glass Group.

Yingxin is a private glass manufacturer located in Shahe City, Hebei Province, which is known as the China Glass City.

www.glass-international.com

Diageo latest to trial low carbon bottle production

Apple has awarded $45 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund to Corning Incorporated, a supplier of precision glass for iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad. The funding will expand Corning’s manufacturing capacity in the US and drive research and development into new technologies that support durability and longlasting product life, building on both Apple and Corning’s commitment to protecting the environment.

Corning has already received $450 million from Apple’s $5 billion Advanced Manufacturing Fund over the last four years.

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International News

Verallia rolls out Industry 4.0 control system

Cleanfire® HRx™ Synchronized Boosting System All the boost you need, perfectly synchronized

Verallia has rolled out an Industry 4.0 control system at its container glass factories over the past four years.

The Glass Service Expert System III (ES III) control system enables it to face industry 4.0 challenges with

process chain digitalisation in order to release productivity barriers.

Most Verallia container glass factories are equipped with the ES III system, which has improved stability and resulted in an auto-

mated cruise control of furnaces and forehearths.

This contributed to energy savings and a reduction of CO2 emissions as well as a better control and stability of Verallia NOx emissions.

Glass Service’s ES III control system includes connected instrumentation, data analysis, machine learning and model based predictive expert control including human experience.

It has been installed on more than over 300 furnaces internationally.

Need to boost energy input to your air-fuelfired regenerative glass melting furnace?

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Benefits includes: • Ultra-low NOx emissions • Reduced energy consumption • Higher glass quality

Ferro Corporation to be acquired in $2.1 billion deal Ferro Corporation, a leading global supplier of technology-based functional coatings and colour solutions, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Prince International Corporation, a port-

folio company of American Securities LLC, in an allcash transaction valued at approximately $2.1 billion USD, or 12.4 times TTM Adjusted EBITDA as of March 31, 2021.

Under the terms of the

agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the Ferro Corporation Board of Directors, Prince will acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Ferro for 22.00 USD per share in cash.

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Nipro PharmaPackaging completes Croatian acquisition Japan-based packaging company Nipro PharmaPackaging has acquired Croatian glass pharmaceutical packaging manufacturer Piramida.

Nipro said that the acquisition of Piramida and its

yearly capacity in excess of 500 million glass containers, it is now able to cater to the market needs in Central Europe.

Nipro president Yoshihiko Sano said: “This latest acquisition demonstrates

that Nipro takes its role and responsibility to society at large seriously.

“Extending our manufacturing footprint is of the utmost importance when supply continuity may be at stake.”

Glass International May 2021

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THE FUTURE OF CONVEYOR CHAIN www.pennine.org

sales@pennine.org

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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

N.American shipments boost Ardagh growth

Ardagh’s Glass packaging shipments increased by 2%, thanks to growth in North America.

In its first quarter 2021 financial note the container glass packager reported shipments in Europe were in line with the prior year, despite continuing lockdowns in many countries.

However, glass packaging adjusted EBITDA decreased by 8%, due to a lower outturn in Glass Packaging North American glass packaging, which was impacted by severe weather and higher operating costs, principally due to freight and the severe weather.

Sefpro becomes SmartMelter certified partner

Refractory solutions provider Sefpro has become a certified partner of PaneraTech’s SmartMelter technology.

This official certified partnership will help PaneraTech reach new markets through Sefpro’s global presence.

Sefpro will now be able to offer customers the best on-time solutions for maintenance based on SmartMelter refractory assessments.

SmartMelter has been validated in multiple blind trials with glass manufacturers, and PaneraTech can recommend the Sefpro Wool product line to customers.

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GPI roadmap plots 50% recycling rate

The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) has launched “A Circular Future for Glass” initiative.

It is a 10-year plan to raise the US’s glass recycling rate to 50% and boost the average use of recycled content in domestically made glass containers.

GPI partnered with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to undertake the study, design study solution sets in different regions, and develop a set of options for achieving that goal.

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Verallia creates glass recycling company with Remondis BA Glass invests €60 million in Sofia site Saint-Gobain Glass to invest £30 million in Eggborough, UK plant Sisecam announces new CEO Piramal Glass renamed to PGP Glass Forglass to deliver furnace and batch plant in a greenfield project Bucher Emhart Glass reports increase in orders AGC develops automated management system for raw materials Diageo becomes latest company to trial low carbon bottle production Verallia rolls out Glass Service’s Industry 4.0 control system

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Forglass in greenfield furnace and batch plant project Forglass, a European supplier of glass melting technologies, has won the greenfield project for a major international glass producer, which specialises in the production of brown beer bottles for customers across Europe, the USA and Canada.

The investor chose Forglass

to design and deliver a new furnace and an entire batch plant.

The furnace will include full automation and safety systems, including gas supply), will deliver more than 400 tonnes of amber glass per day to three production lines.

Its technology ensures that the new furnace will be more environmentally-friendly due to low energy consumption and low emission of greenhouse gases. The client will enjoy a turn-key plant in its new factory in Poland, scheduled to be completed in 2022.

Guardian Glass to install Bascharage furnace Guardian Glass is set to replace a furnace at its Bascharage, Luxembourg site.

“Thanks to this new investment in Bascharage, glass production in Luxembourg will continue for the next 15 to 20 years,” said Guus Boekhoudt, Guardian Europe Executive Vice President.

It said the new furnace would be more environmentally friendly, technologically modern and would begin production in 2023.

In June last year the flat glass manufacturer said it would close its Dudelange, Luxembourg furnace and merge activities in Bascharage, put-

ting nearly half its 450-strong workforce at risk of redundancy.

But as a result of talks with staff, the company signed a two-year job retention plan in August, which prioritises early retirement, training and reassignment, or furlough over job cuts.

6 Glass International May 2021

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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

Piramal Glass renamed to PGP Glass

Indian container glass manufacturer Piramal Glass has been renamed as PGP Glass as part of its takeover

by Blackstone financial group.

Blackstone acquired the company from the Piramal Group for a valuation of $1 billion in late 2020—the largest ever transaction for a packaging company in India.

The deal was completed on March 31 and the company, whose near 4,000 staff has been retained, will now have a new name—PGP Glass.

Pilkington to close UK architectural glass plant

NSG Pilkington UK is set to close its Alexandra Works plant in St Helens by the end of the 2021, affecting 90 jobs in the area.

It is reported that the company expects manufacturing will stop at the site by the end of December 2021.

The Alexandra Works plant manufactures architectural glass including glass doors, conservatories and rooflights for the construction industry.

It says the decision to close the site was made due to it being no longer profitable.

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Bucher Emhart Glass reports order increase

Bucher Emhart Glass reported a decent start to 2021.

The glass container technology supplier reported a renewed increase in the number of orders for glass forming machinery.

It said customers were approving investment projects that had been postponed the previous year, despite many countries still having restrictions in place.

It reported order intake of CHF 101 million in Q1 compared to CHF 84 million in the same period last year, while sales this year were CHF 69 million compared to CHF 91 million in the same period last year.

In its outlook it suggested the next few months to bring stronger demand.

Visy in $35 million glass recycling investment Visy Industries is to invest in a $35 million upgrade of its Laverton glass recycling centre, Australia.

The proposed upgrade is expected to create 92 jobs during

construction and a further six ongoing positions once completed.

It will double the centre’s recycling capacity from 100,000 tonnes of glass each year to

200,000.

The additional glass will be made into new jars and bottles for Australian food and beverage companies and used in asphalt and road base works.

Severe weather hits O-I Glass Q1 performance Severe weather in Mexico and Southern USA impacted O-I’s first quarter business performance.

The world’s largest glass bottle manufacturer reported net sales of $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021 compared to $1.6 billion in the prior year quarter.

Andres Lopez, CEO, said:

“O-I’s first quarter business performance was strong and consistent with our original guidance.

“This was accomplished despite the significant impact of severe weather that disrupted operations in Texas, Oklahoma and Mexico.”

He added that the first fullscale commercial MAGMA

production line is now operational and the team was conducting the necessary tests to validate the technology in Holzminden, Germany.

The new line is already generating glass bottles and further testing will be conducted over the next few months. It is expected to be validated by mid-year.

India’s Gold Plus confirms capacity expansion plans Indian float glass manufacturer Gold Plus Glass Industry (Gold Plus) has confirmed plans to expand capacity by 700,000 tonnes a year – its largest capacity expansion to date.

The company wants to add two float glass lines and one solar glass line to its existing

capacity.

Gold Plus is the only Indian owned float glass manufacturer and presently has two float lines in Roorkee, Uttarakhand with installed capacity of approx. 460,000 metric tonnes annually.

The total project outlay is said to be in tune of INR 2,200

- 2,300 Crores, and the company is already in discussion with Government authorities of at least two southern states for land allotment and capital/ revenue subsidies.

The organiation is targeting revenue of more than INR 3,000 crores with the capacity expansion.

8 Glass International May 2021

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Sustainability: Furnace for the future

The ‘Furnace for the Future’ project gathers momentum

� The Furnace for the Future project is bringing together 19 container glass companies to significantly reduce CO2 emissions by replacing 80% of natural gas to renewable electricity.

� If successful, Ardagh Group will build the first furnace in Germany in 2022 with the first bottles produced in 2023.

www.glass-international.com

FEVE’s ‘Furnace for the Future’ project has recently been elected to Stage 2 of EU funding. Adeline Farrelly* explains what that means, what happens next and what it means for the future of the container glass industry.

O

n 24th March 2021, the EU Commission published their short list of projects invited to enter the second-round application process for funding from the EU’s new ETS Innovation Fund. The container glass industry’s Furnace for the Future (F4F) was one of the selected projects.

“We are so proud to be on the list and to get to the next stage,” says Fabrice Rivet, FEVE’s Technical Director.

“The evaluators gave us very positive feedback, which is very encouraging, as

we now prepare the full application for the 23rd June 2021 deadline”.

The Innovation Fund is one of the world’s largest funding programmes for the demonstration of innovative lowcarbon technologies.

A total of 311 projects were submitted in the first round for grants totalling €21 billion making the ETS fund 21 times oversubscribed.

Furnace for the Future is one of the 70 projects selected to go forward to the final phase.

Industry ambition By 2050 the container glass industry aims to achieve a major revolution, starting now, in the way glass is produced making it fit for a circular and climate-neutral economy.

Companies are gearing up to secure the future of the sector and the jobs that depend on the industry within important value chains (food and beverage, pharma, cosmetics, and perfumery).

The F4F is a collective industry demonstration project, technically

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Sustainability: Furnace for the Future

and financially supported by 19 container glass companies, which will develop a break-through technology to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from container glass furnaces by replacing 80% of the currently used natural gas by renewable electricity.

It will be the world’s first large-scale 350 tonnes/day hybrid electric furnace to overcome existing technological barriers, capable of melting all glass colours and incorporating high levels of recycled glass.

With this new hybrid technology, container glass will be able to cut 50% of current CO2 emissions from the factories.

Table 1.

Solving the carbon emissions will enable the sector to offer a fully climate-

Existing electric furnaces in the container glass industry

Future hybrid furnace (F4F)

Size (tonne glass per day)

80 – 200

350

Technology

Vertical furnace

Horizontal furnace

Table 1 - Benefits of the F4F project

Reduced glass (amber Type of glass produced

Oxidised glass: flint, emerald

(If successful, all colours will be possible)

) Cullet level (recycled glass)

0 - 30%

70%

% electricity

100%

Able to work from 20% to 80%

Allied Glass Containers Ltd Ardagh Group BA Glass I – Serviços de Gestão e Investimentos, S.A. Beatson Clark Ltd FEVE - The European Container Glass Federation Gerresheimer Moulded Glass GmbH Gürok Turizm Ve Madencilik A.Ş. (Gca Gürallar Cam Ambalaj)

Circular economy – Closing the loop A different strategy is needed to eliminate this remaining 20%. Addressing these emissions involves replacing virgin raw materials with recycled glass (cullet).

Closing the glass recycling loop is therefore a primary objective.

The industry will do this by increasing EU collection of recyclable glass from 76% to 90% and make the Circular Economy for glass work better.

To this end, the container glass sector

Vetreria Etrusca Spa Vetropack Holding AG Vidrala SA Wiegand-Glashüttenwerke GmbH

Table 2 - The companies involved with the F4F project

launched ‘Close the Glass Loop’ in 2020 – a multi-stakeholder platform to unite the glass collection and recycling value chain, and to establish a material stewardship programme that will result in more bottle-to-bottle recycling.

This platform brings together all those involved in the collection schemes to achieve 90% collection of recyclable glass by 2030. Close the Glass Loop action

plans are being developed at EU level and in several countries.

Company decarbonisation strategies While these flagship sector decarbonisation initiatives are hugely significant, FEVE members are also Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

neutral packaging solution, in addition to being fully circular.

At present, 80% of container glass CO2 emissions come from the combustion of natural gas to melt glass and Furnace for the Future is addressing this head on. But there is also the 20% of CO2 emissions from the virgin raw materials used to make glass.

O-I Europe Sàrl Pochet du Courval SAS Saverglass SGD Pharma Steklarna Hrastnik d.o.o Stoelzle Oberglas GmbH Verallia Packaging Verescence Vetreria Cooperativa Piegarese Soc. Coop.

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Sustainability: Furnace for the Future

testing out other strategies at company level.

A revolutionary project undertaken by glass container manufacturer, Encirc (a Vidrala company), and industry research and technology organisation, Glass Futures, is testing whether new bottles are able to be made from 100% recycled glass, using only the energy from burning ultra-low-carbon biofuels.

German glass makers are working with BV Glas to investigate hydrogen as a potential fuel source for melting glass and to see what extent it could work off the natural gas infrastructures already in place.

According to BV Glas, hydrogen is one of the most promising candidates in the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. It has been assessing the potential of hydrogen for a long time within the framework of its decarbonisation strategy.

“Every climate-neutral production project is an important step towards new approaches in glass manufacturing that will help us achieve the long-term aim of net-zero industrial emissions” says Dr Johann Overath BV Glas Director General.

If all energy-dependent processes were switched over to hydrogen, the glass industry could theoretically reduce its carbon footprint in Germany by approximately 3.3 million tonnes per year.

The European glass industry is investing significantly every year in the decarbonisation of its manufacturing processes (e.g. R&D in hydrogen-firing, energy efficiency measures, use of biomass etc.) and will continue investing to manufacture glass products fit for a resource-efficient, low-carbon European society.

Every year, on average, the industry invests €610 million for plant upgrades, better energy efficiency and reduced CO2 emissions. This is a significant 10% of production costs each year.

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In the near term, the container glass industry is potentially one of the energy intensive industries to have a clear pathway to decarbonisation through direct electrification, but requires breakthrough technology in the Furnace for the Future project.

The Commission intends to evaluate the proposals and award the grants in October/November 2021.

