Glass International November 2020

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November 2020—Vol.43 No.10

O-I GIRONCOURT INTERVIEW ARDAGH SUSTAINABILITY CASE STUDY RECYCLING I N T E R N A T I O N A L

A GLOBAL REVIEW OF GLASSMAKING

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Contents

www.glass-international.com Editor: Greg Morris Tel: +44 (0)1737 855132 Email: gregmorris@quartzltd.com Assistant Editor: George Lewis Tel: +44 (0)1737 855154 Email: georgelewis@quartzltd.com Designer: Annie Baker

November 2020 Vol.43 No 10

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Managing Director Tony Crinion tonycrinion@quartzltd.com 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

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

10

Company profile: O-I’s Gironcourt A project inspired by teamwork

14

Recycling: Ardagh Group Ardagh Group celebrates sustainability award for its remeltable briquettes process

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Recycling: Krysteline The realities of Glass Recycling

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Recycling: EME Two companies combine their expertise for glass recycling

27

Recycling: Zippe Zippe delivers in the field of glass recycling

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Recycling: Recresco The PRN system is ripe for reform not replacement

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Event review: Soda Ash conference Glass under the spotlight at IHS Markit soda ash conference

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Event review: Glass Focus 2020 awards winners British Glass Focus goes virtual

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Personality profile: Guenter Lubitz A career dedicated to the container glass industry

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Sustainability: Fraunhofer Glass engineered to defy flames

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Company profile: Glassbusters Glassbusters answers the call of hospitality sector’s recycling needs

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Company profile: Orora Glass Orora Glass completes furnace rebuild

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Smart glass: Nodis Glass How smart is your glass?

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History: Refiner’s fire

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International News

GREG MORRIS, EDITOR WWW.GLASS-INTERNATIONAL.COM

November 2020—Vol.43 No.10

O-I GIRONCOURT INTERVIEW ARDAGH SUSTAINABILITY CASE STUDY RECYCLING I N T E R N A T I O N A L

A GLOBAL REVIEW OF GLASSMAKING

Be first with the news!

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VISIT:

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for daily news updates Good riddance to 2020 Well, that was a year like no other! As we approach the end of 2020 the general feeling towards the past 12 months has been one of good riddance - let’s move on to 2021.

Hopefully we will never have to go through the same feelings of anxiety and helplessness that many went through in March and April as the lockdowns took hold around the world.

While some sectors of the industry were hit hard by the impact of the pandemic, on the whole – and I say this cautiously – the glass industry is gradually overcoming the worst of the virus because it was deemed essential in most regions of the world.

The container segment has reason to feel optimistic as it enters a new year.

Momentum feels like it is building on a number of fronts, particularly when it comes to the environment.

FEVE and its members have formed the Furnace for the Future project which aims to build the world’s first large hybrid electric furnace to run on 80% electricity.

German glass association BV Glas has secured funding to investigate the suitability of hydrogen instead of fossil fuels in the glass production process. In Italy, Stara Glass is working with partners in the Life Sugar project to reduce emissions in glassmaking. In the UK, the Glass Futures project has received Government sign off to construct a £54 million glass hub for sustainable manufacture of glass.

We may be in a pandemic now, but there are reasons to feel optimistic about glass manufacturing in the future.

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FUSED CAST REFRACTORIES

Glass Futures secures £15m UK Government investment

Glass Futures has secured a £15 million investment from the UK Government as part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge to build its Centre of Excellence in St Helens, UK. The funding will be used to establish a state-of-the-art glass furnace R&D facility in

St Helens, reviving the closed United Glass facility.

The plant will be capable of producing 30 tonnes of sustainable glass a day – equivalent to 60,000 wine bottles which will be used in products such as jars, bottles, windows, doors, and fibre glass.

The remaining funding is being provided by the Liver-

pool City Region Combined Authority, which is aiming to provide a further £10m for works to make the building suitable, St Helens Borough Council who is allocating £9 million towards the cost of the project to be recouped in rent paid by Glass Futures and glass sector companies will contribute a further £20m.

NSG Pilkington North America ignites Luckey, USA furnace NSG Pilkington North America has ignited the furnace at its greenfield Luckey, Ohio, USA plant.

The official lighting ceremony took place on 11 November at the 500,000ft2 facility.

The facility has a melting capacity of 600 tonnes per day conductive oxide (TCO) coated glass to supply the solar market.

The lighting was officially conducted by Richard Alt-

man, Regional Director for Architectural Glass and Solar at NSG Pilkington.

The facility has created 150 new jobs as well as several jobs in the construction sector during the building of the plant.

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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

Horn completes furnace rebuild for Sivesa

A French consortium has launched an R&D programme which aims to decarbonise the glass manufacturing process.

The consortium, formed by energy group ENGIE, glass furnace supplier Fives, and glass manufacturers Saverglass and Verescence, has launched the VERCANE programme: fusion de VERre CArboNEutre (car-

bon neutral glass melting).

The purpose of the programme is to support the industrial glass sector in its efforts to decarbonise glass production by evaluating energy sources for a sustainable industrial process.

VERCANE aims to develop sustainable scenarios of energy transition by designing

solutions based on decarbonised energy sources.

VERCANE will study different carbon neutral energy systems that could be compatible with the glass melting process: hydrogen, bioresources and process electrification. It will also explore options to adapt existing melting furnaces to new energy sources.

Ardagh Group plots multi-million investment in its glass division Ardagh Group is planning investments in its glass manufacturing facilities, its Chairman and Chief Executive Paul Coulson said.

The glass and metals packager plans to invest $1.8 billion across its business over the next four years. The ma-

jority of this will be focused on its cans business with approximately 15% of this to be invested in its glass division.

The investment will be in growth projects in Europe as well as cost reduction and efficiency enhancing projects in North America.

New capacity brought on stream will be supported by new long-term customer contracts, said Mr Coulson.

The investment programme will be funded from existing cash resources, free cash flow and, where necessary, incremental debt.

India’s HSIL plots Bhongir glass manufacturing furnace investment Indian glassmaker HSIL is to invest in its Bhongir plant with a INR220 crore investment (US$35 million).

The revamped site will include a 150 tonnes per day fur-

nace with five manufacturing lines which will manufacture pharmaceutical vials as well as perfumes, cosmetics and spirits.

The unit will also focus on

the Indian market as well as some exports to US, Australia, and parts of Europe countries.

The unit will be operational

by September 2022.

Sibelco and CelSian to share expertises

Sibelco and CelSian have entered into a collaborative agreement to leverage their respective experience and knowhow around raw materials and glass melting processes.

The agreement will involve the sharing of laboratory functions and joint research.

Sibelco’s Ilse Kenis, EVP, Glass and Performance Materials, said: “Through this partnership we aim to offer enhanced support to customers in the glass industry seeking innovative solutions to the challenges they face, such as reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions and improving production efficiency.”

Visy sells Auckland facility for NZ$178 million

Visy Glass has sold its Auckland manufacturing facility to Centuria Capital Group for NZ$178.3 million (US$118.5 million) on a 20year sale-and-leaseback, triple net lease deal.

It means the capital group will lease the facility back to the glass manufacturer for the next 20 years.

The Visy Glass facility is New Zealand’s only glass bottle and jar manufacturing site and was established in 1922.

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VERCANE project aims to decarbonise glass production

Horn has completed the repair of Crown Sivesa’s Furnace A at its Orizaba facility, Mexico.

Container glass manufacturer Crown Sivesa is based in Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico.

The latest project included the repair of a 260 t/d recuperative furnace with two production lines for container glass with a melting area of 109 m².

The furnace is designed in appliance with advanced technology and a maximum melting output of 290 t/d to produce either 290 t/d flint or amber glass or 280 t/d green glass.

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International News

Cleanfire® ThruPorte™ Burner A prescription for aging regenerators Undergoing regenerator repairs or having difficulty maintaining full production in an aging furnace? Turn to Air Products’ Cleanfire ThruPorte oxy-fuel burner for a quick, costeffective heating solution to avoid downtime

Pilkington UK investigates carbon capture capabilities Pilkington UK is assessing the feasibility of deploying carbon capture technology at its glass manufacturing facility.

It supported C-Capture Ltd in its successful application for funding through Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund.

The award will support experiments to quantify the compatibility of C-Capture’s carbon capture technology with the requirements of the glass manufacturing industry.

C-Capture, based in Leeds, UK, has patented a low-cost carbon capture

technology which uses up to 40% less energy than current commercially available technologies.

It uses a new class of solvents that are amine and nitrogen free, are not classified as hazardous, are inexpensive, and could be manufactured on a large scale.

or extend your furnace life. This patented and commercially-proven technology, installed from the underside of your port, allows you to add heat where and when it’s needed.

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Forglass begins construction of furnace for Stoelzle Masnieres Polish glass engineering company Forglass is to supply the new furnace for Stoelzle’s Masnieres Parfumerie plant in northern France.

Stoelzle’s Masnieres Parfumerie is a specialist in extra white flint glass packaging for clients from the

perfumery and cosmetic market.

Forglass will supply its technology in the design construction and commissioning of the furnace.

It will include the combustion system, electric boost, cooling system, steel structure and five complete

forehearths, all manufactured in three Forglass facilities in Poland and ready for installation in France.

Having completed the design phase of the project, Forglass is set to begin the construction phase before the end of the year.

• Available for rapid deployment To make glass better, put Air Products in the mix.

O-I Glass and Krones sign tell me more collaboration agreement

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O-I Glass and Germany’s Krones have signed a collaboration agreement to innovate together and to jointly create solutions for the glass market.

Focus areas include improvements in glass filling

and packaging line speed and efficiency; enhanced agility and flexibility of responding to market trends; development of innovative and sustainable glass systems; and advancements in digital solutions such as

direct-to-glass digital printing technology.

With this agreement, the two companies are combining O-I’s knowledge of glass with Krones’ competence in manufacturing machines and filling lines.

Glass International November 2020

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Our sights are set.

Neutron® targets thin and thick areas by mapping glass distribution inside your entire container – no matter the shape – with no contact at full production speed.

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Top 10 stories in the news

NEWS IN BRIEF

Campaign launched by British Glass

A campaign has been launched by British Glass to #SpeakUp4Glass and remind consumers about the special qualities of glass bottles.

Leading experts from the world of wine and packaging came together to debate what makes glass still their number one favourite way to package wine.

The experts brought their own personal and professional perspectives to the debate, which touched on topics such as the meaning of true recyclability, the unique chemistry of wine and why it needs special packaging, and the joy of drinking wine that has been laid down for several years.

Air Products donates $15,000 to glass sector

Air Products has donated $15,000 to The Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation (CGIF) and The Glass Manufacturing Industry Council (GMIC) to foster innovation by the next generation of ceramic and glass professionals.

The CGIF will use its portion of the grant to expand the Foundation’s student outreach programmes to attract, inspire, and train the next generation of ceramic and glass professionals.

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Installation of Vietnamese float glass plant

The Phu My, Vietnam 600t/d ultra-clear float glass line was successfully fired-up on October 25, 2020.

This project was designed and constructed by China Triumph International Engineering Co. Ltd (CTIEC).

As the first ultra-clear float glass production line in Vietnam, this project adopts CTIEC’s ultra-clear float glass production technology and core equipment with CTIEC’s independent intellectual property rights.

The project will quickly fill the gap in the domestic ultra clear glass market in Vietnam and will export to ASEAN region.

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Ardagh plots multi million investment in its glass division French VERCANE project aims to decarbonise glass production Pilkington UK investigates carbon capture capabilities Vidrala invests €21 million in Spanish furnace upgrade Encirc unveils 900t/day furnace Visy Glass sells Auckland facility for NZ$178 million O-I Glass and Krones sign collaboration agreement Ardagh’s upgraded German glass plant features Heye technologies NSG Pilkington North America ignites Luckey, USA furnace FEVE’s ‘Furnace for the Future’ project gathers momentum

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Vidrala invests €21 million in Spanish furnace upgrade Vidrala has invested €21 million in its Furnace 2 at the Llodio plant in northern Spain.

The upgraded furnace has new automation and refractory solutions, enabling an energy-efficient process and a more sustainable operation.

State-of-the-art forming machines in the hot-end and inspection and palletising equipment in the cold-end now allow a better process control with maximum flexibility.

This will open the door for Vidrala to have its first collaborative robots in the plant.

It says this is a significant milestone and an example of investing in Industry 4.0.

FEVE’s ‘Furnace for the Future’ project gathers momentum FEVE’s (European Container Glass Federation) ‘Furnace for the Future’ project has taken a step forward after a dossier was sent to the European Commission to help fund the project.

The ‘Furnace for the Future’

project brings together a total of 19 industry companies European container glass manufacturers including Ardagh Group, Vidrala and O-I to build the world’s first largescale hybrid electric furnace to

run on 80% green electricity.