If F4F is successful, the commercial scale demonstration plant will be built by Ardagh Group in Germany in 2022 with the first low carbon commercial bottles being produced in 2023.

A Special Project Vehicle will be incorporated for this project where industry shareholders will co-finance this demonstration project in addition to the EU grant.

Against this industry investment, all the learnings and knowhow of running this furnace will be shared among the SPV partners so that this technology can be rolled out and scalable throughout the sector.

There are risks with any new technology and it is not certain that it will succeed. If it does, then this will be one of the most significant breakthrough technologies for glass and represents an iconic moment in the long history and tradition of glass making in Europe.

The 19 independent companies and FEVE operating in partnership to create, fund and demonstrate a technology to prove the concept are: See table 2. �

*Secretary General, FEVE, Brussels, Belgium www.feve.org www.closetheglassloop.eu

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GLASS SERVICE

A Division of Glass Service

Profile: British Glass President

New British Glass President aims to give glass recyclers a voice Matthew Demmon* was appointed as the new President of British Glass at the start of 2021. George Lewis spoke to him about his appointment and what his objectives are for his two-year term.

M

atthew Demmon has spent his whole career in the glass industry. Now entering his fourth decade in the sector he has experienced working on furnaces around the world at companies such as Guardian Glass and Encirc as well as glass recyclers such as Recresco and Viridor, before creating his own glass recycling company in 2013.

Alongside his own career in the industry, Mr Demmon has worked with British Glass since the

“I’d like to increase our

late 1990s when he represented the domestic sector for newly formed climate change agreements. This type of work led to Mr Demmon being asked to be on the board of directors at British Glass.

Despite being surprised to be asked to be President, it was a great honour and feels it is a good time to be in the role, he stated, with the industry focused on sustainability and using more recycled content, something Mr Demmon has worked on throughout his career.

Continued>>

membership during my term, particularly with the recyclers and be able to represent their views properly as I don’t think they are properly represented yet

”

� Matthew Demmon has worked in the glass industry for over 30 years, working on both the

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manufacturing of glass and now its recycling.

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Profile: British Glass President

“I’d like to increase our membership during my term, particularly with the recyclers and be able to represent their views properly and I think there’s a real opportunity to do so”, he explained.

At British Glass’ Annual General Meeting in January 2021, Mr Demmon was unanimously voted as its new President, taking over the role from previous incumbent Steve Severs, Managing Director at Saint-Gobain Glass UK. Dave Dalton, CEO of British Glass said at the time of his appointment: “Having worked closely with Matthew during his time on the board of directors and with our work on the Scottish Deposit Return Scheme, I’m sure he will guide our organisation and our industry through whatever the next two years may throw at us.”

Mr Demmon feels it is important to have the voice of recyclers at British Glass, with the current commitment to collect 90% of glass for recycling by 2030.

He said: “We can only achieve that goal with the companies that are going to be doing a lot of the work and we need them to be committed and have the support through the system.”

Mr Demmon also opposes the inclusion of glass in a UK deposit return scheme (DRS), which the UK government believes could ‘reduce the amount of littering, boost recycling levels for relevant material, while offering the enhanced possibility to collect high quality materials in greater quantities and promote recycling through clear labelling and consumer messaging’.

But British Glass has been vocal in its opposition to this scheme and recently raised concerns during a parliamentary committee in March 2021 that glass packaging should not be included in the proposed DRS. It believes the suggested DRS would limit the country’s ’s ability to recycle glass back into bottles and jars and potentially lead to an increase in plastic packaging.

Mr Demmon explained that British Glass has seen Wales create a successful system which has created an 87% glass collection rate, and believes using a properly funded ‘sensible’ kerbside collection scheme would see the most positive results.

He said that the UK recycling rate is at approximately 75% and is made up of three elements – domestic DRS -type beverage glass and food containers (non-DRS) and hospitality glass.

He believes that recycled glass from hospitality businesses is at approximately 60%, whereas a quarter of all glass is food containers, which are always under-represented in waste glass collections. These should be our targets.

Mr Demmon explained that the “DRS-able” glass going through households is already around 90% recycled already. “The material the DRS is going to target is already being put in the bin – that type of glass is really not the problem. It is a fantasy to believe that 90% of all bottles will end up back

in the system using DRS”, he said.

He also believes that reaching a 90% collection rate could mean the UK generating approximately 500,000 more tonnes of glass remelt, of which half of that would be green glass, which is already has a high export rate to Iberia and mainland Europe for reuse.

This could pose a challenge for the industry having even more green glass, but it is something Mr Demmon and British Glass are working on to address by 2030.

Mr Demmon also feels that using a very high density of bottle banks is a viable option for glass recycling and explained that schemes such as Zero Waste Leeds proves there is a lot more glass out there than they were collecting with a dispersed bottle bank system but kerbside pickups of a separate stream of glass will be the most effective the way to collect glass.

President’s projects of interest

“It was a great honour to be asked

”

to be President

As President Mr Demmon can see first-hand some of the big industry projects taking place and none excites him more than Glass Futures, the project looking to establish a state-of-the-art glass furnace R&D facility in St Helens, UK to revolutionise the glass industry.

He said: “Glass Futures is a great success for British Glass as it was borne out of our work. We are a guarantor to Glass Futures, and we complement each other and support the sector in the objectives of decarbonisation and innovation. Glass Futures is a great asset to the sector.”

Mr Demmon feels that the supply chain is starting to work together much more than it has done for some time, due to possible ‘frictions’ over the years regarding the direction of the industry.

“A strong glass sector is good for everybody”, he said.

Another project of interest to Mr Demmon with his new role is the European Container Glass Federation’s (FEVE) Furnace for the Future project, which aims to allow the industry to switch to renewable electricity and cut CO2 emissions by up to 60% in the furnace or by 50% for the whole factory.

“It’s a really exciting project and there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes between British Glass and FEVE to help support this project”, Mr Demmon said.

Covid-19 Mr Demmon acknowledged the varying fortunes of the container and flat glass sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He felt that container glass had a ‘bit of a dip in the first UK lockdown’ but had generally performed pretty well, while the flat glass sector had some difficult times and it had been sometimes difficult to get people back out to work.

But with the UK looking like it is on a smoother path out of lockdown during 2021, Mr Demmon

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Profile: British Glass President

� Mr Demmon presenting an award to the Apprentice of the Year at the British Glass Focus awards.

Hopes and aspirations as President

A career in the glass industry Mr Demmon has spent most of his adult life in and around the glass industry.

While at university studying for a degree in chemical engineering, his first role within the glass industry was in 1988 on a placement in the south of France working on furnace/unit melter making Graham’s Salt glass.

Following graduation, he obtained a job as a graduate trainee at Rockware (now Ardagh Group), and worked his way up to Furnace Engineer, then becoming the Furnace Manager at Rockware’s Irvine plant in Scotland.

He then sought pastures new at Dema Glass in Doncaster, manufacturing lightbulbs and flurescent tubes. He would then later find himself working at Dema’s Chesterfield plant working on furnaces for drinking glass production.

Mr Demmon joined Guardian’s Goole Project Team but delays meant he worked at Guardian Glass’ Dudelange plant in Luxembourg for two years as the Hot End Superintendent before

*President British Glass, Chapeltown, Sheffield, UK www.britglass.org.uk

Mr Demmon finishes his role as President at the end of 2022, and he hopes to have achieved a lot by the time he hands the role over.

He is optimistic that by the time he has finished, there will be more British Glass members than when he started, and that several of them would have come from the glass recycling sector.

In an ideal world he hopes that the UK government had moved past the DRS scheme and had a good set of regulations coming in for waste collection schemes to maximise the glass that is collected.

He also said he would be delighted to see Glass Futures up and running, but knows this may well run into 2023 before being fully operational.

One last wish he hopes for is that in 2022, the possible UN International Year of Glass – of which British Glass supports – will come to fruition.

In another role Mr Demmon has as part of the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers of London, he explained that it will also to do some events as well to help bring together parts of the industry that don’t normally work together, for example the big glass manufacturers down to the glass artists in order to give glass a higher profile to the general public.

Mr Demmon is excited for what the next two years bring, and has already met all the British Glass staff virtually during recent ‘meet the President’ sessions, where he even felt he learned some new things about British Glass and sister company Glass Technology Services which he hopes will make him a better ambassador for them during his time in the role.

He understands it is important to have one single voice pushing for changes, and hopes he, with the backing of British Glass, he can be that voice. �

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was happy to see construction projects now going ahead as normal and believed there is a lot optimism within the glazing sector for the future.

In the summer of 2020 during the height of the pandemic in the UK, the British government announced a Green Homes Grant which is given to homeowners or a residential landlord in the form of a voucher to help reduce the cost of installing energy efficient improvements in a home.

Mr Demmon said that British Glass was disappointed with the grant as it felt that it almost ignored double glazing upgrades, which Mr Demmon argued would help with making homes greener.

With rumoured talks about this grant coming to an end, he hoped that something better would come in to replace it as British Glass believes ‘there is enormous potential to improve glazing in older housing stock that could greatly reduce carbon emissions’.

returning to the UK to start up the plant in Yorkshire.

He spent the next five years at Guardian, before being asked to become the second Batch and Furnace Manager at Quinn Glass’ (now Encirc) newly created Elton, Cheshire plant, in which he helped to start its second furnace.

He then ‘jumped the fence’ and subsequently went to recycler Recresco’s Ellsmere Port site and ran that for three years, before a job at Viridor’s Salmon Pastures plant in Sheffield which then evolved into his first commercial position.

In 2013 he set up his own company, MKD32 that trades waste glass mostly in Scotland, which he still runs today alongside his role as President.

He said: “From 1988 to 2001 I was working for companies that had been shrinking but since then I have worked for companies that are growing and I’ve had a great time.

“I have opened four new sites and it’s been tremendous, and it’s a fantastic industry with so much cutting-edge stuff going on that the wider public might not see as much.”

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Stara Glass & Glass Futures

Stara Glass appointed with Glass Futures furnace contract

At the core of the Glass Futures Global Centre of Excellence being built in St Helens, UK is the 30 t/d R&D furnace. We hear from Ernesto Cattaneo* and Peter Liggett** about this major milestone.

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G

lass Futures, the UK non-forprofit organisation being created to construct a Global Centre of Excellence in St Helens has appointed Italian glass engineers Stara Glass to design its 30 tonnes per day experimental Research & Development furnace.

Stara Glass, based in Genoa confirmed it will now be joining Glass Futures as an Affiliate Member to begin looking at its technology development.

Glass Futures is aiming to create a facility to connect the glass industry and academia to deliver exportable R&D and innovation, as well as training and up-skilling opportunities, ensuring glass making’s future is built on sustainable, recyclable, carbon-zero products.

We hear from both sides to understand more about the project, and why Stara Glass was chosen.

Why was Stara Glass chosen to be awarded the Glass Futures furnace design contract?

Peter Liggett (PL): Following a rigorous procurement process, Stara were short listed during the technical evaluation

by Glass Futures and our design partners with the submission of a comprehensive engineering package that scored highly when compared to our evaluation criteria.

When the technical short list submissions were reviewed by our technical steering committee Stara Glass had the right attitude and provided good value for money.

Stara Glass is a good fit with Glass Futures having familiarity with R&D activity.

We particularly liked their approach to collaborative working and preparedness to share their expertise with us and our partners.

How proud are you to have won the contract to design the furnace for Glass Futures?

Ernesto Cattaneo (EC): Extremely proud, however we are overall excited to be able to study such an extensive project.

I have been in glass furnace R&D since 2007 and an experimental furnace has always been an unrealisable and unreasonable dream.

Stara Glass craves innovation, the day we have been informed about the Glass Futures project, we obviously wanted to participate, and when the opportunity arose to run for the design tender, we knew we wanted to do a superb job and design this furnace.

� Ernesto Cattaneo has been at Stara Glass for over 14 years and heads up the design, modeling and research projects team.

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Stara Glass & Glass Futures

& Development facility in St Helens, UK.

Did you receive tenders from companies from around the world? If so are you able to go into more detail about how many companies submitted a tender?

PL: Tenders were received from companies around the world and we found the level of submissions to be exceptionally high during the tender process from each and every company, which speaks volume to the professionalism and willingness for the industry to take on new challenges.

Will the furnace design be different to a conventional furnace?

EC: The furnace is meant to allow the experts to analyse the activity of a real melter and to obtain crucial information

inexperienced eye may be unable to spot the subtle differences.

What makes this project different to a normal furnace build?

PL: The capital equipment included in our global centre of excellence for sustainable manufacture of glass must bridge the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) gap between research activity and full commercial implementation.

The unit is small with a broad technical scope to allow the widest practical range of tests and trials to be conducted.

We will be operating our process in areas that would not be tenable as a commercial operation where the risk of failure is prohibitively expensive so we can carry out cutting edge R&D which cannot be done in the industry today.

� Peter Liggett played a key role in the tender process to award the furnace design contract to Stara Glass.

on the physics, chemical and technological events that happen at those temperatures.

It will have additional features allowing tests on materials, glass and equipment, there will be few peculiarities in its geometry, but an

Can you describe some of the details of this particular furnace in regards to its R&D functions?

EC: Glass Futures intends to test different types of glass, different types of fuel, new materials, more advanced automation concepts, a different utilisation of the electrical boosting, and more than a few other things.

We are in the process of defining a priority list of all we want to test and optimise the furnace design as a consequence.

Have you ever had to design a furnace like this before?

EC: No, in all ways, because Glass Futures is not a company of glass makers, it is a company of glass technicians and scientists, like myself and many of my colleagues.

A glassmaker expects the highest reliability, Glass Futures expects innovation; a glassmaker expects the most cost-effective job, Glass Futures expects to take time for the concept design, in order to optimise all features.

The glassmaker needs to produce glass and doesn’t want issues, Glass Futures wants the solutions for the glassmaker’s issues.

For a glass furnace R&D enthusiast, it feels like being a driver that moves from the highway to a race track; although I actually felt that feeling already, from Continued>>

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� Stara Glass is to design a 30 tonnes per day experimental furnace at Glass Futures’ Research

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Stara Glass & Glass Futures

� The Stara Glass Research & Development team who will design the furnace.

They believe this project will be like no other they have built before.

when Stara Glass introduced Centauro on the market, it was the first time we made something big and new, and we all immediately understood that we needed to keep that attitude, in order to step up in the glass market.

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What skills/expertise will Stara Glass bring to this project?

EC: We will bring our skilled designers, innovators, technicians and draughts persons, our own field-developed design software and our multi-project experience, our design procedures and criteria, but the very first thing we intend to bring is a genuine humbleness: we have the unique opportunity of designing a furnace together with many international authorities of the field, it’s an unparalleled reason of pride to be one of the “thinking heads” in this furnace design, but we do not expect to spend more time speaking than listening.

What excites you about this project?