The pilot project will allow us to switch to green energy like electricity. It will be the world’s first large-scale hybrid oxy-fuel furnace to run on 80% renewable electricity.

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EME Glass Recycling Plants

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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

Glass scientists win Otto Schott Research Award

The 16th Otto Schott Research Award has been awarded to Professors Sabyasachi Sen and Josef Zwanziger for their achievements in fundamental and experimental glass research.

Professor Sen, of the University of California, Davis, is being recognised for his sustained contributions to fundamental and applied research on oxide and nonoxide glasses, including structural modelling and characterisation measurements.

Professor Zwanziger, of Dalhousie University in Canada, was one of the first scientists to develop NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) techniques to study the atomic structure of glass.

Glass Service seminar set for September 2021

The 16th International Seminar on Furnace Design – Operation and Process Simulation, hosted by Glass Service (GS), will be held on 22-23 September 2021 in the Czech Republic.

It will be open to all wanting to learn more about Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, hybrid melters including hydrogen optimised by CFD simulation.

The 2021 Seminar will focus providing solutions to reduce CO2 emissions by 40% or more by the year 2030.

Tariq Glass’s second float glass set to start production Pakistan’s float glass and tableware producer, Tariq Glass will soon commence commercial production from its second float glass line.

The new float glass line with an installed capacity of 500 TPD has been supplied by Chinese company Qinhuangdao Yaohua Glass.

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pura, Pakistan.

The new factory will almost double the company’s production capacity.

The company’s existing float glass (Unit–1) furnace will complete its campaign life by June 2021 and will be closed for a rebuild.

Bucher Emhart Glass sees gradual recovery in equipment demand Swiss glass engineering company Bucher Emhart Glass saw a gradual recovery in demand in the third quarter of this year.

In its third quarter financial report, the Cham, Switzerland-based company said order intake during the period fell by almost half versus

GTS secures robotics funding

Glass Technology Services, (GTS) working alongside partners I3D Robotics and Lucideon, have been awarded funding to develop intelligent robotic systems to improve production processes within the energy-intensive foundation industries.

The GTS R&D team will provide support and research into a range of glass solutions and sectors.

Projects span from fundamental scientific research, to the development of novel glass compositions, through to commercialisation.

After the commencement of commercial production, Tariq Glass will become the largest float glass producer in Pakistan with an installed capacity of 1050 TPD of float glass from two production units.

Spread over a built-up area of 22,000m2, for Tariq Glass’s Unit-2 is located in Sheikhu-

the extraordinarily high prior-year figure, but the decline was less pro­nounced than in the first half of 2020.

Sales also recovered, as installations and onsite service became at least partially possible again.

It expects demand to improve further over the remain-

der of the year. Sales should continue to recover but will be significantly lower year on year.

Net sales for the January-September period this year were CHF 285 million ($310 million) compared to CHF 372 million ($405 million) in the same period last year.

Alphaglass plots €37 million Arques furnace rebuild Saverglass factory Alphaglass is planning a €37 million furnace rebuild at its Arques facility, northern France.

The investment will also include an eigth production line and will increase capacity by

20%.

Alphaglass is a luxury wine and spirits bottle manufacturer and said it had a difficult Spring but that orders had increased in the summer.

The facility includes the

glass manufacturing site as well as Alphadec, a glass decoration workshop.

The investment is anticipated to create at least 50 new jobs.

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Unless it solves a problem automatically, isn’t data just data? Our technologies speak the same language.

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Start the conversation at emhartglass.com

Company profile: O-I’s Gironcourt facility

A project inspired by teamwork O-I’s recent furnace 3 project at its Gironcourt, France facility was its largest in nearly two decades. Greg Morris spoke to Jean-Pierre François, the man tasked with leading the project, to discuss how communication and teamwork were key to its success – and how O-I overcame the final hurdle of Covid.

� Jean-Pierre François,

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speaking at the ignition ceremony.

T

here was a small tear in Jean-Pierre François’ eye when furnace 3 at O-I’s Gironcourt plant was ignited in August this year.

The furnace lighting ceremony at the northeast France facility was the culmination of nearly two years of project planning and hard work by the entire team. The €60 million investment in the facility was one of O-I’s largest in nearly two decades and at its peak, nearly 350 people were working on site.

Mr François, O-I’s South West Europe Engineering Lead, was in charge of the project and,

at its culmination, he admits he felt emotional.

He said: “When we heated the furnace and gob loaded the machine after two years on site I had a high level of emotion, and if I remember well a small tear in my eye. It was like a baby was finally here.

“To shepherd the project from A to Z was a great feeling and I will never forget it.”

Expansion The Gironcourt expansion was first outlined towards the end of 2018 as a result of increased

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� Furnace 3 was part of a

� The O-I Gironcourt facility.

€60 million investment from O-I at Gironcourt.

demand for more bottles from O-I’s customers.

They had reported an increase in enquires and therefore wanted to grow their businesses, as well as increase the appreciation of glass.

The Gironcourt facility, which specialises in beer bottle production and is strategically located close to the German border, was the ideal location to invest in.

Mr François, who has worked for the company for 22 years, was chosen to lead the project.

He said: “I was surprised at first and quickly recognised what a privilege it was to be chosen.

The organisation had placed their confidence in me so I had to demonstrate that they had made a good decision.

“With our team, we wanted to do something that would be dedicated to what was needed and, above all, that would produce the right bottles to satisfy customer and consumer requirements.”

While Mr François had worked on manufacturing projects before, nothing was on the same scale as the Gironcourt investment. His first task was to draw up a communication structure which would ensure all stakeholders were kept informed of developments at each stage of the programme. Its purpose was to ensure that everyone was aligned in order to drive the build of the furnace.

All dimensions were covered in the communication plan and included health and safety, quality, customers, engineering, manufacturing, legal, technical, HR, communications and supply chain. The communication structure was created in January 2019 and was only dropped in autumn this year.

“It was an important project, quite long, that required good lines of communication so everyone was clear on their responsibilities.

“This structure of roles and responsibilities was crucial to the success of the project. If we did not have a structure where everyone understood what had to be done and what their counterparts were doing, it could have been a failure.”

Continued>>

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Communication

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Company profile: O-I’s Gironcourt facility

Meanwhile the internal communication continued throughout the duration of the assignment. An internal newsletter was launched which informed existing staff at the plant of all progress on the new furnace. The facility’s two other furnaces continued to produce glass while construction work took place and it was important for staff to know of milestones and updates from the building site.

Lastly from a communication perspective, every two weeks Mr François would meet O-I’s then European President Vitaliano Torno to update him on progress.

� Gironcourt specialises in the production of beer bottles.

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Training Gironcourt-sur-Vraine is located in a rural area of France and the next challenge was to hire 60 new employees and to train them in glass manufacturing.

It was then that O-I’s Human Resources department became key. In conjunction with the regional authorities, it held a series of job fairs to source new members of staff. The local authorities and mayors remained key to the project throughout, with a steering committee meeting every two months to provide regional governments with progress updates.

The world’s largest container glassmaker received more than 800 resumes for the 60 positions at the new furnace. It had a dedicated organisation to filter the applicants. Once the new workers were hired they received more than 50,000 man hours of training about the glass manufacturing process and the different specialities they would work in. They received training in a classroom as well as on the shop floor, shadowing staff on the site’s furnaces 4 and 5 to ensure they reached the requiste level of know-how required.

A typical furnace rebuild would have approximately 200 people on site but such was the scale of this investment that, at its peak, there were 340 people on site. These were divided throughout the facility, from the batch plant to the palletiser.

Covid The project was running on schedule when, in March this year, the Covid pandemic struck and France went into lockdown. The installation had reached a critical stage of construction, with the erection of the furnace and the chambers within the oven. Team members discussed how to stop the

“People are key in our business. Alone we can fail but we cannot succeed.

As a team we always find solutions, always innovative and are always able to move

”

forward.

construction in a manner that it would be able to restart easily and without jeopardising anything.

Mr François admits it was heartbreaking to be so close to their end goal when the lockdown rules came into play.

He said: “The project was a rollercoaster of emotion and this moment was a big one. But it was the same all over the globe, we didn’t complain and we discussed what we had to do.”

After a long discussion, the group implemented specific procedures to stop and restart the furnace without jeopardising construction, and which would also be carried out in a safe way.

Despite the hurdle caused by Covid, the furnace was successfully ignited on August 27 this year during a lighting ceremony attended by local dignitaries and senior O-I executives.

Mr François said he felt tremendous gratitude when the furnace was ignited. One was as a result of the feedback from the people who were working on the new furnace.

He said: “The main satisfaction has been the positive feedback from our key customers. We engaged them throughout the project and finally had the chance to deliver the first bottle to them.

“It was exactly the bottle we expected to have so there was great satisfaction in that, not just for me but for the company, because we built the furnace exactly for them.”

Despite his experience in manufacturing, Mr François still learnt a lot from the two-year operation. He will deploy those skills gained on this project on any future assignment, even if it is of smaller scale to this one.

“If we want to be successful in such a project there is a simple recipe: people, teamwork and passion. I met extraordinary women and men within O-I and externally and I think we learned from each other and we are much stronger for the next project.

“People are key in our business. Alone you can fail but you cannot succeed. As a team we always find solutions, always innovate and are always able to move forward.

“I can also say that nothing is possible without passion. I can tell you the glass industry has a singular thing and that is passion. For me, if you have passion, teamwork, and good people, you can succeed in every project.” �

www.o-i.com

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Recycling: Ardagh Group

Ardagh Group recently won a Sustainability Award for its method of producing remeltable briquettes. Brendan O’Meara* describes the process.

O

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nce collected for recycling, glass contains certain contaminants which must be removed by processing at a glass recycling plant to ensure the maximum amount of glass collected is suitable for remelt. These contaminants include: � Organics (paper, plastics, caps, rings, and labels) � Inorganics (ceramics, Stones, Porcelains or CSP) � Metals (ferrous and non-ferrous) � Heat-resistant and lead glass.

During this processing, and as a result of breakages incurred in collection, around 10% of the recovered glass (cullet) will be broken into small particles, typically <4mm, also referred to as ‘fines’. The fraction size of this material is too small to be sorted by current sorting equipment technology.

The fines cannot be remelted in the furnace as they contain high levels of loose organics and fine particle CSP which can cause defects in the containers, such as blistering and particle inclusions. They also cause foaming in the furnaces which forms an insulation on the surface of the molten glass and requires additional energy to penetrate and continue the melting process.

For these reasons, in the UK market, around 10% of recovered cullet is diverted into aggregate or ends up in landfill: a cradle to grave scenario, as it can never be recovered.

Ardagh Group has embarked on a project to achieve full recyclability of collected glass containers, by developing a method to produce remeltable

Ardagh Group celebrates sustainability award for its remeltable briquettes process

briquettes from the fines, which can be safely used in the furnace to make new glass bottles and jars.

Ardagh’s research and development has culminated in the design of a processing plant to close the recycling loop and use 100% of recycled glass containers recovered through the various collection systems across the UK. The plant will be the first commercial type in the world.

Background For more than 12 years Ardagh has been at the forefront of initiatives to increase the percentage of cullet used in glass batch recipes for container glass. Ardagh considers cullet to be the most important but also most volatile raw material. Cullet has long been a component of the batch recipe for producing container glass, but the quality of the cullet is critical for container production.

To address all aspects of cullet, Ardagh took a decision to initiate a Cullet Team, responsible for all aspects of the procurement process for cullet with a

focus on: � Improvement of the quality of the delivered cullet � Defining specifications for allowed contaminant values to increase cullet use � Engagement with cullet suppliers and equipment manufacturers in a partnership approach to improve the cullet quality.

The Cullet Team is given executive support by Ardagh’s Chief Sustainability Officer, emphasising the importance placed on sustainability and the Circular Economy. Their endeavours have greatly improved the quality of the processed cullet procured through positive engagement with suppliers and cullet processing equipment manufacturers.

Recovery of the lost 10% represented the next challenge.

Fines Recovery Research and Development The project to transform the fines into a briquette is driven by the known benefits of using cullet:

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Recycling: Ardagh Group

rudimentary production line for a scaled trial of briquettes into an Ardagh furnace.

The line was able to produce 150 tonnes of briquettes which were successfully melted in a controlled trial in Ardagh’s Knottingley glass facility.

The success of the trial encouraged the project team to move to the final stage. The goal was to achieve a more robust briquette with the physical properties to be transported, handled and stored without deterioration. The resulting briquettes were then subjected to various tests: immersion in water, compression testing, drop testing and High Temperature Melting Observation Studies (HTMOS) and performed excellently.

Following on from the success of the initial trial, Professor Paul A. Bingham of Sheffield Hallam University has published an article2 on the positive effects of using briquettes in the batch recipe.

Ardagh Group’s briquettes created from glass fines

� Reduced energy consumption. For every 10% of cullet used, energy costs are reduced by 2-3%. � For every 6 tonnes of cullet used, carbon dioxide is reduced by 1 tonne. A 10% increase in cullet reduces particulates by 8%, nitrogen oxide by 4%, and sulphur oxides by 10%. � Reduced environmental impact of raw material quarrying. � Over a tonne of natural resources are conserved for every tonne of glass recycled, including 1,300 pounds of sand, 410 pounds of soda ash, 380 pounds of limestone, and 160 pounds of feldsparl.

In addition to these incremental increases, there are additional benefits: � For a plant processing 100,000 tonnes per annum of collected glass 10,000 tonnes will be diverted away from landfill. Glass recycler, URM, forecast their plants diverting 50,000 tonnes per annum away from aggregate and landfill into briquetting. � Reduced CO2 emissions and fuel consumption from transporting waste.

� The additional cullet volumes available as briquettes will help to achieve the objective of 95% cullet and 5% raw materials within the glass batch.

Partners During the initial concept and Research & Development phase, Ardagh engaged with CelSian Glass & Solar, located in The Netherlands, which carried out 18 laboratory experiments to determine the ideal Briquette recipe.

Wrights Engineering joined the project during the Plant Design and Product Improvement phase, working with Sheffield Hallam University to optimise the recipe, with the goal of reducing the percentage of binding agent required, as this constituted the most expensive part of the recipe and was essential to make the project viable.

Ardagh supported a successful application by Wrights and Sheffield Hallam University for grant support for their research and development. This grant allowed Wrights to produce a

References 1 https://www.gpi.org/why-recycleglass 2 Article in International Journal of Applied Glass Science 10(1) August 2018 h t t p s : / / w w w. r e s e a r c h ga t e . n e t / p u b l i c a t i o n /3 2 6 8 8 4 8 5 2 _ M e l t i n g _ Behaviour_of_Waste_Glass_Cullet_ Briquettes_in_Soda-Lime-Silica_ Container_Glass_Batch This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

* Cullet Process Engineer Glass-Europe, Ardagh Group www.ardaghgroup.com

www.glass-international.com

� Ardagh Group’s briquettes created from glass fines

Commercialisation of the briquetting process is the final step, and after extensive assessment of equipment, Wrights has designed a detailed plant to produce commercially viable briquettes.

Ardagh’s Cullet Process Engineer, Brendan O’Meara, said: “The ability to use 100% of recycled glass to make new glass containers is a significant achievement which will reduce the need for raw materials, reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions, and improve the environmental impact of glass packaging.

“We are incredibly proud that this initiative has been recognised with a Sustainability Award and is a finalist in several other glass and recycling industry awards.” �

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Recycling

The Realities of Glass Recycling

T

here is an ideology that glass is infinitely recyclable and can be made into new glass repeatedly without degrading its quality.

Even though this may be possible in an ideal world, the realities are far more challenging. The public, industry and even Government have consistently been mis-informed and ill-advised as to what is realistic and practical.

The industry faces many challenges, but none greater than misinformation.

It is a technical impossibility for all used glass to be considered as furnace ready feedstock, this is grossly misleading in so many ways resulting in a large percentage of waste glass ending up in landfill as daily cover or used as a low value aggregate substitute.

People need to understand the whole recycling process, its challenges, regionality and which technologies are available and capable of processing 100% of all incoming glass, significantly enhancing the quality of all waste glass, not just that considered as Remelt feedstock.

Promoting the use of cullet as being low CO2 is misleading, the reality is the CO2 is calculated as arriving at the furnace with no CO2 footprint from its recovery, reprocessing or disposal of glass not

suitable for Remelt.

All Remelt furnaces require high quality feedstock to minimise rejects and maintain quality. Almost all used glass containers have some form of label, cap, seal or sleeve. For an optical sorter to operate the glass bottle must be broken, labels removed or abraded, and necks crushed to remove sealing rings and caps.

This action of breaking and crushing creates a quantity of glass too small for cost effective optical colour sorting.

At the most basic level of processing and recovery the message of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the only true glass recycling is bottle to bottleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is already challenged.

There are many other factors which challenge the cost effectiveness of producing furnace ready cullet such as furnace capacity, distance, collection strategies, MRF design, quality and value.

In almost all cases it is the low value of glass which determines its status within the waste hierarchy. Currently most collection systems and MRF lines consider glass as a low value material and treat it accordingly, often removing it early in the process along with heavily contaminated rejected materials.

Often this material is sieved at 12mm (1/2â&#x20AC;?) to remove the fines for landfill daily cover and the remainder sent for further

cleaning, processing and recovery.

Clearly source segregated glass collections is the best way of maintaining glass quality, but the costs are often too high to be economically viable, while all the time glass has a low or negative value.

It is this vicious cycle which is a factor in holding back the development of glass recycling.

To increase the uptake of glass collection and remove the glass from MRF, 100% of incoming glass must be adequately monetised to warrant the investment.

Spain, Portugal, China and Thailand are a few countries which have a Remelt capacity equal to its consumption.

Often a country will produce a bottle colour which is different to that of the containers being imported, whether that be green for wine or amber for beer, a perfect example of a mismatch between Remelt capacity and glass consumption is that of the USA. With a conservative Remelt capacity of circa 5 million tonnes across all states and consumers generating 12.5 million tonnes of waste container glass annually there will always be challenges for any recycler.

Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

Steve Whettingsteel* discusses how the challenge for all glass recycling businesses is the same, balancing out the environmental issues with the normalisation of a profitable waste and recycling strategy.

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www.glass-international.com

Recycling

It is unfortunate the public, industry Glass that cannot be used for Remelt is and legislators believe ‘bottle to bottle’ is often sized <12mm (1/2”) and comingled with Ceramic, Stone and Porcelain (CSP). the only true recycling.

Inevitably with such disparity between This glass is the most challenging aspect demand and supply in the glass recycling of glass recycling due to its high levels system, like most other countries around of multi product contaminates and the world the USA finds itself in crisis difficulty to be optically colour sorted.

It is key for glass to be in a quality with the vast majority of the 7.5m tonnes surplus going to low value aggregates or appropriate for its intended marketplace for an effective recycling programme landfill as landfill daily cover.

Things are no different in the UK, to exist. Many recycling programmes despite current statistics showing the UK are mandated for a percentage of glass has an excellent recycling rate of 68.8%. recovered to go to Remelt. Where there In fact of the 2.3m tonnes of waste glass is no Remelt site within economic produced, 750k tonnes is used to create distance, such an ill-conceived contract new containers in the UK, 600k is exported ‘to be recycled’ the remainder as landfill daily cover or aggregates. The figure of 68.8% is based on glass being considered to have been recycled if it has gone through a recycling plant and has been weighed on the weighbridge, not that it has been used in the creation of another product.

Additionally, in the UK landfill gate fees are averaging £125 ($160) per tonne. However, like in so many other countries because glass is technically inert it is allowed for use as landfill daily cover and this reduces disposal at landfill to little over £15 ($20) per tonne!

Such a low gate fee is seen as an economically viable option by many for the cullet that cannot be used by the Remelt industry.

It is plain to see from these � Recycled glass aggretwo examples that supply gate being used to infill and demand are not and trench on the Islands of cannot be matched to Remelt.

St Pierre & Miquelon.

In the UK this could be further exacerbated in 2021 when tariffs may apply on exported material destined for consumption in the EU. challenges the economics of any recycling The Challenge programme and often creates a negative The price per tonne paid by the Remelt CO2 footprint. In no way is it suggested industry is proportionally low compared that glass should not be going to Remelt, to say, plastic, but the processing costs just the right glass at the right price in the may often be higher. right location.

In most cases any glass recycler is An efficient glass recycling plan or operating on slim margins which limits strategy requires the buy-in of multiple investment in new technologies that end users, producers, cullet users, could reach new, non Remelt markets. collectors, recyclers and Government.

This results in landfill daily cover Often this is the case, but the message being the lowest cost route of disposal, is ‘glass to glass’ which suits the Remelt something rarely admitted by the industry but handicaps all other industries industry or legislators. as well as the recycler. To convert all glass

there is a need to work with stakeholders to re-focus glass recycling towards the process of ‘economic recovery and re-use of ALL waste glass.’

Solution?

Achieving a higher recycling rate and one which commands lower CO2 across all uses requires several changes. The marketing message needs updating to be more realistic and inclusive.

Any new strategy must consider landfill daily cover as just landfill. As with any well-conceived strategy the economic viability must be at its forefront. When landfill daily cover is considered recycling there needs to be some serious change! The UK has a well-conceived PRN system where a revenue can be generated to help cover the processing costs. In recent times the PRN has been broken down in to Remelt and NonRemelt, following the narrative that in some way Non-Remelt was holding back the value of PRNs, time has proven this not to be correct. In the past PRNs have been issued against the simple crushing of glass as a material suitable for subbase, with little care for quality or cleanliness. It would make sense for this material to have a lower PRN value. However, for markets which require sizeable investments, often greater than that required for cullet, the PRN value should be higher.

Surely it should be the true CO2 value which determines the PRN value. Having a clear indication of the CO2 footprint of recycled glass at its various stages will undoubtably help industrial partners to increase its use of recycled products and decrease their own CO2 footprint.

If CO2 is a major factor in any business strategy, does it not make more sense for the CO2 footprint of any recycled product to determine its value? If the PRN value increases as the CO2 footprint decreases it will surely increase the potential for strategic investment into technology which can process and recycle all glass, not just a proportion.

Continued>>

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Recycling

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� Krysteline K500-C-SC glass recycling plant installed in Malta.

20 0

For example, if there isn’t a Remelt furnace in reasonable proximity to the MRF then surely other marketplaces for the waste glass (where it can be used locally) should be seen as being low CO2.

But, how do we stimulate interest in alternative products to fuel such a system?

Currently there is no independent body/organisation which is focused on the development of the whole glass industry. As always R&D, and the associated universities and industrial partners, is imperative in any successful market development. Considerable work in the commercialisation of glass sand for cement is an example of how industry has cooperated with universities and government to create a low CO2 product which has pent up demand.

The gap between where we are today and what industrial partners want in the future is one which investors find challenging. It takes vision and tenacity to seize an opportunity, change how society thinks and create a strategy more fitting for a modern world.

Technology is evolving fast, optical sorters are improving their efficiency, but still struggle with the economical separation of the smaller sizes.

The <12mm material has always been the challenge, its diversity of contaminate, variable moisture content as well as putrescible content challenge most systems.

A higher quality standard than PAS 102 could lead to a terracing of product quality, PRN & CO2 values and support a

system where industry cooperates with legislators to develop products and create demand. Creating an independent glass authority could provide the conduit between industry, the recyclers and investors.

End Markets Establishing and developing economic markets for the <12mm (1/2”) glass with a low CO2 footprint is driving innovation.

A few examples of products are: 1. Cementitious materials, as supplements to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) 2. Silicon Fertilisers 3. Foam glass 4. Fibreglass & Glass wool 5. Asphalt sand 6. Water filtration 7. Expendable abrasive 8. Fillers for plastic, paint, adhesives, mastic and caulking No Remelt industry exists in many locations around the world and exporting is prohibitive. Creating sustainability and employment by creating an aggregate substitute for French drains, trench fill and pre-cast concrete blocks is a low CO2 use of waste glass in these areas. A wellconceived cost effective plant will produce quality aggregates to replace marine sand often the cause of ASR in concrete due to its high salinity.

Krysteline Strategy The start point of any recycling initiative

in any country or region should be the capability to recycle effectively while establishing a variety of markets across several industries to create a stable platform and revenue stream.

Our technology is developed from a different perspective than others. We sought solutions for the enhancement of the most challenging glass in the waste stream, recovering and refining glass which cannot be used in the Remelt industry. A range of technologies provide processing plants and solutions for a diverse global market.

Krysteline’s technology and strategy is not designed to use Remelt cullet as feedstock for other marketplaces, our partnership with Picvisa is proof we consider all glass equally in each project and committed to long term sustainability of a process which creates an ultra-high quality cullet for Remelt through our glass clean-up systems which enhance cullet quality prior to optical sorting.

Krysteline understands for some people, producing non Remelt could be considered detrimental. But it is clear a greater understanding of the current system and the issues it faces is vital for its survival. It’s time to develop a more inclusive strategy one of ‘Glass recycling, the process of economic recovery and use of ALL waste glass’. �

*CEO & Managing Director, Krysteline Technologies Ltd, Southampton, UK www.krysteline.com

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Recycling

Two companies combine their expertise for glass recycling Dr. Sebastian Woltz* and Helmut Killinger** discuss a new glass partnership which gives customers expert knowledge and experience from a batch house and cullet specialist and a cullet sorting specialists. view of a cullet sorting specialist.