EC: The long-term excitement is about what we will be able to do with the furnace. But now, I am really enjoying the design sessions.

We meet once a week online, for two hours and we face every design topic, in order. We are commonly more than twenty and everyone has at least one particular skill.

It feels like an Atlantis of furnace design, we are being very effective, mostly

because the work environment is free from tension, often we share a laughter, almost every time we are so into it that we forget to take a break.

When do you think the project will start and how long do you think it will take to complete?

EC: The pre-design, the phase where we decide altogether how this furnace has to be designed, is ongoing and will end in a couple of months. From that point, we can draw, with the usual timings.

Stara Glass mentioned the furnace design is due to end in a couple of months, when do you think the furnace development will be finished?

PL: The basic outline for the first furnace to be installed will be completed in the coming weeks. The detailed design will be completed by Stara Glass over the next few months in close collaboration with Glass Futures and our members, which we are inviting more to join this globally unique collaboration.

It is expected that the initial furnace will be operated for a few years and then the scope of requirements may well be redefined to make sure we are challenging the correct TRL gaps most relevant at that time.

In reality the furnace and its ancillary equipment will continuously be reviewed and developed where necessary to match the needs of our clients and the global glass manufacturing community.

The unit will not be operated continuously and I anticipate lots of capex upgrades between campaigns for this initial unit and future furnace designs.

Will the Covid-19 pandemic affect anything in the short to medium term for this project?

EC: I think glass industry in general, and this team in particular, have been able to overcome most constrains, yet the constrains exist.

Field visit and in-person meetings would probably allow to speed up and control better the whole process.

Also, seeing face-to-face and sharing a lunch with the people you have to agree decisions with, is a part of human experience we all long to rediscover soon.

Will any other companies be involved in the building of this furnace?

PL: Our procurement process is transparent and open and we expect companies will be invited to tender for the construction works towards the end of 2021. �

* Head of Computing and Innovation Projects, Stara Glass, Genoa, Italy ** Capital Projects Manager, Glass Futures, St Helens, UK https://www.staraglass.it/ https://www.glass-futures.org/

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Environment

Could carbon capture work in the glass manufacturing sector?

Dr James Wheatley*, Dr Douglas Barnes** and Dr Helen Atkinson*** discuss a laboratory-based evaluation of the lifetime and degradation of C-Capture’s carbon capture system to assess the feasibility of implementation in the glassmaking sector. demonstrate how C-Capture’s technology may provide sectors which have traditionally been deemed challenging to decarbonise a credible solution.

Introduction C‑Capture designs chemical processes for the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2). It has patented a safe, low‑cost post‑combustion capture technology which uses up to 40% less energy than current commercially available technologies.

Carbon capture offers a crucial decarbonisation route for industries such as glassmaking and cement manufacture, for which carbon emissions are inherent to their processes and cannot be addressed by other means such as energy efficiency improvements, or fuel switching.

In order for these industries to decarbonise, they must have access to a carbon capture technology which is both effective and economical. The Committee

� Fig 1. Impurities observed under a nitrogen atmosphere.

on Climate Change recently stated ‘Business models that are not compatible with a Net Zero future are increasingly risky’. If carbon capture technologies cannot meet industry requirements, it is possible to imagine a future in which foundation industries such as glass manufacturing become incompatible with a low‑carbon UK economy, and are forced to scale back their operations or even move offshore.

Carbon capture on glass manufacture is challenging, due to the high levels of impurities found in the flue gas, particularly SOx and NOx. The current state‑of‑the‑art for carbon capture are amine‑based solvents which were initially developed in the 1930s. Whilst undoubtedly an effective technology in many respects, amine‑based solvents have limitations including: Continued>>

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C

arbon capture technology for both industry and power generation is widely accepted as being essential in order for the UK government’s net zero target to be met.

Current carbon capture solvent technologies based on amines are energy intensive, and are susceptible to such extreme levels of solvent degradation under the conditions associated with glass manufacture as to be prohibitively expensive.

C-Capture has a solution: a more robust family of solvents, resistant to degradation, which require less energy to use and are more environmentally benign than existing technologies.

Recent work at C-Capture has begun to demonstrate its proprietary solvent technology to be more robust to conditions including high levels of SOx, NOx and O2. Here it presents some initial data from these experiments, which

� Fig 2 .Impurities observed under ~2000ppm oxygen.

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Environment

� Fig 4. Impurities observed under 2000ppm NO.

� Fig 3. Impurities observed under 2000ppm SO2.

� energy intensive regeneration � to degradation susceptibility (especially under harsh conditions) � high levels of corrosivity � potential human or environmental toxicity � potential carcinogenicity either of the components themselves or their degradation products.

� 140°C, nitrogen/nitric oxide (2000 ppm).

Taken together, these factors have deterred widespread adoption, particularly in challenging applications such as glass manufacturing. C‑Capture’s proprietary solvents are entirely amine, and nitrogen, free, being based on a fundamentally different underlying chemistry which offers numerous benefits including reduced energy input, high stability under all conditions evaluated thus far, low corrosivity, and minimal production of hazardous by‑products.

In these experiments, we are expanding our dataset and knowledge of solvent performance under challenging conditions, including high levels of SOx and NOx, alongside comparable levels of O2 and thermal degradation.

Thermal degradation C-Capture’s proprietary CO2 capture solvent was aged at 140°C under a pressurised nitrogen atmosphere (5 bar). As can be seen in figure 1, minimal (<70 ppm total) levels of suspected degradation products were detected by GC-MS throughout the experimental period, suggesting overall solvent stability is high under these conditions. Of these products, three were identified: a component of the capture agent; and two degradation products of the antioxidant included in the solvent (>95% of the antioxidant remained in its initial form). No clear trend in concentration was found, and therefore there is insufficient evidence at present to characterise any degradation rate.

Degradation in the presence of O2 C-Capture’s solvent was in the presence of ca.2000 ppm oxygen. As can be seen in fig. 2, a slightly higher level of suspected degradation products was initially observed however this declined to only ~10ppm by the end of the experiment. Again, the overall level of observed degradation was very low and the evidence is that the solvent appears highly robust under these conditions.

Degradation in the presence of SO2 C-Capture’s solvent was aged in the presence of 2000ppm SO2, mirroring the high levels of sulfur oxides found in glassmaking and other heavy-industry flue gases. As can be seen in fig. 3, very

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Experimental Four solvent ageing systems of novel design, tailor-made for the analysis of C-Capture’s capture solvent, were designed, built and commissioned.

Modifications to C-Capture’s in-house GC-MS and GC-FID analysis systems were made to allow analysis of solvent degradation species.

Solvent aging experiments were carried out under condition of: � 140°C, nitrogen atmosphere. � 140°C, nitrogen/air (balance ~2000 ppm oxygen). � 140°C, nitrogen/sulphur dioxide (2000 ppm).

Experiments were carried out over a two month period. Suspected degradation products were analysed by GC-FID and GC-MS to provide a comparison across the different sets of conditions.

Results

low levels of suspected degradation products were observed, falling down to below the limit of detection (~1 ppm) by GC at the end of the experiment.

Degradation in the presence of NO C-Capture’s solvent was aged in the presence of 2000ppm NO, imitating the high levels of nitrogen oxides also found in glassmaking flue gases. NO constitutes the major nitrogen oxide found in most flue gases, subsequently equilibrating to produce NO2 only in the atmosphere, and therefore was prioritised for this work.

As can be seen in fig. 4, levels of suspected degradation products were once again very low, providing further support to C-Capture’s claims regarding the robustness of its solvent under harsh conditions.

Conclusion Though these results are only preliminary, they are extremely promising. C-Capture has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of deploying its technology in challenging conditions, such as may be presented by glass manufacture.

The resistance to oxidation and the robust nature of C-Capture’s solvent will be welcome news to industrial emitters where operating conditions are particularly harsh but decarbonisation is still urgently needed. � Carried out with support from Innovate UK via the Sustainable Innovation Fund.

*Senior Chemist, **Head of Chemistry, ***Business Development Manager, C-Capture, Leeds, UK, www.c-capture.co.uk/ *h.atkinson@c-capture.co.uk

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Events preview: Hydrogen in glass

Hydrogen in Glassmaking conference The Hydrogen in Glassmaking conference takes place next month. Here we preview some of the 16 presentations that will take place at the two day digital conference.

A two-day digital conference will investigate the potential use of hydrogen in the glass manufacturing process.

Hydrogen in Glassmaking will include 16 speakers ranging from energy providers to suppliers of hydrogen burners. Speakers include Heineken, glass manufacturer Steklarna Hrastnik, energy provider Shell as well as hydrogen consortiums organised by CelSian and DNV as well as the VERCANE group consisting of Saverglass, Verescence, Fives and ENGIE. Here we preview some of the papers:

HEINEKEN, ERIC GILJAM, CATEGORY LEADER GLASS: MAKING HEINEKEN BOTTLES GREENER: CARBON NEUTRAL GLASS PRODUCTION BY 2040 Heineken has an ambition to decarbonise its own production by 2030 by maximising energy efficiency and renewable energy.

In close partnership with suppliers, also by 2030, Heineken aims to cut emissions by 30% across its entire value chain from a 2018 baseline. Looking ahead to 2040, the company is the first global brewer to aim for carbon neutrality in its full value chain. As approx. 30% of Heineken emissions come from packaging materials, of which a big part from glass packaging, Heineken calls upon the glass industry to decarbonise glass production.

STEKLARNA HRASTNIK, PETER CAS; CEO AND TILEN SEVER, RESEARCH SCIENTIST, GLASS PRODUCTION DECARBONISATION UTILISING HYDROGEN

Eric Giljam

Peter Cas

Steklarna Hrastnik will present a project for optimisation of energy conversion to replace the share of fossil fuels used for industrial glass melting with hydrogen. Project introduced renewable energy sources (use of solar cells), the production and storage of green hydrogen gas, and the partial addition of the latter to the natural gas feed to make a further first step towards renewability. System prototype demonstration in operational environment included the full fuel ramping from the non-renewable natural gas to hydrogen, simultaneously considering the flexibility of operation, the quality of product and the profitability of Tilen Sever manufacturing.

DNV/CELSIAN, SANDER GERSEN (DNV), OSCAR VERHEIJEN (CELSIAN): HYDROGEN AS FUEL FOR THE GLASS INDUSTRY, WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES? The glass industry has a huge challenge in decarbonizing heating processes. A fast and sustainable route to reduce the carbon intensity of these processes is to replace natural gas with hydrogen. Within this presentation the role of hydrogen in the future energy system will be described and potential hydrogen markets will be presented. Furthermore, the state-of-the-art knowledge with regard to hydrogen and hydrogen/natural gas combustion and burner performance will be discussed to allow a gradual transition from natural gas to hydrogen within the glass industry. Furthermore, briefly modeling of hydrogen/natural Oscar Verheijen gas combustion will be addresses during the presentation.

Sander Gersen

VERCANE PROJECT : LUDOVIC FERRAND, FUTURE INDUSTRY LAB MANAGER, ENGIE LAB CRIGEN INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGIES TO PAVE THE WAY TOWARDS NEUTRAL CARBON GLASS. ENGIE, Fives, Saverglass and Verescence are jointly developing the VERCANE R&D project. The purpose of VERCANE is to support container glassmakers partners in their efforts to decarbonise glass production. A key challenge of decarbonisation is the ability to identify carbon neutral energy vectors available on the territory of glass plants. To address this challenge, the partner are developing innovative methodologies, focusing on three mains vectors : hydrogen, bioresources and electrification.

A multi-criteria analysis is developed to assess possible scenarios. In complement, VERCANE explores the adaptation of melting furnaces to the new vectors, to prepare industrial projects at scale. The project includes concrete case studies at Ludovic Ferrand production sites of Saverglass and Verescence.

Continued>>

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Events preview: Hydrogen in glass

GWI-ESSEN/BV GLAS: JÖRG LEICHER, TEAM MANAGER, GWI-ESSEN HYGLASS - HYDROGEN UTILIZATION AS A DECARBONIZATION MEASURE FOR THE GLASS INDUSTRY Decarbonisation is a major challenge for the glass industry. Different options are being discussed, among them full electrification or the use of hydrogen to partially or even completely substitute natural gas. In a publicly funded research project GWI and BV Glas investigate the impact of hydrogen on combustion processes, using semi-industrial combustion experiments and CFD simulations to assess the impact of natural gas / hydrogen blends or pure hydrogen on various combustion processes in the glass manufacturing process. Also, the impact on glass quality is analysed. This presentation Jörg Leicher will give an overview on the project’s results and findings so far.

LINDE INC, SHRIKAR CHAKRAVARTI, R&D DIRECTOR, GLASS PREPARING FOR SUSTAINABLE GLASS PRODUCTION – TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC INVESTIGATION OF HYDROGEN SUPPLY FOR GLASS MELTING To qualify glass operations to be CO2 – free, clean hydrogen production with low carbon intensity must be used. Two common clean H2 production methods currently under consideration are NG-based steam methane reforming with carbon capture and sequestration (blue H2) as well as electrolysis with renewable power (green H2).

H2 requirements will be determined by multiple factors including furnace size, number of furnaces and cullet rates. Technoeconomic assessments for use of clean H2 will be presented. Factors affecting techno-economic feasibility are NG prices and Shrikar potential for CO2 sequestration and/or CO2 utilisation for blue H2 and availability and prices of renewable power for green H2. Chakravarti

SHELL, ROBERTO MARIA PATTUMELLI, HYDROGEN BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, THE IMPORTANCE OF CLEAN HYDROGEN IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION The presentation aims at sharing with the audience the importance of clean hydrogen in the energy transition and the relevance for hard to abate sectors decarbonisation journey. We will then touch upon how we think the hydrogen market will Roberto Maria Pattumelli develop in Europe and describe a couple of flagship projects currently under development.

GLASS FUTURES, DR PALMA GONZÁLEZ GARCÍA IS INNOVATION PROGRAMME MANAGER HYDROGEN: AN ALTERNATIVE FUEL FOR GLASS FURNACES Dr Palma González García is leading the Glass Futures’ Industrial Fuel Switching (IFS) Phase 3 programme, funded by BEIS. This project aims to research the economic, environmental and technical aspects of a range of alternative fuels to enable the decarbonisation of the glass sector. Hydrogen, one of the explored alternative fuels, is considered by Glass Futures as a key enabler for the transition to a low carbon glass industry. The many different facets of hydrogen in glass furnaces are being explored in the IFS programme, from the combustion properties of the gas to the effects of hydrogen in gas melts. Dr Palma González García

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AIR LIQUIDE, LUC JARRY, GLASS AND METAL MARKET DIRECTOR HYDROGEN AS A SOURCE OF COMBUSTION ENERGY

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For energy-intensive industries using high-grade heat, hydrogen could be one feasible and efficient route to decarbonisation among others like electrification. It is possible to enhance the energy input ratio brought by hydrogen, while it is therefore difficult to substitute all energy with electric boosting for many glass tanks.