Introduction of the companies EME, a member of the SORG Group, is active in the field of raw material, batch and cullet handling for all sectors of the glass industry. Turn-key plants and single components, process technology, project definition and planning, construction and engineering, project managing, installation and commissioning are provided by EME. As a result of increasing demands and requests from our key customers to be involved as a strategic partner in glass recycling and sorting projects, EME is currently very active in this market.

KRS Recycling Systems, a partner company of Sesotec, engineers and delivers separators, as well as turnkey plants for the glass recycling industry.

KRS provides customised concepts and has various optical sorters, in-house technology and know-how for crushing and drying, as well as for organic

separation. Although, KRS already delivered many sorting systems and recycling lines for the container and flat glass industry, its primary focus was customers from the waste glass recycling industry (Pic 1, above).

Glass Recycling The proportion of post-consumer recycled (PCR) material has continuously increased in the recent years for all types of glass, including container glass, flat glass or fibre glass. This increased cullet demand has resulted in a higher expectation for the specification and quality of the recycled glass, especially in regard of contaminants that are difficult to be sorted because of their special shape or colour. Impurities delivered with the recycled glass, such as CSP, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals or organics have a significant impact on the final product quality and thus on the productivity of Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

T

he glass industry works continuously on its commitment to circular economy by increasing the proportion of recycled glass used in production. This results in saving natural resources and energy as well as reducing the carbon dioxide emissions. As a result of evolving technical and quality requirements from the glass producers on their suppliers, EME and KRS Recycling Systems are pleased to announce our undertaking of a strategic partnership agreement.

This partnership formalises our existing strong partnership and provides a strategic focus on the individual requirements of glass producers onsite requirements.

Combined, both companies have over a century of experience in the glass industry and have large market share in their respective areas. With the combination of these two major players, customers get expert knowledge and experience from the view of a batch house and cullet treatment specialist, as well as from the

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� Pic 2: Pilot Recycling Plant.

a glass furnace. Due to the increasing importance of post-consumer recycled material, glass producers can no longer only rely on external waste glass recycling companies to deliver the required quality but must have their own capabilities to reliably control on the incoming quality of the glass cullet.

The decision for the partnership between EME and KRS was based on the ever-increasing interest and demand of customers to implement sorting machines, as well as advanced glass recycling systems apart from the traditional waste glass recyclers.

Therefore, constant development and optimisation on the single machines, as well as the complete process are necessary and the input of different viewpoints of various specialists in their fields is an essential advantage.

These onsite solutions have various advantages, primarily a higher quality can be achieved due to the elimination of additional contamination from external sources during storage and transport of the cullet to the glass plant as well as additional quality control before entering the batch house.

www.glass-international.com

Glass recycling test facility Together, EME and KRS offer equipment for all steps of the cullet treatment process, including cullet preparation (handpicking, crushing, screening, drying), contamination removal (organic separators, ferrous separators, nonferrous separators, CSP-sorters, heatresistant and lead glass sorters) colour sorting (e.g. flint-amber-green-other).

All projects are designed and engineered in accordance with individual customer needs. It is worth mentioning that KRS has installed a pilot recycling plant on its premises in Neuschönau , Germany.

At this pilot plant it is possible to test sample input cullet from individual customers with the original machines and equipment that will be later installed at the customer’s site. Thus, the quality of the input materials can be precisely defined and/or verified. Additionally, the type and number of required machines can be tested and the quality of the output

� Pic 3: Glass Recycling Technology.

Sensor systems*

Detection of

C

COLORS and CSP

C-C

Improved CSP-detection, e.g. for differentiation of dark-glass from CSP

X

HR (heat resistant glass)

Fo

Pb (leaded glass)

M

Metals (ferrous and non-ferrous)

N** Plastics *All sensor systems for the FLASH separators can be combined and are upgradable in one sorter, e.g. K9 Flash MXC-C-Fo+N ** Only available for K9 separator project

material approved. This is especially important when difficult impurities must be sorted out (pic 2).

Optical Sorting Technology The key equipment of a glass recycling plant is the sensor based optical sorting system. KRS, one of the world-wide technology leaders, developed in collaboration with Sesotec, two different systems: ‘Spektrum’ (free fall system) and ‘K9’ (horizontal belt conveyor sorting system).

With the ‘Spektrum’ system, the cullet is transported via a vertical chute to the sorter. The sensor is positioned behind the gliding plate and the contamination (e.g. CSP, metal, off-colour) is detected and ejected in gravity fall. The ‘Spektrum’ consists of two high resolution line cameras and can detect contamination even under wet conditions.

The horizontal system ‘K9’ is the newest generation of separation technology

available for dried cullet. The cullet is transported horizontally via a belt conveyor to the optical sorting machine.

Due to the efficient dimensions, compact design, the breakage of glass cullet is minimised. In addition, the machine is more precise and efficient and less steel construction is needed (pic 3).

Both systems are built up modular and have optional different sensor systems available (Table 1-above).

Outlook As the two companies are committed to innovation and creating customer focused solutions, we are excited about the many advantages such a partnership can offer to the market. �

*Sales Director, EME, Erkelenz, Germany **CEO, KRS Recycling Systems, Neuschönau, Germany www.eme.de, hwww.krsrecyclingsystems.us/

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This highly flexible laboratory module can be installed at the hot end, the cold end or in the laboratory. It loads the container automatically and makes a 3D scan, generating an image composed of millions of facets.

The 3D image can be rotated and “dissected” on all sides. Virtual volume, capacity, and vacuity can be measured as well as glass distribution fully mapped.

You can also analyse engraving, embossing and much more. Practically all container types and shapes can be inspected and it’s non-destructive because the image (and not the container itself) is “cut” virtually.

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Recycling: Zippe

Zippe delivers in the field of glass recycling Zippe Industrieanlagen is a German batch and cullet systems specialist and recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. It also specialises in the field of glass recycling for glass factories, states Markus Werner*. recommended to apply a label removing system. As a last step, the cullet will be sorted according to the required colours.

Synergies of Competences To handle projects in the field of recycling optimally, Zippe works together with specialists in the area of sorting systems.

Here, the company Binder + Co is an important partner to Zippe.

Sequence of a Recycling Process In many cases, manual sorting stations are included in the post-consumer glass recycling plants after the cullet addition in order to allow a first sorting out of large foreign substances.

After that whole bottles and big cullet will be crushed to achieve a subsequent efficient sorting process.

Suction equipment is also often integrated at the beginning of a recycling plant to extract light materials such as paper or light plastic parts. Here, a special organic separator will be applied by means of which the light materials will be separated from the heavy glass with the help of a ventilator.

To minimise the ejection of wrong cullet (because of existing labels), it is

� Zippe’s CEO, Dr Philipp Zippe at a commissioning of a recycling plant.

Its systems do not only separate various impurities such as ceramics, stones, or porcelain (CSP) from the cullet, but also detect and eliminate metals by means of a metal detector. Furthermore, it is also possible to detect heat-resistant or leaded glass by means of special sensors which will be integrated if required by the customer.

Since each of these sorting machines

has several sorting stages, sorting will be executed additionally according to colours – apart from the disturbing substances.

Depending on customer requirements (information as to incoming material and required sorting quality) several sorting systems can be connected in series.

All-inclusive According to customers’ information, Zippe and its partners will design, construct, and offer optimum plants – internationally! The customer decides, if he likes to receive an offer “only” about basic engineering, equipment, installation supervision, and commissioning by Zippe, or e.g., also services like steel work, on site construction, and trainings.

Each customer will be advised individually by Zippe with its extensive experiences.

The higher-level control, which is also being developed and designed by Zippe, controls all processes of the applied machines.

Of course, the quotation by Zippe also comprises a layout. This already indicates important information as for example building dimensions and the positioning of the machines.

In this way the customer can estimate far in advance which buildings and what amount of space will be required.

Modifications to adapt the new recycling plant to any existing structures will be realised by Zippe in direct communication with the customer.

Current projects Zippe has already designed and commissioned several batch plants for Thai customer Siam Glass.

Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

Z

ippe Industrieanlagen installed the first recycling plants with CSP devices 35 years ago, and has continued to innovate since then.

Recycling has become more important.

What used to be the norm in industrial countries in earlier times, is now on the agenda in almost all countries of the world.

However, there are still big differences in the quality of the collection systems.

Thus, in some countries, for example, the raw material glass is being collected and then sorted according to its colour.

Whereas in other countries glass is being collected completely mixed. Also, the proportion of foreign substances (metals, ceramics, waste in general …) differs from country to country.

All this information as well as the required capacity of the plant are discussed between Zippe and the customer at the beginning to work out a recycling plant according to customer needs.

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Recycling: Zippe

ďż˝ An overview of a simple recycling plant.

The scope of its last order comprised a recycling plant including metal and non-ferrous metal separation, organic separation, ceramics, stone and porcelain separation (CSP) as well as colour separation. The capacity of the first expansion stage was 30 t/h. With an adjustment ordered at a later stage, the capacity was enlarged to 45 t/h.

Furthermore, a label remover was added during a later modification in order to minimise the ejection of labelled cullet.

Zippe has designed and delivered the complete plant control system as well as all core components like sieving and magnetic technology and optical sorting machines from company Binder + Co. Another recycling plant will soon be built in Tunisia. This recycling plant has been developed for Zippe customer Sotuver.

In this plant, coarse impurities are eliminated at manual sorting stations at first.

Subsequently, the cullet will be conveyed to a two-roller-crusher.

When the cullet has been crushed to an optimum size, it will be transported via an Eddy current separator.

Here, magnetic metals will be removed again before non-magnetic metals (e.g. aluminium) will be eliminated.

After removal of all metals, the cullet will be transported to a screen where all fragments < 8 mm will be sieved. In the following sorting system, foreign materials like ceramics, stones, and porcelain (CSP) will be removed.

Now the cullet is completely processed for the customer and can be added to the melting process. The capacity of this plant is 15 t/h.

Conclusion In summary, Zippe is not only able to design and plan individual glass recycling factories but also supplies all necessary equipment and control systems.

Furthermore, its scope of services also comprises the installation and the commissioning of these plants.

Further services like error elimination and so on are certainly quality standards for all plants.

To be available 24 hours a day for our customers via our hotline is equally selfevident for us. Thus, Zippe in cooperation with its technology partners, can supply high-end plants in the field of glass recycling technology. ďż˝

*Project Planning, Zippe Industrieanlagen, Wertheim, Germany www.zippe.de

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recycling plant.

28 0 Glass International November 2020

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Recycling

The PRN system is ripe for reform not replacement Replacing the PRN system with an ‘all-in’ deposit return scheme is not the answer for glass says Recresco director Tim Gent.

O

ver the last 40 years, the UK has worked hard to increase packaging recycling rates through a combination of heightened consumer awareness, kerbside waste collections and enhanced regulation around packaging producers.

The Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) system which provides evidence that obligated businesses have met producer responsibility requirements of the Packaging Waste Regulations, has undoubtedly helped to drive this change.

The system, while not perfect, does what it was designed to do; it increases recycling rates.

For glass, the PRN system has helped the glass industry achieve one of the UK’s highest recycling rates of any packaging material at 68.8%.[1] Glass also has well established household collection schemes for recycling that have proven extremely effective in changing consumer behaviour and supporting the circular economy.

There is no doubt the PRN system works, however there is room for improvement.

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The move towards DRS There has been a lot of focus lately on a proposed deposit return scheme (DRS) as an alternative way to drive recycling rates in the UK. Earlier this year, the Scottish parliament voted in favour of an ‘all-in’ DRS for Scotland which will take effect from July 1st, 2022. More recently a group of MPs lobbied the Prime Minister to extend the all-in DRS to the rest of the UK with the intention of driving recycling rates to meet increased targets. However those in the glass industry including waste management experts, British Glass and FEVE have raised serious concerns warning that imposing DRS on glass will be counterproductive with the potential to reduce rather than increase glass recycling; posing a greater environmental

threat in the long term.

Under DRS, consumers are incentivised with a deposit refund to return rather than discard used packaging and bottles.

DRS is already widely used across Europe, however evidence of a move towards single use plastics as a direct result of glass being included in DRS is a worrying development. Indeed Germany reported a 60% increase in single use plastic consumption after including glass in its DRS[2].

The 2018 Raise the Glass Study commissioned by FEVE to assess the impact of mandatory � Tim Gent DRS measures clearly showed that including glass in a deposit return scheme did not increase glass recycling rates and none of the top six countries leading the way in glass recycling (Belgium, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland and Austria) include glass in the DRS.[3] Germany provides another useful example boasting the most successful glass recycling rate for a glass inclusive DRS country however, more than 80% of the total recycled is collected through the established bottle bank system; not the DRS[4].

Reform the current system Both Sweden and Austria consistently excel in glass recycling through an efficient bottle bank system and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

DRS puts kerbside glass recycling at risk by diverting glass packaging away from kerbside and bottle bank collections potentially leading more glass into landfill as the convenience of putting heavy glass

packaging into the household recycling bin is removed.

The most effective way to drive glass recycling rates is to make the current system work harder. One of the main issues which must be addressed is the current remelt/aggregate differential which was designed to encourage glass into remelt but simply doesn’t go far enough.

There is room for a significant increase in the differential which would encourage recyclers to properly invest in effective sorting technology to deliver remelt grade end product.

With the current PRN value almost equal for crushed or remelted glass, there is little incentive for recyclers to make the financial commitment required to remelt.

By increasing the differential more would make its way back to a sustainable quality product that can be reused and recycled again and again.

The current system is a good one that works, but it is also notoriously complicated, unregulated and open to misuse and even fraud.

The circular economy relies upon a joined-up approach that ensures resources are used repeatedly for as long as possible and waste is minimised.

Revenue generated from PRN sales funds better recycling practices and more sustainable packaging production.

It is time to challenge the industry by reforming the PRN system to unlock the full potential of an already successful glass recycling model with proven results. �

Recresco, UK https://recresco.com

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Event review: Soda Ash conference

Glass under the spotlight at soda ash conference Soda ash is a pivotal raw material in glassmaking and glass provides the largest market for soda ash. The recent IHS Markit World Soda Ash online conference included a session devoted to Prospects for Glass, where four glass experts provided updates.

The Indian glass industry expects a V shaped recovery in 2021, a soda ash conference was told.

Bharat Somany, President of the All India Glass Manufacturers Federation (AIGMF), provided an Indian Glass Industry Outlook during the IHS Markit World Soda Ash Conference recently.

A combination of government stimulus, consumer choices and planned expansions will ensure the container glass segment grows in future years, he said.

While the beer and liquor glass sectors have suffered a knockback as a result of lockdowns, the pharma and food segments are anticipated to record huge growth post Covid.

Mr Somany began by outlining the history of the glass industry in India.

Firzobad is the Glass City of India where production of glass began in the 17th century.

Mass glass manufacturing began in 1946 with the formation of HNG, followed by global companies such as AGI, Piramal Glass, Asahi and Saint-Gobain in subsequent years.

Today, modern technologies common to the world are used in the production of container and float glass in India, he said.

The Indian glass container market is estimated to be worth around $1.1billion.

Current consumption of container glass in India is 1.8kg per person, which compares to 89kg per person in South Korea, 50.5kg per person in Germany and 27.5kg per person in the USA. “There is huge potential for the glass industry to grow in India,” Mr Somany said.

The Alco-Bev, pharma and food segments are expected to see the most growth in future.

The Alco-Bev segment will grow at a

fast pace because of the increase in India’s population - a total of 19 million new consumers enter the legal drinking age every year, for example.

Food spending in India is expected to grow at 10% CAGR. Glass is currently the preferred choice for premium milk shakes, yogurts and flavoured milk.

The carbonated soft drink market is experiencing a slowdown driven by the availability of healthier alternatives and high taxes. Global brands have shifted their containers from glass to PET. India’s pharma sector is expected to be a manufacturing hub compared to the rest of the world in future.

Its pharmaceutical packaging market is expected to be $3.57 billion by the end of 2023 at a CAGR of 9.2%.

The share of glass packaging in liquid formulations is high due to safety and longevity factors.

India’s installed container glass capacity is approximately 11,600 tonnes a day, which is set to grow as a result of announced expansion projects.

The companies with the largest capacities are HNG, AGI, CP Glass and Piramal Glass.

Lockdowns and business outages as a result of the pandemic caused a reduction in container glass demand ranging from 24% to 33% depending on the region in India.

But while the pandemic has reduced beer and liquor demand for the time being, the pharma and food sectors are expected to have huge growth post Covid.

“Covid has changed the market dynamics”, Mr Somany said. People are more cautious and are choosing better, healthier packaging.

The industry expects a second round of Indian government stimulus to boost manufacturing and demand in the new year.

The IHS Markit World Soda Ash Conference took place online between October 19 and 22. �

Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

Indian overview

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Event review: Soda Ash conference

INCREASING GLASS COLLECTION FOR RECYCLING The European Glass Container Federation (FEVE) discussed its platform to increase cullet collection, during a recent soda ash conference.

Stefano Cassano, Chairman of the Circular Economy Group spoke about FEVE’s Close the Glass Loop cullet collection scheme which aims to recoup 90% of recycled glass.

He told the IHS Markit World Soda Ash Conference online that the scheme involved all stakeholders from the European glass industry, brands and

customers, municipalities around Europe and 80% of national countries.

The remaining 20% of countries are anticipated to be involved soon.

The 90% target is a big challenge he said, which is currently at 70%.

The platform was launched in June with the full support of the European Environmental commissioner.

“We are just at the starting point but we expect to get big results in the next years,” he said.

He added that CO2 emission reduction

was a key priority for the sector and that customers were increasingly asking for environmentally friendly products.

The more cullet that is used in the glass manufacturing process means fewer CO2 emissions, less energy used and fewer natural resources used.

Just 10% of cullet used leads to a 5% reduction in CO2 emissions and 2.5% reduction in energy use. At the same time, 1 tonne of cullet used means a reduction of 1.2 tonnes of raw material used so cullet is very important.

GLASS CRUCIAL AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

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Flat glass products and recycling is making a contribution in the fight against climate change, a conference was told.

Cedric Janssens, Public Affairs Manager at flat glass association Glass for Europe, told the World Soda Ash Conference that glass is part of the solution in the fight against climate change.

“Glass is a fantastic material from an environmental perspective, it is infinitely recyclable and in flat glass we make products that make possible the reduction of emissions in other sectors of the economy.”

An example of this was a recent study between Glass for Europe and Dutch research group TNO, which found that

up to 30% of energy consumption in buildings could be saved by replacing windows from single to double or triple glazing.

He added: “The starting point of this presentation is that we acknowledge there is global warming and there is a need to act. There is a collective responsibility to act as individuals and companies. What can you do to act quickly and smartly?”

While the existing potential of products to reduce emisions needs to be tapped into, ways to reduce emissions even further in the future also needs to be investigated.

“What do we do and when do we do it in terms of action, what is the sequencing?” he said.

“From our perspective there is low hanging fruit such as in the buildings sector where the materials exist to have passive or energy positive buildings.”

Europe has already announced it wishes to double the renovation rate of existing buildings. Future ideas to help ensure Europe is carbon neutral by 2050 include the use of decarbonised fuels such as hydrogen and electric in the glass manufacturing process, the ambition to recycle more end of life building glass, and to invest into R&D to abate process emissions.

“We are at a crucial time in Europe now, we know where we want to land but we have to define what will be our pathway.”

PACKAGING AND ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS Container glass manufacturers will have to focus on the environment if the industry is to continue to thrive, a soda ash conference was told.

The IHS Markit World Soda Ash

Conference was told that schemes such as FEVE’s Close the Glass Loop cullet collection project and the focus on finding alternative furnace fuels show the sector is making a successful

environmental transition.

Matthew Hancock, Principal Analyst at IHS Markit, said historically, glass was the go-to container for most drinks, but this changed when plastics and Continued>>37

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aluminium became more prevalent. In some sectors the materials even superseded glass.

But in recent years glass has benefitted from the shift in public perception of plastic. Glass is seen as the ‘greener’ alternative to plastics because of its recyclability.

But the carbon cost of producing glass needs to be taken into consideration when the two materials are contrasted.

Mr Hancock demonstrated the variability of container glass recycling from region to region.

Glass recycling in the EU is at about 76% but in the US and China it is much lower. Europe has a history of being the world’s largest container glass producing region. Historically it’s also been a large wine and beer producer and consumer.

Container glass has a niche in this sector and is regarded as the packaging material of choice so it is no surprise that Western Europe is the largest producer of container glass. As there are so many glass manufacturing facilities, producers are often close to sources of recycling for glass. Europe has a number of glass recycling facilities and that makes it worthwhile and cost effective for glass producers to recycle glass.

But cullet is heavy and expensive to transport, so for US and Chinese container glass producers it can often be less worthwhile to process and supply it as they are not located close enough to supply demand.

Container glass remains key to soda ash and accounts for about 18% of total soda ash demand. Europe is the largest demand sector for soda ash where it accounts for about 38% of that total. So it is important for soda ash that container glass remains a key packaging material.

“In a post Covid world where we’re all more aware of environmental issues producers will have to take into consideration the environmental impact of glass, particularly compared to other packaging materials such as plastics and aluminium especially as plastic has become more recyclable,” said Mr Hancock.

“What does this mean in reality? It means increasing recycling infrastructure, increasing incentives to recycle, it also means improvements in furnace technology, which is happening, and how these furnaces are powered.

“It is clear that this transition is happening, there are great examples such as FEVE and how the container glass industry is decarbonising.

“Moving forward that is the way that the container glass sector will continue to thrive post Covid.”

Contact details IHS Markit World Soda Ash Conference online: https://ihsmarkit.com/events/World-Soda-Ash-Conference-2020/overview.html

The All India Glass Manufacturers Federation: www.aigmf.com European Container Glass Federation: www.feve.org Glass for Europe: https://glassforeurope.com/

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37 Glass International November 2020

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Event review: Glass Focus 2020 award winners

British Glass Focus goes virtual After a record number of entries, British Glass has announced the winners of this year’s Glass Focus awards, held virtually for the first time due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

T

he British Glass Focus awards has gone virtual for the first time this year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Despite this, there was a record number of entries.

Commenting on behalf of the judges, Nick Kirk, Technical Director at British

Glass, said: “This year the quality and number of entries has been extraordinary and a real challenge to judge. Given the current situation, it has been very encouraging to read and see some great examples of products, techniques, and practices from across the industry.

“For the 2020 awards we have received our highest number of entries to date as well as a number from overseas, which is a testament and a real good news story for our industry.”

We find out a bit more about the winners and their entries below.

British Glass, Chapeltown, Sheffield UK https://www.britglass.org.uk/glass-focus-2020

DESIGN OF THE YEAR – FLAT WINNER: NSG PILKINGTON FOR SANITISE GLASS

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In October 2020 Pilkington UK, part of the NSG Group, launched SaniTise, a transparent antimicrobial glass.

SaniTise has a photocatalytic coating which becomes activated when exposed to UV light.

The coating’s photocatalytic properties generate reactive oxygen species which provides activity against enveloped viruses and other microbes.

The photocatalytic process generates reactive oxygen species which provide activity against enveloped viruses and other microbes.

SanITise can be used on the Insulated Glazing Unit’s (IGU) interior surface of building facades, or any exterior shared spaces such as bus stop shelters and zoo enclosures where many different people touch the glass throughout a day.

It could also be used on external facing windows in hospitals, as the coating on the interior surface of the IGU is naturally activated through UV exposure from daylight.

There are also opportunities to use the product in medical devices such as glove boxes and UV sterilisation

chambers, while it can also be installed within buildings when used alongside an artificial UV-LED system.

This is because the product rapidly achieves its full antimicrobial activity upon exposure to the artificial UV light.

Pilkington SaniTise can then be used in applications such as wall cladding, partitions, mirrors, or tabletops.

NSG Pilkington confirmed the product is ready for launch after its antimicrobial properties were independently verified.

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Event review: Glass Focus 2020 award winners

DESIGN OF THE YEAR – CONTAINER Stoelzle took two elements of Japanese culture, the rice wine drink, Sake, and a traditional method of carbonising wood, Yakisugi.

The bottle was produced in black glass, and Stoelzle was able to replicate an authentically tailored wood-like texture on to a carafe style bottle. The bottle is acid-etched, with large embossed logography and a splash of red also helping to create an eye-catching design.

Stoelzle saw an opportunity to design a concept Sake deserves. Its aim was to create a brand that provides a prestigious quality of bottle, both in aesthetics and manufacturing but also that is authentic enough to encompass Japanese culture in more than just name.

Stoelzle developed a variety of 3D wood textures which was then materialised with acid-etched glass.

Carbon Sake is intended to leave a lasting impression on those who see it, touch it or drink from it. The likeness to wood gives the design an edge; it is realistic and instantly recognisable as different. Coupled with the black acidetch finish, it truly embodies Yakisugi.

Stoelzle hope that the unique and confident qualities of the bottle encourage the consumer to use and re-use the bottle as a decanter or as a re-purposed receptacle. Having successfully made the

WINNER: STOELZLE’S CARBON SAKE BOTTLE

design work in glass, Stoelzle was pleased to introduce the design as a concept for the Sake market. True to Japanese culture,

Carbon Sake is the building block of life and is meant to be shared.

into a ’glass antenna’ that improves indoor wireless connectivity, which could mean a reduction of between 15db-20db in the building envelope.