Industry already uses about 7.7 EJ of hydrogen annually. Clean hydrogen could replace other fossil fuels. If some technical challenges remain to introduce Oxy-Hydrique flame into the furnace (heat transfer, fining...), they will be overcome. But the economical balance as well as real CO2 reduction impact, considering different ways and solutions for glass melting is to Luc Jarry be investigated. Indeed, hydrogen can be produced through steam reforming with or w/o CCS, from electrolyser or even by renewables converting and storing curtailed electricity.

The presentation will disclose outcomes of an internal study, based on a LCA approach, figuring out the CO2 reductions for H2 combustion produced by different technologies, pure or mixed with natural gas, and compared to CCS solutions on regenerative air furnaces or Oxy-fuel furnaces. Study is performed for various types of glass segments in different countries to assess impact of CO2 factor and costs.

HYDROGEN IN GLASSMAKING TAKES PLACE JUNE 15 AND 16 DIGITALLY, VISIT: WWW.GLASS-INTERNATIONAL.COM/HYDROGEN-IN-GLASS-MANUFACTURING/ABOUT-THE-EVENT Glass International May 2021

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Industry 4.0

How AI makes furnaces energy efficient through data analysis A

s the Fourth Industrial Revolution gains momentum, the glass sector is taking advantage of modern technologies. One of the most promising use cases of digital services today is the energy savings from furnaces.

Industry 4.0 has succeeded by creating new operating systems designed to manage and optimise businesses. Like previous industrial revolutions, this one is transforming the way people work and use technology. Ultimately, this will lead to the modernisation of entire companies.

However, there is still a discrepancy in the pace of adoption between different manufacturers and different industries.

While some are well advanced in digital transformation, many are not aware of the full potential of such technologies.

Some factories argue that they are not ready because they perceive that they have a lack of resources and a limited

understanding of the impact on various stakeholders.

However, for all levels of on-site digitisation maturity and progress, there is a solution available to meet the needs.

An important aspect of Industry 4.0 is that it is not about replacing machines and equipment, but about leveraging software and exploiting captured data to make industries more efficient. Delaying the Fourth Industrial Revolution transformation will no longer be a viable option in the glass industry. If you wish to remain competitive, you must embark on this journey.

Energy efficiency starts by leveraging the underlying data inside the plant The new centrepiece is your data. Data is the asset that in many cases is the most unknown and yet most promising one.

Data inside companies can be described as an iceberg floating on water: only a

small portion can be seen. And of the seen portion, only a fraction is used. The water around the iceberg is the potential of data that can be created.

Data strategy is the process of using and producing more relevant and useful data, aggregating them, increasing your assets, and thus opening more opportunities.

A significant amount of data comes from various glass processes, furnaces, IS machines, lehrs, etc. Smart management of such data could make machines and processes more efficient. To successfully implement these new technologies, several obstacles must be overcome: the lack of time, digital strategy, resources, and domain knowledge. Companies like JoonX can help define and implement this strategy. Digital service suppliers should be independent actors who are Continued>>

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Sylvain Leroy* discusses how the glass sector is already taking advantage of digital technologies and which can lead to up to 3% savings on furnace energy consumption.

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Industry 4.0

� Fig 1. Typical energy management platform

� Fig 2. Degradation of regenerator’s efficiency

interface (copyright Energiency)

over an 18-month period

also experts in data science. The aim of a digital strategy is first to collect, organise, and centralise data and second, to connect and make them available to the appropriate services in order to improve specific metrics of glass processes.

Digital services are aimed to improve production, value, and supply chains to increase business revenues. These services enable the integration of previously disparate systems and processes through interconnected computer systems of organisations. The methods used vary from monitoring to constraint solving to deep learning.

How to reduce energy consumption and footprint thanks to an energy management platform?

Data science and A.I. companies, such as JoonX partner Energiency, have decided to develop specific programmes and knowledge in the field of energy.

Therefore, instead of focusing on a specific sector, they aim to be the leader of energy savings for all industries. It focuses purely on energy allows the creation and operation of optimal energy management platforms that work across all industries.

The objective of such digital platforms is to control and optimise the energy consumption of processes and to exploit the data to identify new energy savings (Fig 1).

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Case study: regenerative furnace This example concerns a typical side-port regenerative float glass furnace of 600t/d which used to produce architectural glass with an air-gas combustion system.

This type of furnace requires reversing the combustion approximately every 20 minutes, from right to left and vice versa, to pre-heat the opposite regenerators with the exhaust fumes. This furnace was at the end of its lifetime and its consumption exceeded 400GWh per year. The main objective of this project was to save 1% on

the energy bill by digitising the furnace’s energy flows. Note, this plant also had a relatively low level of digitalisation, which proved not to be an obstacle to the project execution.

Taking a closer look at the plant context at the time of the digital project execution, many similarities can be found with most glassmaker operations nowadays.

The plant had a strong focus on energy consumption, as it was the main on-site OpEx. The KPIs were defined by the group or the upper management and were tracked by an Operational Excellence Manager. Additionally, the customer had a manual, monthly reporting process on energy consumption which was time consuming and subject to human errors.

With the furnace being at the end of its lifetime, one of the objectives was to understand and model the degradation of the regenerators. Indeed, one of the model’s goals was to distinguish in realtime two aspects: the natural reduction in efficiency due to ageing of the regenerators and the variation in energy performance due to operational, process and production parameters that could be optimised.

Phase 1: collection and analysis of existing data The implementation started with a data science phase based on historical data provided by the customer. This step used 18 months of available data organised in 700 different dataflows with a 30s timestep (over a billion data points in total). All the parameters were taken, and the influencing ones were identified to create the model of the system. Most of influencing parameters were related to temperatures and production. In general, and if necessary, the number of dataflows used by the model for the calculation of KPIs can be adapted. Data transfer and storage are flexible, either in the cloud

� Fig 3. Left regenerator rider arch temperature

or on-premises (i.e. hosted inside the plant). Different types of connection are available to provide flexibility in adapting to the plant’s IT architecture and to ensure data protection. Data control and security are indeed essential. For this specific project, the data was sent to a cloud via an SFTP server. The customer had an automated exportation of the dataflows in .csv format. The data science allowed a deep analysis of the furnace consumption and of the different flows with their distribution throughout the system. As previously requested by the customer, this phase made it possible to focus on the regenerative system.

The study of the average delta of temperature between the crown (top) and the arch (bottom) of one of the regenerator stacks during the 18-months period was essential in the analysis of the furnace’s regenerators behaviour – see Fig 2. This temperature difference represented the efficiency of the regenerative system, the higher the temperature delta, the more efficient the system (i.e. the combustive air pre-heating temperature). Due to the degradation of the regenerators’ refractories, the pre-heating temperature decreases with the ageing of the furnace.

Phase 2: implementation of the model in the digital platform and observation of energy consumption in real-time This deterioration of the regenerators was modelled, so that real-time variations in energy performance could be differentiated, and the digital twin of the furnace could be created. This allowed the creation of the baseline of energy consumption considering the deterioration of the regenerators. The baseline is the point of reference on how the energy consumption should be, depending on the context. The model used machine learning technology to give

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Industry 4.0

the values of energies and consumptions in real-time.

The exploratory analysis made it possible to look closely at the average temperature inside one of the left regenerator rider arch (bottom) being pre-heated and at times of combustion reversal. We could identify that the temperature of the stack pre-heated by the exhaust fumes decreased before the combustion was reversed (Fig 3).

This detected a non-optimisation of the combustion. Indeed, the change of combustion side must occur at the peak of the regenerator temperature. Otherwise, the pre-heating of opposite stacks will be reduced. This identification was made through the combination of data science and energy knowledge.

Energy management platform are great tools for closely monitoring consumptions and for precisely identifying the impact of improvement measures. With this in mind, suggestions were made in conjunction with the customer, and results exceeding expectations were achieved. (In general, recommendations of specific explorations and implementations are made according

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to the furnace and its operational context).

The results The main recommendation allowed a saving of 2 to 3% (or up to 12 GWh) of energy consumption on the whole furnace gas consumption thanks to the optimisation of the firing time between two combustion inversions. The savings were achieved in a three-month period following the data analysis. This sole result made the implementation of the platform economically viable. In addition, thanks to a better knowledge of the energy temperatures, the customer was able to make optimised planning of the regenerators’ maintenance by acting first on the less efficient ones. The customer was also able to better adjust the combustion to the required thermal profile of the different types of glass produced. The impact of raw materials and gas quality on consumption was understood in real-time thanks to the definition of a new KPI. The platform also gave the value of emissions in real time and could trigger alarms. Finally, automated reports have saved the customer man-

days each month and reports became automated, more accurate, and adjusted to different users.

Conclusion You now have a new dimension to consider, the digital transformation of your businesses. This will support your projects focused on energy savings, process efficiency, predictive maintenance, product quality, pricing, and so on. Digital services are already a reality for glass makers in order to remain competitive. And remember that your teams can implement these solutions with reasonable resources. It is also totally independent of equipment technology, lifetime, and maintenance schedule.

Digital services are the ultimate optimisation. They are safe, with a short ROI, and the best way to improve unoptimised systems and to bring new savings opportunities you might not have identified yet. �

*Founder, JoonX, Mexico City, Mexico www.joonx.org

17/05/2021 06:38:23

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Digital glassmaking: PGP Glass

PGP brings digital to the industry PGP Glass (formerly Piramal Glass) has been a front runner in the glass industry in its application of digtal technology within its manufacturing facilities. Its recently appointed Chief Digital & Information Officer, Sudip Mazumder, discusses the company’s future digital plans.

Have you ever had a role such as this before? Did you work in the glass industry before this role or are you new to the sector?

Yes I have had such a role of IT, Digital and Innovation combined but not in the glass industry.

supply chain and HR (Pic 1).

What digital providers has the company worked with in the past?

There are many digital service providers that we at PGP Glass worked with in the past and currently engaged. The providers include some of the global names in digital and consulting domain. We also have a track of working with start-up companies having brilliant solutions and

� Pic 2. Author pic: Mr Sudip Mazumder is PGP Glass’s Chief Digital & Information Officer.

Tell us more about some of PGP Glass’s current digital solutions?

PGP Glass has implemented multiple Industry 4.X technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Extended Reality (XR), Natural Language Processing robot (NLP BOT), Blockchain across value chain from sales & marketing, procurement, manufacturing, Quality, warehouse &

differentiators with boutique solutions.

In the strategy space we worked with Wipro and in Advanced Analytics we worked with McKinsey & Co. Our manufacturing 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) solution is built on Microsoft Azure and provided by Websym, a startup from India.

How does PGP Glass’s digital offering compare to other industries or companies where you have previously worked?

To be honest, I worked with much larger size companies. Some of them approached digital in a smaller way and some them did keep no stone unturned and were able to publish their internal case studies with reputed publications like Harvard Business School.

PGP Glass initially started pragmatic and small; but on the way gained huge confidence to take it to hyper scale by choosing Advanced Analytics based approach, deploying 100+ Advanced Analytics models at the shop floor, inhouse Data Scientists, Data Engineers, Data Architect, Translators and lastly Citizen Data Scientists. As an early adopter of technology, PGP Glass deployed Microsoft’s Azure IoT platform to digitally transform its manufacturing operations by implementing Real-Time Manufacturing Insights (RTMI) solutions, on its production lines across all four plants at Kosamba and Jambusar in Gujarat, India, Sri Lanka and the United States of America.

Do you believe digital technology can help glass companies achieve manufacturing efficiencies?

Can digital technology be also used to improve a company’s environmental output for example?

Without an iota of doubt! The amount of data that glass companies can capture through various sensors, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), from its end to end manufacturing operations, no wonder we keep improving our manufacturing efficiencies. The digital approach gave us 10X improvement compared to traditional method.

Continued>>

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Can you tell us a little more about what the role will entail?

First of all we have changed our name from Piramal Glass to PGP Glass Private Limited after moving into the portfolio of Private Equity firm Blackstone.

The Global CDIO (Chief Digital & Information Officer) role is quite unique.

Many companies are keeping the CIO (Chief Information Officer) and CDO (Chief Digital Officer) position separate or ‘D’ role implicitly being added to the CIO role. In PGP Glass, formerly Piramal Glass, we recognise both are important, the role must evolve to an explicitly called out as CDIO. It is a message to the internal employees as well as external stakeholders on our intended transformation towards being digitally enabled next gen organisation. As the name, role has to manage both conventional IT elements with enterprise software, digital estate being built including old and new sets of IT and Digital infrastructure in a secured environment.

35 Glass International May 2021

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Digital glassmaking: PGP Glass

� Pic 1. PGP Glass’s has implemented an array of digital manufacturing technologies within its plants.

Glass industry, as everyone knows, is a high energy consuming industry. A digital and analytics based approach can certainly reduce energy consumption to a great extent. Culletisation can boost circular economy and enhance the sustainability agenda of the industry. We need to inform the common people that glass is 100% recyclable material.

What was the appeal of this role at PGP Glass? And how have you settled into the job so far?

The first appeal was of course the digital transformation which has been my first choice over the last six years having delivered conventional IT over two decades. However, after becoming a Blackstone portfolio company, I have got a challenge once again, in the conventional IT, but of different flavour i.e. demerging the system, infrastructure, contracts of the entity from the Piramal group which used to own the company.

Can you indicate what your plans are

for the company in terms of digital technology? How much further can digital technology be used in a glass factory?

Some plans should be kept under the wrap to retain the competitive edge.

However, data driven approach, ROI based investments are key to add value to the company through digital. This helps in breaking the stereotype of ‘IT as a cost centre’ which is unfortunately is still in the minds of many across industries.

There is no limit to do more digitally enabled business in the glass industry.

A combination of sensors with video analytics and advanced analytics will open new avenues of improvement. New product development also will bring in multiple technologies from other industries such as healthcare. Nano technologies on glass manufacturing can open up new dimensions.

What will a glass factory look like in, say, five years’ time? Will even more digital technology be integrated into the factory?

Five years down the road it will cleaner, digitalised and more intelligent AI enabled factory, interconnected and a safer place. I am sure that the intelligent glass bottle is not far away which will do wonders for the industry in many ways. �

PGP Glass, Mumbai, India https://www.piramalglass.com/

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17/05/2021 06:39:51 03.02.21 15:04

India overview

Strength in Indian Container Glass Industry The Indian container glass industry has seen a number of important developments in the last three years. Along with a $1 billion acquisition of Piramal Glass by Blackstone Group recently, the Indian industry has added significant capacity. Glass International presents an overview of the sector.

www.glass-international.com

T

hanks to the increased income levels, changing lifestyles, rising population, and growth in the economy, the demand for glass packaging is growing in India.