StealthCase licensed its technology to glass manufacturers incorporating the technology. The technology does not require any power or periodic maintenance to function and it is also unaffected by any power outages.

The antennas are invisible to the human eye and hence do not affect the transparency of the glass. They do not cover the entire surface area – instead, a narrow ‘ablation strip’ close to the edge suffices for a typical residential window.

Furthermore, the antennas do not compromise the insulation properties

of the glass (to date, no effect has been detected by its manufacturing partners).

In its default form, the StealthCase technology improves signals of up to 6 GHz frequency band (i.e. the key frequencies used by many public safety/ first responder networks, 3G, 4G, 5G mobile and Wi-Fi networks) but it can also be optimised to enhance only certain part(s) of it as well – for example the first responder network but not the Wi-Fi frequencies due to IT security considerations.

The antenna can be ablated on glass using the manufacturer’s existing equipment, with some modifications. This minimises any disruption to the manufacturing process and the technology adoption costs.

INNOVATIVE SOLUTION

www.glass-international.com

WINNER: STEALTHCASE Indoor spaces are often enveloped by thermally insulating building materials (such as concrete, metal and metal coated low-E windows) that weaken wireless signals.

This means wireless signals can cause problems by pushing wireless devices to operate close to their limit, which ultimately result in slow and unreliable data connections and dropped calls inside buildings.

StealthCase’s patented passive antenna technology mitigates the issue, improving indoor connectivity.

It can be incorporated into glazing by creating a microscopically thin lasered two-dimensional antenna pattern on the glass metal coating. This turns the glass

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Event review: Glass Focus 2020 award winners

SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE WINNER: ARDAGH GROUP In order to achieve 100% recyclability of post-consumer glass containers, Ardagh Group has developed a method of producing briquettes from the fine particle glass rejected during the glass recycling process.

Cullet has long been a component of the batch recipe for producing container glass, but the quality of the cullet is critical.

Collected glass contains various contaminants which make it unsuitable for remelting.

It must undergo processing at a recycling plant to remove contaminants such as plastics, caps and labels; ceramics, stones and porcelains (CSP); metals; heat resistant and lead glass.

Currently, of the collected glass processed into cullet, up to 90% is remelted and the other 10% is diverted to aggregate for road surfacing, to produce sandblasting media or to landfill.

The reason for this 10% loss is the fraction size, which is typically <4mm,

and is referred to as ‘fines’. These fines contain high levels of loose organics and fine particle CSP which cause defects when made into glass containers.

The ‘fines’ also cause foaming in the furnace which forms an insulating layer on the surface of the molten glass and requires additional energy to penetrate and continue the melting process.

For these reasons, the 10% has been an accepted loss for many years.

Ardagh has worked with CelSian glass technologists, Wright Engineering (Wrights) and Sheffield Hallam University to design a processing plant which will turn the glass fines into briquettes,

closing the recycling loop and using 100% of recycled glass containers recovered through the various collection systems across the UK. The plant will be the first commercial type in the world and due to be built in 2021.

By re-purposing materials that are currently diverted to aggregate or landfill to become new glass packaging, reducing energy and emissions in the furnace, the briquettes will improve the environmental impact of glass packaging manufacture.

See article earlier this issue for more information on the briquettes project.

RISING STAR

Erin Miller is a graduate at Encirc, working in the batch and furnace department. Ms Miller joined Encirc via the Cheshire Energy Hub (CEH) graduate programme and has been an outstanding colleague and advocate for Encirc and the glass industry since day one.

The CEH scheme is designed to offer six-month placements across three different organisations to allow a wealth of engineering knowledge to be gained from a diverse range of sectors across industry.

At present Ms Miller is undertaking a secondment from Encirc to Glass Futures, working as a Project Manager to support its industrial fuel switching project.

Erin contributed invaluable

knowledge and research towards this project through producing a report on bio-diesel by comparing the behaviours of the fuel to diesel. Her work and involvement significantly supported the initiation and progress of the biodiesel project.

Ms Miller has played a significant role in Encirc’s ‘Women in Manufacturing’ campaign, which aims to encourage women to pursue a career in manufacturing.

Ms Miller has also been active in supporting British Glass with its Glass Futures Forum, participating in discussions (hosted by British Glass) on how to encourage and make young people aware of the glass industry and the careers available.

www.glass-international.com

WINNER: ERIN MILLER OF ENCIRC

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Event review: Glass Focus 2020 award winners

HEALTH AND SAFETY ACTION As part of NSG Pilkington UK’s Health and Safety day, the company introduced a Wellpoint Health Kiosk.

The machine was supplied free of charge by St Helens council and provided the users with health-related information on cardiovascular fitness, blood pressure and weight.

Employees were able to access the machines at any time of day and were encouraged to do so.

As an older, male dominated workforce,

WINNER: NSG PILKINGTON UK

providing a health screening, when it was not possible to see a health professional, was beneficial as statistically middle-aged men are far less likely to visit their doctor.

It is also believed that monitoring the health and lifestyle of individuals leads to clear actions by employees to improve health. This improved health can lead to increased productivity and reduced losses through sick days.

The kiosk also provided insight into the user’s mental health by asking questions

that can encourage the user to seek medical help if necessary.

Users can see their results on screen, printed out of the machine or emailed to an email address of their choice.

NSG Pilkington was provided with the information with which to analyse the collated data anonymously.

Most participants identified that they would likely or very likely to use a kiosk again. NSGs intend to hire the kiosk every year due to its popularity.

WINNER: ENCIRC

During lockdown, the Encirc workforce was effectively split in two – with officebased employees working from home, and factory staff working safely onsite to continue production of much-needed glass packaging.

Reminding staff of the crucial role of the glass sector was key to maintaining a focused and engaged workforce, and ‘In It Together’ was chosen as the unifying message.

A ‘Thank you’ video message was

worker submissions.

Immediate steps were taken to promote onsite safety for factory workers going into the plants with #InitTogether branded safety messaging displayed on screens around the sites and on posters.

The ‘In It Together’ campaign united the workforce during one of the company’s most challenging periods, helping Encirc support the retail sector with the sustainably packaged goods it desperately needed.

www.glass-international.com

STRENGTHENING BUSINESS THROUGH PEOPLE created for the whole workforce to convey the importance of Encirc’s factory workers during the pandemic.

Two engaging videos and social tiles were also created to reinforce messaging around the vital nature of Encirc’s role and why sustainability during the pandemic was so important. An internal sub-campaign encouraging people to ‘raise a glass’ to their co-workers via a selfie with their favourite glass product was also rolled out on Workplace and received 40

Continued>>

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Event review: Glass Focus 2020 award winners

MARKETING IMPACT WINNER: ALLISTER MALCOLM GLASS FOR ITS ‘BEAUTY, ARTISTRY, CHERISH FOREVER’ CAMPAIGN Allister Malcolm Glass’ ’Beauty, Artistry, Cherish Forever’ is its key message. The goal was to attract new trade customers while also engaging directly with art lovers to entice them to commission Allister Malcolm directly. The challenge for the studio glass artist is to achieve this on a limited budget.

Part of its campaign was to gain more exposure and reach potential clients wishing to commission bespoke one offs.

Allister applied and was selected out of hundreds of applicants for BBCs ‘Home is where the Art is’ which aired in July.

The programme showed how Allister responded to a client’s brief to create a

tailor-made piece of art for their home.

After the show aired, the company noticed a rise in followers across social media.

Product placement of larger scale one off pieces and the completed final piece for the show lead to many one-off bespoke commissions.

Allister Malcolm also appeared on another TV programme in ‘Salvage Hunters - The Restorers’ and also applied to the Crafts Council to become part of the directory.

Lastly, the company has been creating corporate gifts for Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club and its end of

season awards was shared on social media and reached over 35,000 potential new clients (Pictured above).

Recent media coverage has led to fulfilling many bespoke commissions for individual clients.

In a challenging year Allister Malcolm is delighted that its strategy has helped not only survive but increase its brand awareness.

COMPANY OF THE YEAR – ENCIRC

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In announcing the Company of the Year award, British Glass President Dave Dalton said Encirc had participated in a number of projects this year – such as the fuel switching project in its Derrylin, Northern Ireland facility - and was also an active member of British Glass.

Mr Dalton said: “It is a well-deserved win, the company has been involved in a whole range of activities this year, which is spectacular. The management and staff at Encirc have been great advocates of the glass industry.”

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Personality profile: Guenter Lubitz

A career dedicated to the container glass industry Guenter Lubitz has worked in the glass industry for 43 years, rising from an apprentice as a laboratory glass instrument maker to become a member of the board at Vetropack Holding. He recently retired from the company to set up his own consultancy. Here he reflects on the highlights of his career.

1. What did you most enjoy about working in the container glass sector?

The daily interaction with people and technology and to face a new challenge in production every day. In later years I enjoyed working with people from different cultures, such as in Thailand and working for Vetropack with people in seven different countries. Another great opportunity was

the possibility to melt container glass, employing a more advanced method and to further develop the strength properties of container glass and its production technologies.

2. When and how did you enter the industry?

I had my first contact with glass as an industrial material in 1968 because I started and completed a three-year apprenticeship as a laboratory glass instrument maker. This was more of a coincidence.

Originally, I wanted to do an apprenticeship as a chemical laboratory assistant. After my military service in the German Navy, I studied glass and ceramics in Germany.

3 .What have been your career highlights?

My career highlights: � Working three years in Thailand as part of a consulting project at Bangkok Glass Industry; � Planning, constructing and starting-up a new production facility with a 350 tonnes/day furnace and three production lines at Oberland Glas in Wirges after the German reunification together with a competent project team;

� Guenter Lubitz.

Continued>>

CV OF GUENTER LUBITZ � Apprenticeship as laboratory glass instrument maker � Study of glass and ceramic at university of Duisburg, Duisburg, Germany � 1977 – 1985 Production Engineer and Head of Production at VEBA Glas and Oberland Glas Neuburg, Germany � 1985 – 1988 Production Manager and Technical Director at Bangkok Glass Industry, Bangkok, Thailand � 1989 – 1993 Plant Manager at Oberland Glas in Wirges, Germany � 1993 – 1999 Plant Manager and Technical Managing Director at Gerresheimer Glas, Germany � 2000 – 2003 Performance Director and Plant Manager at BSNglasspack, Germany � 2003 – 2020 Managing Director of Vetroconsult and Member of the Executive Board at Vetropack Holding, Switzerland

OTHER ACTIVITIES � � �

Lubitz.indd 1

Board member of German Glass Society, DGG General managing board member of GlassTrend Chairman of International Partners in Glass Research IPGR

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Personality profile: Guenter Lubitz

� Taking over the plant management of Gerresheimer Glas in Düsseldorf, which was at that time the largest container glass plant in Germany - Planning, constructing and collecting experiences with an oxy-fired melter with batch and cullet preheater together with a strong project team at Gerresheimer Glas in Düsseldorf ; � Working on the development of the cased gob process with a team of OI and Gerresheimer specialists; � Integrating the Nemsova plant in Slovakia, the Gostomel plant in Ukraine and the Trezzano plant in Italy into the Vetropack group regarding production and techniques; � Working on the development and commercialisation of thermally-hardened container glass, called VIP glass (Vetropack Improved Performance Glass).

The piece of work I am most proud of is the development and commercialisation of thermallyhardened container glass, VIP Glass.

It took eight years of development in cooperation with Bucher Emhart Glass and a highly motivated Vetropack project team.

and is a clear trend towards weight reduction of glass packaging. Due to cost pressure the industry had to improve productivity through installation of 12-section triple- and quad-gob production forming machines and to reduce headcount.

Worth mentioning are also the significant increase of quality and achieving environmental requirements. Clearly there is a transition towards automation and digitalisation.

5. In your opinion, what are the largest challenges facing the container sector?

4. What have been the biggest changes you have seen in the industry?

The shift of glass packaging for the soft drink and juice segments towards PET in Germany in the 90s. Traditional German companies such as Oberland Glas and Gerresheimer were taken over

by European or international groups. There was

Below, Mr Lubitz with members of the International Partners in Glass Research (IPGR).

In my opinion, the greatest challenge is to achieve the greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2050.

Other challenges are to further develop forming and inspection technology to meet future quality requirements and to remain competitive – and to attract young, well educated people to our industry.

How to tackle them? Despite all efforts to evolve melting technology towards hybrid and hydrogenoxygen-fired furnaces, I expect that there are still a considerable number of conventional furnaces in operation. Due to the lifetime and necessary investment and infrastructure, it will not be possible to replace many of them.

But there will be a trend towards larger furnaces, melting up to 1,000 tonnes per day. By 2050, the forming of container glass will still be performed with today’s processes, but mainly in triple- and quad-forming.

The standard glass forming machine will be fully

What will you miss the most about the container glass sector?

“The contact with interesting colleagues, business partners, industry experts, academics, and so many other individuals

”

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in our industry.

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Personality profile: Guenter Lubitz

servo-driven and all relevant functions will be equipped with closed-loop systems.

Also, the machines will be much easier to job change. Machine segments will be prepared in the workshop and replaced by quick-change systems during job change. With the aid of artificial intelligence, pack to melt has reached a level above 90% with superior quality.

One machine operator supervises two or three glass forming machines.

Swabbing of moulds and mould exchange will be done by robots.

Thanks to automation, only 50% of today’s workforce will be needed, but they will be highly-educated specialists.

By 2050 the cold end lines will be equipped with fewer, but self-learning, inspection machines. So, the main focus of inspection will in future be at the hot end, with immediate feedback to the forming machine and self-correction systems. There will be full traceability of moulds, machine parts and final products. Production will be done on demand, stock levels will be less than 30 days, and inventory will be stored in automated warehouses.

Our success will also certainly depend on finding and keeping the very best personnel and engineers.

6. Is there a single piece of advice you would give to any prospective newcomer about to start work in the glass sector?

Furnace Draining

Recycling Drain

Furnace Heat-Up

The container glass industry is a conservative and cautious industry. To develop our technology further and to achieve changes takes time, perseverance and a willingness to take risks. The glass industry is not a fast-moving industry like IT, for example.

Usually the industry operates its production facilities for 12 years and only then comes the opportunity to introduce technological changes. Although the container glass industry has indeed evolved technologically, individual engagement remains the real foundation for success.

7. Are you optimistic about the future of the sector?

I am extremely optimistic. Glass was first mentioned around 3,000 B.C., and my clear expectation is that container glass will still exist in future and remain the superior packaging material. People have recognised that careful handling of our resources and avoiding waste might help rescue our environment.

By 2050, returnable packaging in Western Europe will be the dominant material. It will not be made from annealed glass, but mainly from thermallyhardened container glass, which is produced in both in-line and off-line processes. Thus, with the same strength properties, the weight of returnable packaging glass can be reduced by up to 50%.

Vetropack has already launched the first 3.5 million “VIP” beer bottles in Austria in 2019.

8. What will you miss the most about the container glass sector?

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Experienced Teams

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WORLDWIDE AVAILABILITY www.hotwork.ag contact@hotwork.ag Tel.: +41 71 649 20 90

The contact with interesting colleagues, business partners, industry experts, academics, and so many other individuals in our industry.

9. What are your future plans personally?

First of all, I will spend more time with my family and I will enjoy my hobbies, like gardening, jogging and fishing.

But I will not retire completely because I still feel fit and active. I would like to make my over 40 years of experience available to the container glass industry. This could be done as part of a consulting project, as I am presently doing for Vetropack.

The optimisation of production, education and support of young managers in production and the execution of special projects are key areas of my possible consulting activities. Based on my extensive network, I can also involve other experienced and retired production specialists if necessary. �

Further information: email: guenter.lubitz@containerglassconsult.com

17/11/2020 12:13:06

Glass engineered to defy flames � Dr. Holger Wack (left), Damian Hintemann (middle) from Fraunhofer UMSICHT and Thomas Baus (right) from Hörmann KG Glastechnik received the Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize for the hydrogel-based fire-resistant glass they developed.

G

lazing developed by Fraunhofer UMSICHT and Hörmann KG is designed to have fire-resistant panes that do not contain carcinogenic acrylamide, so they can be processed with no toxicological risks.

The production line that makes the novel fire-protection doors generates just 20 kilograms of process waste a day – far less than the 150 to 160 kilograms produced in the past.

Production is more automated, the process is leaner, and traceability and reproducibility are ensured across the board.

In the event of a fire, the glass withstands flames and heat over 1,000°C for up to 120 minutes, as required by the given fire regulations.

Dr. Holger Wack and Damian Hintemann of the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT, and Thomas Baus of Hörmann KG Glastechnik are to be awarded the Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize for this ground-breaking development.

Cooling water vapour and a heat-insulating salt layer Fire protection glazing contains a transparent gel rich in water and electrolytes between two glass panes. If a fire breaks out, the pane facing the flames does not withstand the high temperature

for long and shatters.

This actuates two mechanisms: For one, the water in the gel evaporates and cools the intact second pane. For the other, a heat-insulating salt layer forms.

The Fraunhofer researchers first combed their database to screen for gels that could be suitable for this sort of fireresistant glazing. Some 60 attempts failed.

Compelled by thoroughness, they tested a basic component that, as the theory goes, would never work. “But it does,” said Wack with a smile.

The researchers were reluctant to show their hand. The project had a few instances like this when something worked that clearly shouldn’t have.

Four years from beaker to business The project was auspicious from the start.

The first fire test the researchers carried out after a short time in development already showed promise. The glass held up in a 30-minute fire performance trial. � The new fire-resistant glass produces around 85% less process waste and has a shorter production process.

The researchers then scaled it up from the beaker to a demonstration cell at Fraunhofer UMSICHT. “We were able to take the idea out of the lab and into a practical application within just four years – a very short time for the development effort that goes into end-toend process engineering. Implementation time is usually ten to twelve years,” said Hintemann.

The Hörmann family decided to spin off Hörmann KG Glastechnik in 2016 on the merits of this successful development, building a new plant in Saarland, Germany where the fire-resistant glass is now produced.

The family was particularly impressed with this implementation of research results into practice and, with the outstanding collaboration between Fraunhofer UMSICHT and Hörmann.

“We did more than merely develop fireresistant glass, said Baus, emphatically.

“We reinvented the production of fireresistant glass.” �

* Dr. Holger Wack and Damian Hintemann** of the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT **Thomas Baus of Hörmann KG Glastechnik https://www.fraunhofer.de/en.htm https://www.hoermann.com/en/

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A new type of fire-resistant glass that holds up under even extreme heat created in collaboration between a research institute and a door manufacturer has helped Dr. Holger Wack*, Damian Hintemann* and Thomas Baus*** win the Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize.

49 Glass International November 2020

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Company profile: Glassbusters

Glassbusters answers the call of hospitality sector’s recycling needs An osteopath-turned-entrepreneur is helping the hospitality sector create a streamlined plan for recycling waste using an engineered glass crushing machine. George Lewis spoke to Pete Ancketill* about Glassbusters’ company beginnings, how it’s adapted during the Covid-19 crisis and its future plans.

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ondon-based Glassbusters was set up in the early 2000’s to improve glass recycling in the hospitality sector by using an engineered machine completely made in the UK to instantaneously crush glass into industryapproved sized pieces which are taken away with minimal hassle and noise.

“We are working against traditional waste management techniques,” says Pete Ancketill, who graduated from the British School of Osteopathy and had a 20-year career which included working for professional rugby league teams before working his way to the waste management industry.

After an appearance on BBC’s television show Dragon’s Den in 2016, in which he accepted a £200,000 offer from then “Dragon” Nick Jenkins, he then decided to turn it down after the show.

Mr Ancketill now provides the waste management to some high-end venues across the country including in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh, in which some venues are creating up to ten tonnes of glass waste per month, all of which is crushed using Mr Ancketill’s machines.

Dragon’s Den is a TV series in which budding entrepreneurs get three minutes to pitch their business ideas to five multimillionaires willing to invest their own cash. Mr Ancketill said the reason for turning down such a substantial offer on the TV show was because he was ‘looking for the right partner’, not just financially but someone who can bring the company new ideas and avenues.

Alongside hospitality venues in London, Glassbusters also works with Network Rail and J.D Wetherspoons pub at London’s Victoria train station, collecting all the glass and other waste material and recycling it, which amounts to around 100 tonnes of rubbish per week, driving it to recyclers URM in Tilbury, Essex.

The understanding of what the glass recycling industry wanted took time, but Mr Ancketill spoke to prominent glass recyclers such as Recresco and URM to ask what glass is required and the size it needs to be.

Approximately 96% of the glass recycled by Glassbusters is turned back into new bottles.

He said: “The rest of industry only tip bottles (to the glass recyclers), we only tip ‘sand’, which are shards of glass normally between 15ml-20ml in size. Anything smaller, which is approximately 4%, is deemed too small and is turned into aggregate.”

As with many businesses, Covid-19 has affected Glassbusters as well. With some of the 10-strong team having to be put on furlough, and even some of his lorries put on furlough as well, Mr Ancketill has had to adapt the business.

He said: “As an entrepreneur you have to have guts, stamina, and the ability to see opportunities.”

Around 98% of Glassbusters’ business stopped, due to the majority of its partners being pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels, but Mr Ancketill pivoted the business and used the same lorries that was taking glass to be recycled to helping businesses to move buildings or downsize.

The beginnings of Glassbusters

� Glassbusters recycle around 100 tonnes of glass from various venues per week.

After two decades as an osteopath, Mr Ancketill wanted to try something new and start up his own business. While sitting in a pub he had something consistently bothering him - the sound of glass bottles being thrown in bins.

“Pubs have little respect for silence”, he said. This lack of quiet was where the idea of Glassbusters was born. He researched into what the hospitality sector was doing to recycle glass at the time and decided that the glass crushers at the time were ‘too commercial, industrial, noisy and cumbersome’ and went about creating something with less noise and less expense to the sector.

With the help of his father, a trained engineer, Mr Ancketill had a glass recycling machine completely designed in the UK, with the outside box created by another family member working for a sheet metal company and the computer programmed by a UK engineering company. He also had a willing pub landlord in a north London pub who had a basement big enough for the machine to be installed in.

Mr Ancketill then won funding worth £100,000 from Innovate UK which was used to create another more compact ‘hand fed’ machine approximately the same size as a fruit machine (pictured below)

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and didn’t need to be located in a basement.

This could be could be plugged in within the main bar area.

The machine created is a 240 volts item of technology, the same as the average kettle and is able to crush up to 750 bottles before needing emptying. Mr Ancketill says that ‘despite being a complex machine, inside it’s very simple to use’. The machines comes flat packed ready for installation by Glassbusters’ own engineers.

Yet instead of just installing and leaving the customer to familiarise and operate it, the company maintains its relationship with its customers, training all staff how to use the machine, and calling the publicans daily for the first month to ensure the machine is working well and is understood.

The original machine was called ‘bar to basement’ and later patented, and allows bottles to be put through a hole in the bar, crushed safely while dropping down and held, and then collected

by Glassbusters at a later date.

Mr Ancketill said that the idea was to ‘efficiently and effectively crush glass that’s safe and to be able to compact glass conveniently close to the pubs’.

He decided he wanted to bring his idea to the market and exhibit at a trade show. Despite no example to physically show during the exhibition, he said the response was ‘phenomenal’ and seemed to take to the idea.

From the show, a representative from the Tate Gallery in London asked Mr Ancketill to work with the company to look at the logistics of the recycling of its glass bottles, and how it could prevent noise at the venue.

He said: “Our technology is adaptable to small medium and large businesses. We can tailor to a venue’s specific response. We are a bespoke service provider.”

Over the past ten years of installations, Glassbusters has never lost a customer and no machine has ever had to be taken away or replaced.

� The ‘bar to basement’ machine helps venues crush bottles into industry approved sizes ready to be taken away by Glassbusters

It has created floor tiles using 75% recycled glass crushed in one of its venues mixed with concrete.

But there has been some more positive news in the world of recycling in the UK. Dr Nick Kirk of British Glass said there was an increase in glass recycling during the first lockdown with Leeds, Yorkshire seeing a 20% increase in recycling in April 2020, while this shot up to a 60% increase in May compared to 2019 figures.

Despite the hospitality sector being closed the increase in household recycling made up for this shortfall, Dr Kirk said.

Mr Ancketill is slowly getting his team back together following the first lockdown, and is hoping his waste management company can help play a part in the use of more cullet in glass recycling in the future.

Glassbusters is to rebrand and become ‘Waste Stream’, to create a complete waste management company. It is open to offers from investors who can propel the company to new markets. �

recycling team.

*Managing Director, Glassbusters, London UK www.glassbusters.co.uk � The smaller machine is able to fit into most pubs and works off a normal 240v plug socket without the need for a basement.

The future Mr Ancketill spent £200,000 to acquire a patent to own the future developments in the US, Europe, UK, China, Japan and Canada, and hopes to provide the technology to partners in these parts of the world.

He is investigating whether the machines could have telemetry-based intelligence, meaning Glassbusters could tap into theWi-Fi of a pub from anywhere and tell the landlord how many bottles had been crushed and invoice the exact amount instead of just when the machine is full.

The company is also working with a supermarket on a machine for public use that he hopes is in shops next year. He believes this type of machine will create a desire for the general public to use a deposit return scheme and recycle glass effortlessly.

Glassbusters has examined alternative ways to reuse its own glass during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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s

Company profile: Glassbusters

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17/11/2020 12:24:55

Company profile: Orora Glass

Orora Glass completes furnace rebuild

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Congratulations on the recent furnace rebuild. What does a rebuilt furnace mean for both Orora and for your customers?