Considerable investments in the beverages, food processing, personal care, and pharmaceuticals end-user industries have created huge opportunities for container glass industry in the country. The Indian container glass industry has been dominated by three large glass producers Hindustan National Glass Limited (HNGL), AGI Glasspac and Piramal Glass (now PGP Glass) - for more than a decade. In recent years several mid and small sized container glass producers have started to make an impact.

These smaller producer have gained market share in their respective regions. Some of these producers have added new furnaces and modernised to cater to the high quality demands of glass containers from different sub-segments.

The Indian container glass industry has an installed capacity of nearly 14,000 tonnes per day (excluding pharmaceutical sub-segment). There are nearly 27 large, mid and small-sized container glass producers. HNGL, the largest container glass company in the country has a pan India presence with seven production plants. AGI Glasspac has two production plants in the state of Telangana.

PGP Glass has two plants in the state of Gujarat.

In addition to PGP Glass the state has container glass production units of Pragati Glass, Haldyn Glass, Haldyn Heinz Glass, Gerreishimer and Schott Glass. The state accounts for nearly 30% of the total container glass production in the country.

Alcoholic beverages are the largest sub-segment for container glass consumption on a volume basis, followed by food, pharmaceutical glass and cosmetics & perfumery in that order.

Alcoholic beverages will spur Indian container glass industry Current low per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages in India, increasing consumption, rapidly increasing disposable income and container glass dominanace in this sub-segment is a big positive for Indian producers. This subsegment is expected to keep a healthy growth momentum for the foreseeable future.

The alcoholic beverage market in India is divided into different segments such as country liquor, Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), beer, and imported liquor. According to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, a London-based research firm, India is the world’s ninth-largest consumer of all alcohol by volume.

After China, it is the second largest consumer of spirits (whiskey, vodka, gin, rum, tequila, liqueurs). India consumed more than 663 million litres of alcohol in the year 2019, up 11% from 2017.

Per-capita consumption is rising. India consumes

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India overview

more whiskey than any other country in the world – about three times more than the US, which is the next biggest consumer. Nearly one in every two bottles of whiskey bought around the world is now sold in India.

According to Rajesh Khosla, CEO of AGI Glasspac, second largest container glass producer in India on the basis of installed capacity: “The growth in the container glass and packaging industry is directly proportional to the growth in the economy which we are going to see and we hope that on a conservative side, it will be something around 10% to 11% and on an upper side it can go up to even 15%, because the way the projection has come from IMF some time back where India is supposed to grow at 11.5% in the year 2021. So we can expect on upward trend of 15% also if everything goes well with the numbers which has been projected by IMF, otherwise, on the lower side it can be around 10%.”

are also used, especially for multi-dose vaccines.

“Multidose vaccinations with 10ml, 20ml, 30ml and 50ml moulded vials can be an immediate solution in case of a shortage of vials. We have sufficient capacity of moulded glass Type1 vials available too.”

In India, Gerresheimer manufactures clear and amber glass infusion and injection bottles from type I borosilicate glass. The company also produces type III glass containers for a large number of medications.

In what could become a big boom for Indian pharmaceutical glass producers, the Indian government has approved a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the pharmaceutical sector, entailing an outlay of $2.12 billion. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the scheme which will benefit domestic manufacturers, help create employment and is expected to contribute to the availability of a wider range of affordable medicines for consumers.

The duration of the scheme would be from 2020-21 to 2028-29 and is expected to promote the production of high value products in the country and increase the value addition in exports.

Pharmaceutical glass

Company Hindutsan National Glass Limited (HNGL)

AGI glasspac

Piramal Glass Can Pack India Sunrise Glass Haldyn Glass Limited Pragati Glass

Acquisition

� Table 1. Leading container glass producers in India.

Location

Designed Production Capacity

Rishra

860 TPD

Bahadurgarh

980 TPD

Nasik

650 TPD

Naidupeta

460 TPD

Virbhadra

330 TPD

Puducherry

180 TPD

Neemrana

840 TPD

Hyderabad

650 TPD

Bhongir

950 TPD

Jambasur

540 TPD

Kosamba

440 TPD

Aurangabad

860 TPD

Surat

620 TPD

Vadodra

320 TPD

Kosamba, Gujarat

170 TPD

Piramal Glass, India’s third largest container glass producer was acquired by US-based private equity major Blackstone Group for $1 billion.

The transaction comprises an upfront payment of USD 850 million to take over the management and ownership of Piramal Glass, whereas, the Piramal Group will get about $150 million on realising certain milestones, to be paid over the course of two years. At an enterprise valuation of about $1 billion, this deal is the largest ever transaction for a packaging company in India.

In February 2021, the acquisition received a nod from the industry watchdog Competition Commission of India ( CCI).

During the last two years, Piramal Glass has invested in upgrading its production facilities.

It has also invested heavily in information technology to streamline the production and operations at four different locations.

According to Vijay Shah, Vice- Chairman of Piramal Glass: “With the exponential evolution of technology, the advent of digital technologies, big-data and advanced analytics, along with Artificial Intelligence (AI), the global business and market dynamics is fast shifting. The rapidly changing external environment – omni present devices, millennials joining the workforce, and new-age technologies- all leading to massive changes in customer expectations. The recent uptake in the adoption of digital technologies driven by the pandemic will continue into the post Covid-19 era. While the manufacturing Continued>>

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The Covid-19 pandemic has made pharmaceutical glass sub-segment one of the most keenly watched sub-segments in the last 12 months. Though, in India, investments in pharmaceutical glass production has started to pour in much before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Along with Indian pharmaceutical glass producers, MNC pharmaceutical glass producers have invested in enhancing the designed capacity in last three years. Leading global pharmaceutical glass producers Gerresheimer, SGD Pharma and Schott have invested capital in Indian operations in last three years.

Khasim Saheb, MD Primary Packaging Glass India, Gerresheimer, said: “Gerresheimer India had tripled its capacity of tubular glass by end of 2020 and is doubling its capacity of moulded vials by end of 2021. We are also making strategic investments in adding capacities in terms of equipment and technology. 2ml Type I tubular glass vials, 3ml moulded vials are most favoured for vaccines currently, but moulded glass Type I vials

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India overview

industry has traditionally been slower in adopting new technologies, at Piramal Glass, we are swiftly embracing new paradigm and pioneering digital transformation in the glass packaging manufacturing sector.

“Today, we are strongly focusing on building Digital and Analytics (DnA) capability, to transform every aspect of our business including people, core and supporting business processes such as manufacturing, supply chain, quality, health safety & environment, and customer experience (CX), to become a more responsive organisation to the rapidly changing global business environment.

“To do this, we have redesigned the organisation structure, set-up a dedicated DnA team, onboarded global specialists, and made substantial investments in digital technologies, tools, widescale hands on training and change management.”

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AGI Glaspac to install a new plant AGI Glaspac is setting up a greenfield container glass facility at Bhongir in the state of Telangana.

AGI Glasspac has partnered with Horn Glass Industries to build this furnace. The facility will comprise end-fired furnaces with six forehearths for production. Upon completion of the new furnace, it will produce 154 tonnes of premium flint and other different colours. The speciality glass will cater to industries such as carbonated water, sparkling wine, pharma, including vials and in cosmetics, such as beauty products, perfumery, nail polish and others. This furnace is expected to commence commercial production by June 2022.

Rajesh Khosla, President & CEO of AGI glaspac, in a statement, said: “Our investment in German technology is aimed to strengthen our units to make products more efficiently out of India for global markets. We have found the right technology partner in Horn Glass Industries.”

Stephan Meindl, President & CEO, Horn Glass Industries, said: “India is an exciting market for our company, and we are happy to collaborate

with AGI glaspac to showcase our leading position in the global glass market. Our technological support AGI glaspac’s will be able to thrive by its make in India vision of manufacturing world-class level speciality glass very effectively.”

Sunrise Glass Surat, Gujarat-based Sunrise Glass, a mid-sized container glass producer has added a new furnace with a designed capacity of 240 tonnes per day.

Prior to this furnace, the company was operating two furnaces with a designed capacity of 380 tonnes per day. The new furnace will take Sunrise Glass’s overall designed capacity to 620 tonnes per day and will make it the fifth largest container glass producer in the country.

Sunrise Glass’s Executive Director, Gaurav Thakkar explained: “The new furnace will have four lines with three AIS 10 triple gob (TG) Emhart Machines. All the lines will have EVM (Inspection Machines) and along with this we have installed an automatic cullet sorting plant that has been imported from Austria.

“The container glass plant was expected to start in November 2020 but it got delayed due to Covid.

We will commence the commercial operations by April 2021.”

Sheet glass producer ventures into container glass production Emerge Glass India Private Limited (EGIPL), previously known as Emerging Glass India Private Limited entered container glass production in March 2021. The company installed a furnace with a designed capacity of 210 tonnes per day at Behror in the state of Rajasthan. Hitherto, the company was previously into sheet glass production.

Sumit Gupta, Managing Director of Emerge Glass, said: “We have decided to venture into container glass production. We will cater to the premium end of the container glass packaging in food and liquor segments.

“Our priority would be the liquor business, which has grown immensely in the last few years. We realised there is a gap between demand and supply and high quality glass containers in Indian market and liquor and food producers have to import these glass containers from foreign sources.” �

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lehr belt tracking

Stephen Covey

"The key is in not spending time, but in investing it."

TWEEL SUSPENDED TWEEL The tweel is one of the most important control instruments within a float glass production plant. It adjusts the flow of the glass melt from the furnace into the tin bath. The tweel can also be used to completely shut-off the glass flow.

The suspended tweel is installed on the tin bath support steel structure. The robust and highly innovative design of the suspended tweel ensures a stable and smooth operation providing all the benefits of a freely accessible spout area. Additional air cooling protects the electrical and mechanical parts from the high temperatures.

LET‘S GO FULL CIRCLE. WWW.HORNGL ASS.COM

Furnaces

Using artificial intelligence with near infra-red furnace imaging Erik Muijsenberg* and Robert Bodi** discuss the rise of artificial intelligence and how modern technologies can improve the glass manufacturing process

Fig1. Furnace images by a near infrared camera and temperature

Furnace modeling

M

ost leading engineering firms and glass producers around the world are already using furnace modeling, also known as Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD), such as the GS Glass Furnace Model (GS GFM) software package. While in 1990 it was a discussion about the accuracy of modeling, today it is considered reliable and useful. It is now state-of-the-art and is used for almost every furnace design or rebuild.

The GS Expert System III (ESIII) is a model-based predictive furnace and forehearth control system, that has evolved beyond CFD. People were initially sceptical to believe it was possible to control a furnace with Model Based Predictive Control (MPC) but today there are more than 300 furnaces globally with MPC installed, with many of these glass furnaces in operation also on forehearths.

Since 2010, there has been tremendous interest in Industry 4.0, as the glass industry has become aware that industrial

producers (including glassmakers) are instigating new standards like furnace cameras and batch convection movement monitoring within the furnace. The question has become: What is happening now? What will come after this evolution of MPC? Industry 4.0 captures many aspects of the automation of the manufacturing process, including robots, the Internet of Things, simulations of the process, cyber security, system integration, cloud computing, 3D, big data and augmented reality.

When looking at a modern glass production line today, viewing a typical end-fired furnace, a regenerator, melter and a forehearth deliver the glass to the forming machines, many of the processes are already automated within different areas.

On the melting side, PID DCS control has had limited success previously, because of slow furnace reactions.

Therefore, GS began by applying model-

based predictive control strategies, because PID control by an operator for 24 hours non-stop was limiting, along with slow temperature reaction times of the furnace and a very large dead time for the responses.

With MPC and its dynamic matrix algorithms, it is possible to capture process behaviours with such models and equations and improve furnace operation.

For MPC models and the dynamic base of its algorithms, the process can be driven for optimum quality with the lowest emissions, lowest operational costs and with minimal assistance, even sometimes without the operator. That is why GS has integrated the furnace camera into the ESIII concept.

Furnace camera uses The main motivation for GS A.SENS furnace camera was to start monitoring the batch blanket to relieve the operator Continued>>

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trend lines.

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Furnaces

� Fig 2. Automation, artificial intelligence,

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machine learning and deep learning.

from this difficult task. But apart from monitoring the batch blanket, the operator also typically takes some optical temperature readings to make sure the thermocouple readings are reliable and refractory is not overheated. This led to the idea to develop a furnace camera that can also capture the furnace temperatures, which resulted in the near infra-red (NIR) camera solution. But the NIR cameras available from the market had low pixel resolution. The lower pixel resolution may have been sufficient for temperature readings but it is insufficient to detect the smaller batch islands that float on the glass surface.

The next step is how to decide if the camera actually sees batch, foam or glass surface and how to avoid a dust particle on the camera lens not being identified as batch. For this requirement, GS in cooperation with A.SENS had to develop an artificial intelligence algorithm that uses deep neural networks to learn from many glass furnace images what is what. The AI solution with the GS NIR camera detects flames but also decides what is flame, refractory and other objects that are commonly seen in glass melting furnaces.

The AI software also makes temperature readings that can be used by the MPC control more reliable. When the temperature is influenced by other parameters, the AI software can use this to correct the virtual TC reading given to the MPC or DCS. Such NIR cameras can give valuable visual information, as well as data that can be used in the control algorithm (Fig 1)

AI and neural network definitions So what are artificial intelligence (AI) and neural networks, how do they work and how can they help in the glass industry?

Automation is the basis of this

� Fig 3. Neural networks.

consideration. Most people are used to DCS control and MPC control.

Automation is the creation of technology and its application, in order to control and monitor the production process.

It performs tasks that were previously performed by humans. AI is a field where regular control techniques cannot resolve irregular issues that are inefficient. AI then enables the computer to mimic human intelligence using neural network decision trees and machine learning to solve a problem. Machine learning is simply a subset of the AI, using sufficient data subsets to train the neural network.

Deep learning may be referred to as something magic but it is simply a multilayered deep neural network that handles vast amounts of information. Actually, it is used daily when searching something on Google. Google suggests an answer what is actually being searched for, or Netflix suggests movies, because they are learning from a person’s previous behaviour. This is already AI. Referring to fig 2, the relationships between the various entities can be seen. Automation (A) is the creation of technologies and its application, to control and monitor a production process. It performs tasks that were previously performed by humans.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the field where regular control techniques fail or are inefficient. AI enables computers to mimic human intelligence using neural network decision trees. Machine learning (ML) is a subset of AI using sufficient data to train a neural network.

Deep learning (DL) trains multi-layered deep neural networks with vast amounts of data.

What is a neural network? It was probably given this name because some parts function similarly to neurons in

the human body. A set of data needs first to be analysed, and after it is analysed, the result is the outer layer which is its meaning.

First, this data has been created in the inner layer of the analysis, formalised and then put it into the neural network.

This neural network is taught to fill certain highs and constants inside different neurons, to learn (with lots of data on the entrance side) to predict what comes out as the output and to recognise it automatically. The key factor is these neurons are not fully understood, although it is not necessary to understand them. They are simply filled out by giving sufficient data and sufficient output for the neurons that are going to be filled with the mechanism that they recognise best.

Fig 3 shows the input of data, the analyses of the data and the output of the process.

Machine learning is nothing more than training a neural network with many inputs and outputs, until all these neurons (at least one hidden layer) has learned enough to predict what is happening.

Deep learning means there is a neural network with more than one hidden layer. This is quite common, especially for more complex tasks that need more than one layer.

To illustrate these concepts, an imaging technique is presented that is used with the GS NIR furnace camera. By ‘training’ the camera software as to what kind of images it is seeing, after some time the camera is able to detect what is the batch, the flame, the glass surface, the refractory and the camera build-up. Where, for example, there is camera buildup covering a thermocouple, it can no longer be used reliably.

Continued>>

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End of the road for ‘cat-scratch’ cord drains Almost 200 PSR Cord Dispersal Systems installed Money-back guarantee Pay-back time measured in weeks

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Furnaces

� Fig 4. Furnace image from a camera with neural network analysis results

coverage and movement, enabling any corrective actions to be made and to automatically alarm if necessary.

In summary, the NIR AI furnace camera developed by GS in co-operation with A.SENS is a perfect combination with the ESIII expert system solution. Benefits include more stable automatic furnace control and glass production, increased glass quality and energy saving, plus CO2 and NOx emissions reduction.

About the company

Furthermore, input data of this thermocouple should not be applied to deep learning. Deep learning is also able to detect the flame independently from the batch and determine if the flame is up or down, as well as providing information or an alarm that the furnace needs attention. With neural network technology, it is possible to obtain much more information from these images and process them into control and decision making, as opposed to what it is possible to learn with furnace temperatures only.

Fig 4 shows a template for a furnace operation, including identification of batch islands, the flame, glass surface, refractory and even build up around the

camera.

During the next step and after the batch is identified, it can be seen that the camera is typically looking at an angle into the furnace. After the batch coverage is calculated, the image is then transferred into a horizontal picture looking from a bird’s eye view (Fig 5).

The image is digitally analysed as the yellow area on the section there and this would then enable the user to calculate the square meters of the batch in the various positions.

For some furnaces, stability is very important and for others, it is less of an issue. The batch monitoring system allows the user to monitor the batch location,

Glass Service is headquartered in the Czech Republic and develops technology to optimise glass melting, performing defect analyses, 3D furnace simulations, MPC and bench marking of large furnaces. Furthermore, GS supplies the necessary hardware.

Subsidiary GS companies are FlammaTec for burners, FIC (UK) Ltd for electric melting and super boosting in hybrid melters and A.SENS for AI software with near infra-red (NIR) furnace imaging. The combination of AI NIR cameras connected to MPC is bringing Industry 4.0 and Big Data connected to the Internet of Things. �

*Vice President, **General Manager, Glass Service, Vsetin, Czech Republic email: info@gsl.cz, www.gsl.cz

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� Fig 5. Batch coverage as converted into a bird’s eye view.

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www.zippe.de

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Sustainability Libbey

Celebrating one year of green co-operation After one year of collaboration, Libbey and Rebottled have repurposed and transformed 81,000 used wine bottles were into sustainable drinking glasses.

www.glass-international.com

W

ithin the last year, global glass tableware manufacturer Libbey Holland has helped its young scale-up partner to ramp up production of a new product extension for Rebottled, a whisky tumbler range.

Libbey EMEA and Rebottled have been in talks since 2019, exploring possibilities for a sustainable and scalable collaboration. The partnership was created in March 2020.

“It is an amazing experience to develop and bring new life to used products such as wine bottles; it is motivating and brings energy to all of us at the factory in Holland,” says Marco van Valburg, Vice-

President of Engineering at Libbey EMEA. “In the production process, the precleaned bottles are cut at the required capacity by a high-power laser.

“To give them a flawless and smooth rim, safe for consumer use, the glasses are fire polished. After this process, what used to be a bottle of wine is now a trendy drink glass.”

In these unprecedent times, Libbey went through a challenging period, but grew meaningful partnerships, followed commitments, improved services and rediscovered innovation processes.

Libbey continues providing highquality glassware, good service,

supporting local communities and thinking about the environment.

Rebottled has been affected by the pandemic and the closing of many of the catering collecting points.

Jermain van der Graaf, CEO of Rebottled said: “We took the opportunity to focus towards B2B and e-commerce, expanding to Belgium and Germany and rolling out new products.” �

http://www.libbey.eu/foodservice, Leerdam, The Netherlands http://www.rebottled.com, Utrecht, The Netherlands

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Energy efficiency

Improving efficiency using a waste heat recovery system A waste heat recovery system (WHR) from Grenzebach* and CNUD EFCO** can help companies fight climate change, improve energy efficiency during production, reduce the use of resources while also improving the CO2 emission balance, and cutting costs.

G

lass production has always required a lot of energy. The main cause for that is the relatively inefficient glass melting process with a rather low energy efficiency.

A large part of the lost energy is in the exhaust gas from the glass melting tanks.

This is where typical WHR plants come in: they use this waste heat to generate electricity, as well as heating and cooling energy for process and air-conditioning purposes.

“Our patented waste heat recovery concept stands out from other technologies especially thanks to its improved efficiency without neglecting the plant reliability of a float glass or container glass line”, says Dennis Schattauer, Managing Director of CNUD EFCO. The advanced waste heat recovery solution from Grenzebach and CNUD EFCO makes a real contribution to achieving climate targets, conserving resources and improving cost efficiency – three of the fundamental challenges in the glass industry.

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Climate-neutral by 2050: CO2 pricing will increase

The use of a WHR system increases the energy efficiency in the production and reduces the carbon footprint. Costs are significantly cut by avoiding CO2 emissions and purchasing less electricity and fossil fuels.

“Against the backdrop of the European Green Deal in particular, companies should act now to sustainably reduce their carbon footprint”, Mr Schattauer emphasises.

The aim of the European Green Deal is to make all 27 member states climate-

� The WHR system from Grenzebach and CNUD EFCO is manufactured to operate at the highest level of efficiency.

neutral by 2050. Numerous measures are taken to achieve this aim.

The CO2 prices will increase noticeably as will the number of specifications for the energy efficiency of production sites.

As an interim target, member states commit themselves to cutting more than 40 percent of their CO2 emissions by 2030.

Requests to raise this target even up to 55 percent have already been submitted.

The glass industry has to increase their efforts significantly beyond this selfcommitment to reach the aspired aim of being climate-neutral by 2050.

The path to a climate-neutral glass industry A climate-neutral glass industry?

Ambitious, yet feasible. To reach this aim, existing technologies have to be retrofitted sustainably, or even rethought.

It is still a long path to electric melting furnaces or hydrogen-powered furnaces, which aim on producing glass climateneutrally. Some open questions need to be answered first: � Which economic and ecological advantages and disadvantages arise from these new technologies? � When will a sufficient quantity of green energy and green synthetic fuels be available? � When will new technologies, like electric furnaces or hydrogen-powered furnaces, be ready for the market?

The development and testing of such technologies will also still take time, too much time.

To be able to reach the aspired goals of cutting CO2, sustainable decisions in the Continued>>

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Energy efficiency

to investment subsidies granted in many countries.

An advanced waste heat recovery plant from Grenzebach and CNUD EFCO is therefore a profitable investment in the future, with significantly higher energy efficiency and energy production values in comparison to relatively low investment costs.

Climate-friendly advantages even after 2050

improved waste heat recovery systems for float glass plants.

glass industry have to be made now.

Therefore, it has to be considered, among other things, which of the already available climate-friendly technologies are suited best to achieve the interim targets, as it could still take years until electric melting furnaces and hydrogenpowered furnaces are available.

Today’s approaches have to reduce emissions, increase the energy efficiency, and have an optimal cost-benefit ratio.

All of these aspects are combined in the advanced waste heat recovery system.

Advanced WHR system – Significantly higher energy efficiency and energy production values On the basis of mastered and tested technologies, waste heat recovery plants increase the energy efficiency and reduce the used resources at the same time.

Compared to other systems on the market, the advanced waste heat recovery system solution from Grenzebach and CNUD EFCO excels itself through its extraordinarily high efficiency in generating energy, which can amount to up to 35 percent or more.

This leads to notably higher energy efficiency and energy production values in comparison to relatively low investment costs. The advanced WHR system uses the available thermal energy in the melting tank exhaust gas to produce steam at pressures up to 90 bar by integrating heat ex-changer boiler systems into the exhaust gas flow.

This steam is then fed into the highly

efficient turbine/generator generate electrical power.

unit

to

The clever solution on the path to climate-neutrality Due to its efficiency, advanced waste heat recovery plants are suited specifically for the use in big glass melting plants, such as float glass melting tanks or container glass plants with several glass melting tanks at one site.

The transition to climate-neutral technologies will take the longest time in the float glass industry due to the long service lives of melting tanks, which can last be-tween 15 and 20 years.

This is where the advantages of the advanced WHR system become clear. A clever solution on the path to climateneutrality: � Significant increase of energy efficiency � Notable reduction of used resources � Sustainable reduction of the carbon footprint � Significant reduction of costs The advanced WHR plants are integrated “smartly” into the existing production process so that the glass production process remains almost unaffected.

This advantage, together with the already mentioned economic and ecological bene-fits, leads to a high return on investment.

The capital payback period of this WHR solution is considerably reduced thanks

Proven technology from power plant construction The WHR systems from Grenzebach and CNUD EFCO are exclusively equipped with proven technology from power plant construction.

The design is based on many years of experience and proven computer-aided simulation pro-grams.

The WHR solutions demonstrate a Continued>>

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� The two companies join their expertise together to develop

Even after achieving the aim of being climate-neutral by the year 2050, waste heat recovery plants will still be of major importance in the glass industry.

New technologies will continue to have to deal with the questions of sensible use of resources and optimal energy efficiency.

WHR plants will thus continue to make an important contribution to the efficient and climate-friendly use of resources when utilising synthetic fuels, such as hydrogen.

An additional asset of the advanced waste heat recovery system is that further ecological and economic potential can be tapped into through the “intelligent” system integration of the advanced WHR plant into the glass melting process.

Upon customer request, additional possibilities of saving energy, such as generating heating or cooling energy, can be included into the WHR concept at any time.

“The WHR technology is a very concrete offer we can make the glass industry thanks to the combined competencies of Grenzebach and CNUD EFCO. “Our customers benefit from the fact that we now work with the integrated knowhow from the hot and cold end of float glass lines. And a particular focus is on energy efficiency”, says Egbert Wenninger, Chief Commercial Officer and member of the Grenzebach Management Team.

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�The advanced WHR system is said to yield much higher energy efficiency and energy production values.

unique performance with guaranteed efficiency, net energy generation and plant availability.

Years of comprehensive knowledge from the construction and operation of glass production plants are part of many detailed solutions for the optimal integration of the WHR plants.

This smart integration of the WHR plants allows an additional reduction of operating and investment costs for peripheral plants.

When considering the return on investment (ROI), it has to be taken into account that the installation of WHR systems is subsidised by the state with 25 percent and more in many countries.

In the long term, higher electricity and gas prices are to be expected, as well as a stronger use of CO2 certificates.

“Already today, a plant like this will pay for itself within three to four years in a favourable environment,” Mr Schattauer explains.

The benefits of the advanced WHR systems will also remain completely unchanged when natural gas is replaced by hydrogen as the primary energy source.

Mr Schattauer concludes: “You will keep the yield of a WHR plant, even if you decide to run your production line with hydrogen in the future.” �

Boom, Belgium http://www.grenzebach.com/en/ http://www.cnudefco.com Glass International May 2021

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* latest swabbing-robot installed in July 2017 in Germany

State-subsidised in many countries

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T hi si snotas ol arecl i ps e

Wi r eEdgedet ect i on

wi t hz er ocompr omi seby

Inspection

From intelligent machine to collective intelligence � Evolution NEO machines are able to identify the defect with precision, repeatability and at a high speed.

O

ver the past 10 years, new technologies have revolutionised the glass industry. And even if today we no longer speak of Industry but of Industry 4.0 to recall this 4th industrial revolution, we are still far from having exhausted the range of possibilities.

While connected objects have already influenced and changed consumer dayto-day behaviour, they become essential in industrial processes, constituting one of the pillars of Industry 4.0.

By giving life to ‘intelligent factories’, where tools and operators are now interconnected, intelligent machines are shaping Industry 4.0 and providing solutions in terms of productivity, quality and safety.

Iris Inspection machines, one of the main players in glass inspection, is a pioneer in the field of intelligent glassware inspection. Based in Lyon, France, Iris dedicates a third of its workforce to Research and Innovation in the field of glass containers inspection.

At the 2018 glasstec trade fair Iris launched the Evolution NEO range, the first generation of inspection machines equipped with artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Reliable data Where a standard inspection machine relies heavily on the knowledge and skills of the operators pursuing to define what is and is not acceptable, the NEO machines learn automatically from production, increasing the precision and the repeatability.

“Glass inspection is a real optical challenge: the defect types are various, container shapes are complex. Glass is a ‘living’ material which makes the inspection even more challenging.

“An operator, thanks to his professional experience, will be able to describe and detect a defect, to distinguish its shape, size, opacity. The full complexity of NEO development was to give machines this smart ability to recognise the defect. Now, Evolution NEO machine is not only able to identify the defect, and its characteristics as the operator would know, but also to do it with more precision, repeatability and at a high speed,” explains Mr. Philippe Volay CTO of the Group in charge of Optical R&D. Evolution NEO machines are equipped with the latest technologies in terms of software (image processing) and CPU, which can reach a very high level of accuracy in the gathering of production

data.

“This is a crucial step in a process based on artificial intelligence. To secure machine learning, it is first necessary to ensure the accuracy and veracity of the data,” comments Mr. Majd Rahmani Iris Technical Director.

Iris is thus developing a technology that breaks with the traditional inspection market, no longer relying on human know-how, but on the defect recognition and its classification.

This first step was the successful launch of the Evolution NEO range in 2018. The Evolution Neo range, brings together the Evolution 12 NEO sidewall inspection machine, the Evolution Neo 5 Neo base and finish inspection machine, as well as solutions for perfume and pharmacy inspection. The Neo machine has been quickly adopted by an increasing number of glass groups internationally including Verallia, Vetropack, Gerresheimer, Bormioli, Vidrala and SGD Pharma.

From individual to collective intelligence If the concept of digital transformation leading to ‘smart factory’ remains Continued>>

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A new generation of Industry 4.0-focused inspection machines can learn automatically from production, which increases precision and repeatability, reports Jean-Luc Logel*.

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Inspection

www.glass-international.com

� The NEO machine has been quickly adopted by an increasing number of glass groups including Verralia, Vetropack, Gerresheimer, Bormiolli, Vidrala, SGD, etc ... difficult to grasp, the objectives are clear: to improve both performance and products quality, and therefore the factory productivity; in short, increase the Pack-to-Melt.

Rejecting defective items is a first step, but the challenge behind is more ambitious: reducing the production of defects.

Defects in glass have various origins, from raw materials to manufacturing or forming processes, at the furnace, IS machine or annealing lehr. The inspection machines are located in the cold part of the factory. In general, between two and four machines inspect the articles of a single production line. Relying on the data coming from a single machine, no matter how intelligent it may be, reveals only a part of the picture.

Iris Inspection Machines R&D team targeted the next level, creating a collective intelligence based on NEO machines It is not a question of simply interconnecting the machines, as they already are, neither of communicating with a manufacturing tool such as MES. The concept of collective intelligence developed by Iris goes much further. Data collected by each of the EVOLUTION machines are pre-processed, the characteristics of the defects, the sizes, the images and mould numbers are correlated in real time. The solution, called NEO X, combines and cross-analyses inspection

data to highlight the production trends and defects’ prediction. This collective intelligence offers a precise overview of the production quality for each line, and trends offer an essential tool for productivity improvements.

NEO X allows, for instance, any software solution, to highlight major defects trends, in real-time, and helps the operators to focus on essentials. NEO X is the necessary intelligence for managers to help taking decisions.

Based on an open data format, NEO X is compatible with the plant’s information system. It has become a valuable source of information for the glassware MES tool, by providing not only relevant and precise data but real-time images of defects as well. �

*CEO, Iris Inspection Machines, Bron, France www.iris-im.com

� NEO X combines and cross analyses data from Evolution NEO machines.

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Forming

100 swabbing robots globally. In partnership with Rondot Group, a series of key changes have been implemented in recent times to maximise customer service, as Frédéric Nio* explains.

ecent integration with the Rondot Group has provided expanded manufacturing facilities for Novaxion, in addition to which a series of management changes have been implemented to better serve and respond to the demand of customers.

In January 2021, Frédéric Nio was named the company’s Managing Director. Having worked as a senior Rondot Group SA Company manager for six years, his association with the glass industry extends to more than two decades.

Mr Nio’s experience will facilitate the company’s integration within the group and its development of sales.

Robotics technology specialist Novaxion specialises in robotics technologies for the glass industry, offering solutions for the automatic swabbing of blank moulds and neck rings on IS machines. Inno-

� The Novaxion swabbing robot.

vative developments, an individual approach to each customer, along with professional engineering and management are among the qualities that have positioned the company as a leader in the industry over the last 15 years.

It was in 2005 that Novaxion decided to integrate a reliable industrial model of robot from Fanuc, thereby adding an important example of automation to the production of glass containers.

Initially, the company offered gathering robots for the handcraft and semi-automatic production of glassware but in 2008, a high-performance swabbing robot was introduced to apply a specially engineered swabbing spray to the moulds.

The decision was taken to ‘smartly’ spray the lubricant onto the cavity of the mould, an approach recognised as the ultimate solution to offer both neck ring and mould swabbing.

All other existing carbon sooting or swabbing tool management solutions required a manual swab to the neck ring.

Novaxion’s solution provides effective and independent lubrication of the blank moulds and neck rings using a dedicated arm and nozzle.

Under air pressure, the swabbing lubricant (oil) is sprayed inside the mould while the mould is closed, ensuring the even distribution of a very thin film of lubricant. This solution results from an extensive and focused development of the spraying tool, specific nozzle studies and spraying profiles, combined with lubricants and their behaviour. As a result, the pattern of lubrication during automatic mould swabbing can be customised specifically to each production or cavity design.

Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

Novaxion’s swabbing robots partner with Rondot Group Over the past 15 years, R Novaxion SAS France has successfully installed

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Forming

� A typical spraying pattern, equally

� The spaying nozzle extension uses a hollow

distributed on the

cone spray.

mould walls.

Automation and lubrication The swab motion is fully controlled and monitored by the robot control unit, in terms of position and speed. Motion synchronisation is triggered by the IS forming control system.

The swabbing robot is fully automated and all parameters can be configured for each section individually.

This means that each section can have a different swabbing profile, depending on the ware produced (for example, multi gob feature).

The robot is quickly and easily set for a production type and does not use a learning sequence.

Swabbing cycles

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There are several swabbing modes that can be combined and selected by the operator: � Normal. � On-the-fly.

In the normal swabbing process, the blank mould and neck ring lubrication mode when combined together will require one ‘section cycle’ and consequently, one section reject.

This combined mode provides both swabbing moulds and swabbing ‘on’ and ‘inside’ the neck ring. The special design of the spray nozzle produces a hollow shape cone, such that the oil does not contaminate the plunger.

With the on-the-fly swabbing process, it is important to highlight that the Novaxion robot alone can provide moulds close ‘on-the-fly’ lubrication.

This method significantly improves the process, its efficiency and result.

The very thin layer of lubricant applied to the moulds will deliver no reject and will not require a section to be stopped

during swabbing. This significantly reduces the number of defects and oil consumption, extends the mould lifetime and allows a better pack-to-melt ratio.

Safety and health A multi-level safety system covers the operation of the robot along the IS machine, thus considerably reducing the risk of injury to operators.

Virtual safety barriers offer three safety zones with different safety behaviours of the robot. The robot complies with the CE Machine Directive.

Human impact The swabbing robot uses much less lubricant than traditional methods (approximately 70% less).

Less lubricant and automatic swabbing generates less fumes, thus keeping the operator away from the area of swabbing, preserving health and improving the local working environment.

The swabbing robot will free the operator from repetitive and dangerous tasks, allowing more time to focus on bottle making supervision and action.

This is where the operator’s added value and knowledge are important, including the determination of bottle shape and dimensions, weight, calibration, cooling capacities, fine tuning of the IS machine etc.

The swabbing robot is not intended to completely replace the operator; it makes the working environment safer and more effective for the glass plant. A close link between the machine and human helps to achieve and maintain higher production rates.

User benefits Thanks

to

the

technical

solutions

implemented in the Novaxion robot concept, it is now possible to significantly improve plant performance, reduce lubricant consumption (>70%), provide a more efficient and highquality lubrication process, reduce rejects, product defects and losses and contribute to a cleaner and safer working environment, while removing the operator from the contaminated area, thereby protecting his/her health.

Automation should be applied where the disruptions in the process are revealed. Swabbing is a process where variations exist by shift, by operator or by the product being used (lubricant type and quantity).

A constant quality of production with high output is achievable with automatic swabbing. With extensive experience, Novaxion is ahead of this technology and can offer the most comprehensive solution to an automatic swabbing project: � Using a spray for smarter and more precise application of lubricant inside the moulds and neck rings � The special nozzle provides smart swabbing to the neck rings, without polluting the plunger equipment � A patented solution for mouldclosed swabbing. � On-the-fly mould closed swabbing with no rejects.

As a proof of the equipment’s success, more than 100 swabbing robots are successfully running on four continents, with projects in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. �

*Managing Director, Novaxion, Saint Rémy de Provence, France www.novaxion.fr

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Let us be your guide through the world of glass Worldwide there are more than 300 flat glass production lines with cold end equipment from Grenzebach combined with tin baths and annealing lehrs from CNUD EFCO GFT. More than half of the flat glass products for windows, facades and vehicles are produced on Grenzebach and CNUD EFCO GFT equipment. And that really motivates us as a team to break the mold and make the technology even better for our customers.

Egbert Wenninger Chief Commercial Officer

w w w. g r e n z e b a c h . c o m

w w w. c n u d e fc o . c o m

Forming

Vacuum installation for IVC in Piedras Negras, Mexico Two Pneumofore UV100 Vacuum Pumps were commissioned in 2019 at IVC’s Piedras Negras plant in Mexico. We hear more about the project and how the collaboration between the two companies was smooth.

www.glass-international.com

� The Pneumofore UV100 Vacuum Pumps in situ Industria Vidriera de Coahuila (IVC).

T

wo Pneumofore UV100 Vacuum Pumps were commissioned in November 2019 and have been running 24/7 since then.

Air-cooled, equipped with Variable Speed (VS) drive, these machines are perfectly suited for the vacuum supply of three IS lines in the new fifth furnace.

This installation comprised of two

UV100 Vacuum Pumps supplies a total capacity of 12.800 m3/h, with the adaptability to reach as low as 1.900 m3/h based on the production needs.

The vacuum level is set at 350 mbar(a), as required to run the hollow glass moulding process on the IS machines.

The production requirements, which may vary considerably due to the different

mould shapes and the changing number of IS machines in operation, are well matched with constant vacuum thanks to the immediate data exchange that adapts the rotation speed of the UV100 vacuum pumps by means of the on-board VS drives.

At IVC, the digital communication is based on Rockwell Allen-Bradley

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Forming

Rivoli, Torino, Italy www.pneumofore.com Glass International May 2021

Pneumofore.indd 2

*

* latest swabbing-robot installed in July 2017 in Germany

components.

Pneumofore designed a tailor-made vacuum system using the same communication protocols for the full integration with the remote monitoring and management system of the entire plant.

The local climatic circumstances in Mexico were taken into consideration, with the installation of these two air-cooled UV100.

The pump room daytime temperature in Piedras Negras reaches 42°C, thus oversized cooling systems were installed on the machines for the lubricant circuit and the electrical panel.

In just two days after the project was commissioned, a Pneumofore engineer verified the correct positioning and installation of the vacuum pumps, the connections to pipes and the electric system, as well as the remote communication channels.

The collaboration between IVC and Pneumofore was smooth, based on similar production values and an ethical approach to work.

A vacuum installation of this size necessitates specific and detailed attention to the piping system, the pipe diameters and accessories.

The entire system was designed, discussed and verified well ahead. The technical teams of Pneumofore and IVC collaborated at the outset of the project.

The IVC engineers also appreciated their total independence in maintenance and the rare service needs of the Pneumofore vacuum pumps.

For the successful expansion of Pneumofore in the glass industry of Mexico, a great support was provided by the local partner, Alejandro Ontiveros Lozano (Ontal).

The hundreds of Pneumofore vacuum pumps working in glass production plants worldwide, some running continuously over more than 50 years, represent also an incomparable reference portfolio.

With local and international travel restrictions due to the pandemic, most manufacturers find it difficult to provide timely service and assistance.

All Pneumofore machines are designed for efficient longevity and tested in-depth before delivery. �

17/05/2021 16:38:55

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INNOVATIONS FOR INCREASED EFFICIENCY

Furnaces

The application of laser scanning techniques in plant repairs Clemens Eidmann* discusses how reusing existing buildings and structures can help in the case of glass plant repairs.

E

� The measuring points calculated via a 3D point cloud.

new plans difficult or impossible.

Furthermore, very often additions and adjustments have been made over the years so that the existing documents are no longer up to date.

In these cases, it was and is common for employees of the planning company, to be on site for a longer period of time and to record the situation with conventional means, paper drawing, folding rule and laser measuring device, depending on the size of the plant.

Practice shows that these inventories contain inaccuracies and can also be � The scanned system structure can be processed digitally in 2D and 3D CAD.

incomplete.

A reasonable alternative to the classical inventory is the method of laser scanning, which has already been used in other areas. Sorg has now introduced laser scanning for the inventory of existing building structures and infrastructures in the glass industry.

Laser scanning captures up to 1,000,000 points/second with the help of a laser beam rotating around two axes.

Each detected point receives among other things two angles and a distance to the set-up laser scanner.

These polar coordinates are then converted into a Cartesian coordinate system. Thus, there is an x, y, and z coordinate for each point.

Furthermore, the entire system can be aligned in 3-dimensional space as desired and thus positioned to newly planned system structures in CAD programs.

The Sorg laser scanning team is able to capture the complete plant situation in a short time.

Therefore, the system is scanned across 400 or more installation sites of the laser scanner across all floors. The following Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

xisting building structures and infrastructures and the demand for ever larger glass melting plants make the handling of so-called Brown Field projects increasingly complex.

Present structures are to be reused to a larger and larger degree not only for cost reasons.

The integration of new stages, entrances, plant components, etc., into the existing systems considering increasingly extensive safety regulations and the positioning of new and also reusable equipment requires a higher degree of coordination effort with the client than was necessary just a few years ago.

Not only the communication with and the involvement of the customer in the solution finding process, but also the coordination of the individual technical departments over the different project phases makes a detailed visualisation of the existing plant complex necessary.

For the planning and integration of the new or to be modified plant parts or infrastructures, you need to rely on existing documentation.

If these are still present, they are in paper format due to the age of buildings, etc. This makes the data transfer to the

65 Glass International May 2021

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Furnaces

� The measurements of the laser scanning of existing and future systems.

� It can help determine whether a newly planned reversing unit is possible

were used. But it is not known whether these planning documents represent the real state.

The planning quality at Sorg has been further improved by the introduction of the laser scanning process.

With specially trained staff and own equipment, you know exactly what is important when scanning. This ensures that you can reasonably construct with the data later on.

A measurement of the entire system can be realised in a short time, without affecting the operation in any way.

Thus, for example, the forehearth situation of a system can be scanned in just one day and across all building floors.

With the help of this data Sorg is then able, for example, to record the real gob point situation and to consider it in the planning.

All this saves adjustment work on the building site and enables a smooth project process.

www.glass-international.com

Conclusion

figure shows the measuring points (installation sites for the scanner) (Fig.1).

Subsequently, the entire system with all its details is calculated as a 3D point cloud and made available to the user.

In this point cloud, which of course can also be available in colour, a simple measurement of the existing and required structures is possible.

In addition, it is possible to extract further measurements from the 3D representation, which did not seem superficially necessary.

The scanned system structure can be processed digitally, both with 2D CAD and 3D CAD programs.

In addition to the almost complete recording of the existing system with all its pipes, cable trays, stairs, stages, fans and other equipment and the associated ability to measure all these structures and their position to the millimetre, also a much clearer communication with the customer is possible.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

For example, the customer can be told very quickly, if there would be collisions with existing components and the system being planned.

Of course, collision control is in the foreground of planning when using new components or components that are to be fitted to existing plant components.

In this example, a newly planned reversing unit is delivered to the existing structure. In the past, it only became apparent at the building site, whether the unit really fits or needs to be adapted on site.

As a basis for planning, it was well known that an oversize and possibly existing original planning documents

3D laser scanning is a modern method which allows you to record existing structures quickly and accurately.

The data can be used for further planning, so that the accuracy is increased and possible collisions are already identifiable at the beginning of the planning phase.

Sorg has successfully introduced 3D laser scanning in the glass industry. The company has the equipment and the team of experts to carry out the inventory in a timely manner, tailored to the customers’ needs and the task. �

*Head of Design, Sorg, Lohr am Main, Germany www.sorg.de

� The software can also help integrate new equipment.

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GLASS SHEARING S E R V I C E S We make shear blades.

A division of:

So you can make hollow glass. www.pennine.org

sales@pennine.org

ANNEALING

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Heye International

Heye International recruits French sales agent French company Cadres en Mission has become a sales agent for Heye International, working on the Heye PlantPilot and Quality Control Software (QCLab) sales projects.

H

eye International has appointed French company Cadres en Mission as a sales agent in its Glass People community.

As representative to the market Mrs. Mélanie Basset will manage all Heye PlantPilot and Quality Control Software (QCLab) sales projects.

Mrs. Basset has many years of experience in the container glass industry especially for plant management systems.

Thanks to the PlantPilot, all data from the production lines are centralised in a database.

At a glance, operators and managers have a general overview of the actual production tendency in the plant. The modularity of the system enables also manual inputs.

Operators and shift managers can enter any important information, such as set outs, warning messages, downtimes, tool changes, etc.

Thus, glassworks take decisions based on facts. They save time and improve their efficiency, thanks to real time KPI’s spread all over the plant. Reports and data are available at any time.

Heye PlantPilot: Intelligent information management

www.glass-international.com

Where are the losses along the line? How do we retrieve events occurred during the production? How is the efficiency of the plant improved?

As a pioneer in the development of solutions for the glass industry dedicated to hot end and cold end areas, Heye developed also an intelligent system for the smart glass plant of the future: The PlantPilot.

QCLab – Best quality delivered to customers � Mélanie Basset is an experienced member of the glass industry and has been brought in to manage all Heye PlantPilot and QCLab sales projects.

� The QCLab was developed to automatically retrieve all quality control results.

The high-quality standards on hollow glass articles request various quality controls and measurements.

To meet with these standards, Heye developed a solution for the laboratory: QCLab. automatic devices are connected to QCLab, which will retrieve automatically all quality control results in a centralised database.

With QCLab, the quality department is focused on the quality of the controlled articles: capacity, thickness, pressure, automatic dimensional devices, etc.

The quality of the results is enhanced: No more manual inputs, no more risk of mistakes and no more paper.

Control charts and distribution diagrams help to supervise, evaluate the process and anticipate on drifts. The plant reduces customers’ risks thanks to full traceability.

Heye looks forward to a good cooperation with Mrs. Basset and says “Welcome to the global Heye team!” �

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Tableware

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The IPGR-group, International Partners in Glass Research, is offering the post for a leading project manager in research and development.

The International Partners in Glass Research (IPGR) is a research association founded 1984, based in Aachen, Germany. IPGR is in close cooperation with the RWTH Aachen University.

The members of IPGR are ten renowned companies within the container glass industry from all over the world. The aim of IPGR is to create a vital, international research network and to conduct R&D projects for its members.

We are looking for an experienced project manager for research and development in an international environment with high motivation for team-orientated hands-on working. The focus of the position is on forming and post-conditioning of glass as well as on industry 4.0 approaches.

You lead and manage R&D projects from kick-off to implementation in a glass plant. After profound strategic and technical consulting, you establish timelines, manage internal and external resources and lead the R&D work together with the IPGR members. You implement derived results at our member companies.

We are seeking an outstanding candidate with sound scientific education, relevant working experience and a strong record of accomplishment in the glass-industry, preferably forming, melting of glass and digitalization in the glass industry. You are ideally an engineer or materialscientist with focus on glass and you have a sound background in glasses or ceramics, thermodynamics and kinetics of glass melting and forming. Project management and team coordination experience is required. Fluent English and willingness to travel internationally is mandatory.

The candidate is a pro-active, strategic-thinking personality with a hands-on approach and very good communication skills. The candidate reports to the IPGR management board.

We offer a highly motivated team, flat hierarchies, self-dependent working and significant project responsibility.

If you would like to join IPGR, please send your application preferably via email, to IPGR - International Partners in Glass Research Prof. Dr. Christian Roos P/O-Box 10 07 54 52007 Aachen, Germany christian.roos@ipgr.com

www.ipgr.com

SAVE THE DATE

15-16 June 2021

This two-day digital conference will investigate the potential use of hydrogen in the glass manufacturing process and include speakers from a variety of sectors.

These include glass manufacturers, the energy industry, glass customers, the hydrogen sector and technical suppliers.

The 16 confirmed speakers are Heineken, Glass Futures, Slovenian glass manufacturer Steklarna Hrastnik, Shell, Hydrogen Europe, Stara Glass and the LIFE Sugar project, Air Liquide, GWI-Essen, Nippon Gases, FIC UK, Linde, Glass Service (Czech Republic), the DNV hydrogen consortium, GlassTrend, Sorg and the VERCANE consortium.

Register your interest today at www.glass-international.com Sponsored by:

Organised by:

Events review: Mir Stekla

Mir Stekla 2021 goes hybrid The 22nd International Exhibition for Glass Products, Manufacturing, Processing and Finishing Technology - Mir Stekla - took place in Moscow and included physical visitors as well as offline delegates in light of the pandemic.

www.glass-international.com

M

ir Stekla 2021, organised by Expocentre with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation and held under the patronage of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.

According to Anna Sadovnichaya, Deputy General Director of Expocentre: “This year, 95 companies from 17 countries demonstrated samples of the latest equipment and technology for glass production, modern machine tools, equipment and tools for the production of a wide range of glass products. The exhibition was attended by 5,160 specialists.”

The achievements of the Russian glass industry were demonstrated by the Russian exhibitors: Yta, Inmarket, Ritservice, Stanki Mira, Sky Technology, Steklo Gaz, Stromizmeritel, Podolsk Refractories, GlavSorbent, etc.

Among the participants were overseas companies from Belarus, Belgium, China, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Poland, Spain, Turkey, the UK, the USA, including Belarusian Glass Company, Refmon ZRT, Horn Glass Industries, Shamvik Glasstech, European Chemical Industries, Mountain Glass Technology, Electroglass, Ramsey Products, Best Makina, Glaston, Sefpro and others. The products of foreign exhibitors who could not personally attend the exhibition were presented by their Russian partners.

The Italian glass association GIMAV formed the Italian national exposition, which was presented by the companies

Alu-Pro, Bottero, Diamant, EMS Group, Fermac, Forel, ICE - Italian Trade Agency, Panini, Revimac, Skill Glass, Vetrolux.

Francesco Pensabene, Director of the Moscow office of the Italian Trade Agency said: “Russia is undoubtedly our main market. And the sector of equipment for the glass industry is very important for the development of Italian trade in this market. Therefore, we could not miss the opportunity to be here. Not many Italian companies are represented this time, but they are really strong companies.”

19 companies took part in the exhibition for the first time. Among them was the new holding Belarusian Glass Company, which includes four glass factories: JSC Gomelsteklo, JSC Grodno Glass Factory (production of wide-necked containers from colourless glass and narrow-necked containers), JSC Glassworks Neman and JSC Belmedsteklo). Equipment for the production of glass containers, as well as world-class container machines were presented by the Indian company Shamvik Glasstech.

As part of the exhibition’s business programme, industry experts discussed topics of concern to the industry. In order to ensure a wide coverage of foreign and regional professional audience, the business programme of the exhibition was organised in a hybrid format (offline events with video broadcasting and the ability to remotely connect speakers). The events held proved to be as useful as possible for the glass business professionals.

The business programme was opened by the session of RosBusinessConsulting,

Investments and Innovations in the Glass Industry.

On the first day of the exhibition, a panel on the Modern Glass Materials as a Tool to Adapt to Climate Change and Improve Energy Efficiency of the Russian Economy was held. The round table participants discussed the pre-financial assessment of green projects, the hydrocarbon footprint of glass products and other topics.

One of the central events was the Forum Translucent Structures. Window. Facades and Doors. Within the framework of the Forum, a discussion session Industry and safety of SEC, topical issues of the glass market, utilisation and recycling of waste SEC. The participants of the round table Safe glazing - designers, architects and developers - got acquainted with the updated set of rules approved by the Ministry of Construction of Russia, dedicated to translucent enclosing structures. Also, within the framework of the exhibition, a number of presentations and seminars of exhibiting companies were held.

“Mir Stekla-2022 is set to be held at the Expocentre Fairgrounds, Moscow, from 6 to 9 June 2022. The exhibition will held as part of the large-scale industry Congress and exhibition event Russian construction week in conjunction with the new international specialised exhibition of construction, finishing materials and technologies – RosBuild. �

www.mir-stekla.ru

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CUT COSTS AND GO GREEN? Let ROTAMILL‘s experience help you!

Meet ISO 50003-efficiency goals and improve your green credentials by sustainable energy recovery.

CONNECTING THE GLASS MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

March 2019—Vol.42

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Incorporating the BIFCA Standards Seminar

The future is now when it comes to furnace technology Manufacturing industries are already seeing the results of the ‘Furnace of the Future’ in reducing CO2 emissions and producing cleaner, more sustainable materials.

But how can energy-intensive manufacturers work towards making this future a reality?

Are we already seeing the benefits of adopting smarter and more sustainable technologies within furnaces? Could we be doing more?

This online event will unite the glass, aluminium and steel sectors to discuss overcoming heat treatment challenges and present a collaborative approach to bring the Furnace of the Future to life.

REGISTER NOW

www.furnaces-international.com

Topics will focus on: Industry 4.0 (the Furnace of the Future) Furnace Maintenance Heat Treatment Energy Efficiency Testing & Measurement Retrofitting Emerging Technologies Operations & Productivity

ONLINE EVENT 14-15 SEPTEMBER REGISTER TODAY

Alongside the two-day virtual conference, participants will also be invited to join live discussions and will have the opportunity to network with new industry contacts, arrange video meetings and exchange resources and information.

FROM THE PRODUCERS OF

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

ORGANISED BY

LEADING A CLEANER INDUSTRIAL FUTURE March 2022 Belgium | May 2022 UAE | September 2022 USA | November 2022 China The Paris Agreement has committed 189 countries to deliver a roadmap of actions to deliver a low carbon world.

G OMIN UPC ENT EV

Heavy industry cannot simply adapt, but must urgently accelerate and embrace sustainable technologies to future-proof their competitiveness and viability.

MARCH 2022, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

Brought to you by a coalition of industry experts, Sustainable Industrial Manufacturing (SIM) is a global series of regional exhibitions and conferences supporting and facilitating the transition towards cleaner manufacturing around the world.

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Nadine Bloxsome | Event Director nadinebloxsome@quartzltd.com +44 (0)1737 855115

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History

Prof. John Parker

As flat as a pancake W

e often use the word ‘flat’ in a rather derogatory sense, for example the party was a bit flat, or a flat drink. And yet for many purposes - windows and mirrors for example - flat is the pinnacle of perfection.

In the absence of significant external forces liquids tend to form shapes that minimise their surface area. So small fragments of glass when heated to a molten state will naturally form perfect spheres – for example ballotini, used in reflective paints. Similarly bubbles in poorly refined glass are usually spherical (unless stretched during forming).

This natural tendency for wrinkles (in liquids, not skin) to disappear is one aspect of highly transparent glass sheets and bottles and means objects viewed through them are undistorted. It also means that the silica soot particles formed in the gas phase and deposited on the inside of tubes in Chemical Vapour Deposition processing, can easily sinter to create fully dense glass layers and ultimately the preforms from which optical fibres are pulled.

But gravity imposes an additional force.

Float glass relies on the natural tendency of a glass melt to spread out under gravity when supported on a denser medium, molten tin.

It does not extend indefinitely because minimising surface energy means minimising surface area. In this scenario the energies associated with the tin-melt, melt-atmosphere and tin-atmosphere interfaces define the optimum layer thickness. Fortunately, this is close to the commercially useful value of 6mm.

Extending the range of thicknesses available requires the application of additional forces, created either by edge rollers angled to stretch the sheet or physical dams to increase the thickness.

Another situation where shape matters is in crystal growth. The energy penalty of creating a new surface by crystallisation is one reason why glasses exist.

Historically though opaque (white or milk) glasses have been made by controlled precipitation of crystals within a glassy matrix. Compounds of tin, arsenic, lead and antimony are particularly effective because their refractive indices are much higher than the glass.

Incident light suffered numerous reflections at each crystal-glass boundary so that little is transmitted, and the glass is opaque. The more boundaries and the larger the refractive index change the more effective are these opacifiers.

The additive concentrations are small enough that precipitation takes place just above the glass transition temperature when nucleation rates are high and growth rates low.

However, if the crystals are too small, less than the wavelength of light (0.5 µm), the optical physics changes and scattering falls away for a given quantity of precipitate.

For glass artists a problem arises. When reworking hot white glass, ‘coarsening’ occurs, driven by a reduction in surface energy; smaller particles re-dissolve and larger particles grow at their expense, maintaining the total concentration constant while reducing surface area.

So, opacity decreases and articles become more translucent because there are fewer boundaries.

Glasses coloured by metallic or semiconductor particles are strongly and selectively absorbing. Examples are gold, silver or copper precipitates giving the red (cranberry), yellow/orange, or deep red shades often found in tableware and stained-glass windows. Coarsening though spoils the size distribution and hence colour, particularly in reworked semiconductor doped glasses (Cd(S,Se)).

All those examples have smooth spherical particles because surface effects dominate. However, this changes when kinetic factors control the process.

Thus, at lower temperatures diffusion coefficients fall rapidly and steeper

concentration gradients occur. Random variations in surface profile in small particles means that part of the surface experiences a higher concentration than another and consequently grows more quickly. As it ‘runs’ ahead of its neighbours it wins the competition for access to new material and a protuberance on an otherwise flat surface is formed.

Kinetics dominate over surface energy.

The result is often the dendritic (treelike) structures often seen in photographs of ice crystals in snow.

It also happens with 1) opal glasses reheated near their liquidus temperature and results in brittle products and 2) with silver halide crystals grown in a silicate matrix and led to an interesting product.

The silver halide dendritic crystal tips when exposed to light are reduced to silver metal nanoparticles whose shape (length to width ratio) depends on the conditions of exposure.

Changing the aspect ratio of these silver particles changed the energy levels for the free electrons and hence their optical absorption. So, strongly coloured images could be developed in glassware, with colours dependent on light exposure.

Sadly, the technology proved too expensive for mass production.

Dendritic structures are also seen in glass ‘stones’ arising from AZS refractories.

The solution sacs around them have a supersaturated zirconia-rich composition where dendritic zirconia crystals can form. The high refractive index of zirconia results in a characteristic, high contrast image under the microscope.

Cristobalite dendrites are also found in siliceous defects formed when there is insufficient sodium sulphate to fulfil its secondary role as surfactant; dendrites grow from pre-existing crystals.

*Curator of the Turner Museum of Glass, The University of Sheffield, UK www.turnermuseum.group.shef.ac.uk j.m.parker@sheffield.ac.uk

www.glass-international.com

Prof John Parker discusses how to keep things in good shape.

75 Glass International May 2021

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