The recent rebuild provides Orora with an ‘as new’ furnace, forming machines and inspection equipment. All upgraded to the latest technology including furnace refractories, insulation, forming machine servo technology and optical inspection equipment.

As a result, customers have the comfort of reliable and consistent supply of the exceptional quality product that Orora is known for.

Did any other work take place at the same time in the glassworks?

The furnace rebuild is a critical opportunity for major upgrade, overhaul and refurbishment works. We replaced one of our forming machines upgrading from 16 to 20 section operation with new servo invert, takeout and three axis sweepout technology. We installed a new cullet handling system including wet scraper and process water pumps. The cold end inspection area was completely replaced with new bottle and cullet conveyors, inspection loops and new inspection machines to ensure our high pack quality meets our customer expectations. We also used the time

to undertake important repair and maintenance in our batch plant and packaging areas.

Generally, furnace rebuilds are a challenging time for a glassworks and require careful planning? How did this rebuild compare to previous rebuilds, particularly in light of the Covid pandemic?

Covid-19 has been a significant feature for all operating activity, including the recent G2 furnace rebuild. A comprehensive Covid management plan was implemented to look after the health and safety of all personnel working across Orora’s sites and on the rebuild project.

Travel restrictions were a complicating factor with overseas specialists prevented from entering Australia. These teams would normally oversee the detailed construction and commissioning.

Pleasingly, Orora’s site operations, engineering and local contractors successfully stepped in and filled this void to ensure that the project was completed successfully. This was a great demonstration of the teamwork at Orora Glass, with everyone supporting each other throughout.

Have you increased capacity as a result of the rebuild?

The recent capacity expansion and furnace rebuild projects have increased the G2 furnace output by

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Company profile: Orora Glass

Andrew Barreau* discusses Orora Glass’ recent furnace rebuild at its Gawler, South Australia facility. The rebuild also included upgrades in its forming machines from 16 to section as well as investments at the cold end.

12%, which equates to an additional 20 million bottles per annum.

Did any environmental considerations come into place when considering the new furnace?

At Orora, sustainability is fundamental to everything we do. We aim to minimise our impact on the environment and are continuously improving the sustainability of our products and services. Consistent with this aim, we incorporated several upgrades into the rebuild to make the furnace more energy efficient and reduce the environmental impact. It included an epsilon crown, upgraded insulation, closed in batch charging, variable speed drive fans and a t-piece on the waste gas stream for future waste heat recovery.

Do you plan to increase the amount of cullet used in the glassmaking process at the plant?

Yes, we are actively seeking opportunities to collect and use more recycled glass or cullet. Orora currently recycles over 80% of all glass collected through South Australia’s container deposit scheme. From 1 Oct 2020, Orora commenced collecting waste glass from Western Australia’s container deposit scheme boosting our available cullet. 100% of the cullet we receive goes into the

“At Orora, sustainability is fundamental to everything

”

we do.

Orora has currently invested $200 million in the past five years in the plant. What differences have you seen in the plant at that time?

Orora has a very high focus on employee safety, quality and customer service. Most of the investment has been focussed in these areas. There have been major improvements in IS machine safety, reducing manual handling risks and bottle inspection by utilising the latest servo and robot technology. From a supply perspective, we have invested in additional warehousing and stock management system including automated storage and retrieval improving our flexibility and delivery to customers.

Orora recently completed construction of a new $35.0 million warehouse on site. The 35,000m2 warehouse is equipped with autonomous Laser Guided Vehicles (LGVs), which deliver optimal efficiency, accuracy and enhanced safety. The LGVs operate by following over nine kilometres of QR codes which guide their path throughout the warehouse.

The new warehouse enables us to hold significantly greater inventory on-site, reducing off site storage and transportation costs as well as enhancing responsiveness to customers.

Generally, how would you describe the glass market at the moment, particularly in the light of the pandemic?

The glass market in Australia saw some dramatic changes earlier in the year as stay at home orders and travel restrictions came into effect.

Fortunately, Orora’s Beverage businesses were classified as essential services and have continued to operate seamlessly throughout the pandemic. �

Orora Glass, Gawler, Australia https://www.ororagroup.com/

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furnace at Orora Glass, where it is melted down so that it can be made into new products.

We are also creating closed loop systems with customers to improve glass collection rates and reduce waste going to landfill. By working closely with one customer, 350 tonnes of waste glass has been diverted from landfill since the programme began in 2019.

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17/11/2020 12:26:52

Smart glass: Nodis Glass

How smart is your glass?

New nanotechnology maximises energy savings and minimises carbon footprint. Mike Holt* discusses how Nodis’ TruTint smart glass can help reduce emissions by 50%.

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ublic and private standards and market demands are driving the real estate and transportation industries to reduce their impact on energy use and the overall ecosystem.

Buildings consume 40% of a city’s energy and generate 45% of its CO2 emissions.

Vehicle manufacturers also intend to reduce their carbon footprint and improve consumer comfort.

One game-changing solution for both industries? Smart glass, a technology to better control light and infrared entering a building or vehicle.

However, the full potential of smart glass has not yet been realised. Existing smart glass technologies do not fully address energy efficiency, comfort, aesthetics and architectural requirements. They lack the capacity to control infrared, the real cause of heat within a building, and they take as long as 20 minutes to shift.

In addition, existing approaches can’t offer colour options or electrically change colour. Finally, the cost of implementation is high, making the limited benefits even more unattractive or too expensive for the market.

Smart glass technology company Nodis has pioneered a smart glass film called TruTint to respond to all of these issues. Nodis was created in 2014 to commercialise a nanoparticle-based smart glass and display technology developed by Dr. Sergey Shokhor and his team.

The company has since attracted investment from the Singapore National Research.

Nodis technology suspends colour rod-like nanoscale particles in an organic liquid and then sandwiches them between two pieces of glass.

In a natural state, the suspended particles randomly organise and then block light. When voltage is applied to the suspended particles, they align and light passes through.

INSIDE TRUTINT GLASS We start with colour coated nanoparticles.

These are suspended in microscopic wells in our nanoimprinted film.

The film is then sandwiched between two sheets of glass (laminated windows). Electric power is connected to each side of the conductive film coating.

Applying electric power orients the nanoparticles which act as small light shutters. This allows setting of any level of tint from clear to completely opaque. By placing three layers of plastic film between the two sheets of glass, we can select any colour for the glass (opaque, transparent or any tint colour in between).

Thus, the amount of light allowed into the build can be regulated by the degree of voltage applied.

Nodis TruTint reduces energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 50%. The system automatically controls illumination, and infrared for heating and cooling, reducing building energy cost and CO2 emissions. It switches in under one second and it can display an infinite number of tints.

Finally, TruTint sells at much lower cost as a result of its high-volume

manufacturing approach.

Buildings are the largest users of energy and greenhouse gas producers. Vehicles must better adjust to glare, heat and reduce their environmental impacts.

Smart glass technology now exists that can contribute significantly to these goals. �

*Advisor and Board Director Nodis Glass, Columbus, Ohio, USA www.nodiscorp.com

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History

Prof. John Parker

Refiner's fire

M

y dictionary defines the word ‘refine’ as ‘acquire polish or elegance’. I like that when applied to glass but it’s not the whole story. For glassmakers the term usually refers to the whole range of processes that eliminate bubbles from the product, although some use ‘fining’ for this and reserve ‘refining’ specifically for chemical processes using ‘refining’ agents.

20% of the batch used for glass melting is unavoidably air. Much larger volumes of carbon dioxide, several hundred times the batch volume, are created during melting as soda ash and limestone decompose (sodium and calcium carbonates). Most of these gases escape but as sand dissolves the melt viscosity rises, trapping bubbles which can only rise slowly to the surface.

I say bubbles – glass makers are particular about their use of words; generally, bubbles <0.2mm are called seed. Bubbles spoil the appearance of glass and in products such as a car windshield they become a critical defect because they can seriously impair the driver’s vision. Glass manufacturers therefore have Quality Control procedures on the production line to check for and eliminate products with bubbles.

So how does refining work? We all have watched the clearing of fine bubbles in a pint mug of beer. The viscosity of beer is around 0.01 poise and bubbles near the bottom rise around 150mm. A formula derived by Stokes predicts a rise time of 6 seconds for bubbles of 0.1mm radius. The time depends inversely on size squared and therefore small bubbles are at a major disadvantage in the race to the top. In a glass melt the viscosities are much higher, perhaps 10 000 times greater at the hot spot. A rise time of six seconds for a similarly sized bubble becomes 17 hours from 15cm below the glass surface and

100 hours from 1m down. In the working end the melt viscosity is high enough for forming and this time increases a hundredfold. Refinement does not come easy.

The secret to success is refining agents, chemicals added to the batch which aid bubble removal. These are compounds that decompose at high temperature, releasing oxygen. Now how can creating more gas remove bubbles? It works because the gas is released later in the process when the larger bubbles have already gone and only a few smaller bubbles remain. The oxygen release occurs in small amounts over a temperature range; it does not create new bubbles but diffuses into existing bubbles causing them to expand. And larger bubbles rise faster.

These redox reactions go into reverse as the melt is cooled in the working end and that also plays a role. Any remaining bubbles are likely to be small with a very slow rise time. But any oxygen they contain can diffuse out to re-oxidise the redox ions to their fully oxidised state.

The consequence of oxygen loss is that an already small bubble shrinks further.

Because of surface tension the internal pressure in the bubble rises and the solubility of all the gases increases. The final shrinkage of the bubble is more than that due to oxygen loss alone and indeed the bubble may even fully dissolve and disappear.

What are the magic chemicals that release oxygen? Well they are all things that can exist in more than one oxidation state in glass, elements such as arsenic (As3+, As5+) and antimony (Sb3+, Sb5+) but also colouring agents such as iron (Fe2+, Fe3+) and manganese (Mn2+, Mn3+). Alkali-free glasses with high melting temperature, such as LC display glasses, use tin oxide, SnO2 (Sn2+, Sn4+).

Borosilicate glasses have even used sodium chloride (boiling point, 1413˚C); it doesn’t release oxygen but has a sufficiently high vapour pressure at melting temperatures to cause bubble growth.

Furnaces 2000 years ago were much cooler than now but the melt was richer in fluxes to lower viscosity and facilitate refining. The few large tanks existing then also used time to complete the process – 30 days for refining and homogenising.

Crucibles being much shallower also required less time for bubbles to disappear and Fe-rich impurities in the batch with Mn added as a decoloriser probably aided refining. More recently arsenic and antimony oxides compounds proved effective refining agents, releasing oxygen at relatively low temperatures without colouring the glass. The trend to increasing temperatures for melting was made possible when sodium sulphate became available as a batch component in the 19th century. It releases oxygen at higher temperatures better suited to modern operating conditions as well as having other useful effects.

There is a limit to the effectiveness of refining agents. Higher concentrations release more gas and can create new bubbles - too much of a good thing.

Apart from chemical refining, bubbling, i.e. direct blowing of gas (helium) into the melt, can flush bubbles out. Other methods include ultrasonics or low-pressure. If bubbles still remain mass spectrometry can analyse both their composition and their pressure, helping to pinpoint their source. �

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

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Prof John Parker discusses how to ensure bubble-free products.

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CLASSIFIEDS

ANNEALING LEHRS

ANNEALING LEHR

COMBUSTION

COMBUSTION EQUIPMENT

SYSTEMS/BURNERS

INDUSTRIAL GAS ENGINEERS

I NDUST RIAL G AS E NGINEERS UNIT D2, BRO O KSID E BD2, U S Brookside I N E S S P ABusiness R K , G R EPark, E N G AGreengate, TE,C H AD D ERTO N, M24 1G S, ENG LAND Unit Chadderton, T E L E P H O N E : 0 1 6 1 - 6M24 5 4 71GS, 7 0 0 UKF A X : 0 1 6 1 - 6 5 5 3 8 1 2 Tel +44 (0) 161 654 7700 Fax +44 (0) 161 655 3812 E-MAIL: S A L E S @ M O N T S E L A S . C O . U K WWW.MONTSELAS.CO.UK Email sales@montselas.co.uk www.montselas.co.uk

COLD-END COATING

AIR

Low-Emission Oxy-fuel Solutions GAS

MANUFACTURERS AND SUPPLIERS OF SELAS SQUARE PORT GAS & AIR VALVES

• Oxygen & oxygen flow control equipment • Global oxygen enrichment applications • Cleanfire® oxy-fuel burners • Start-up services

Inerting Applications

ELECTRIC HEATING SYSTEMS

GLASS LEVEL MEASUREMENT

HEAT-UP SERVICES

Electrical melting in perfection - Engineering and modelling

• Hydrogen, nitrogen & other gases • Enabling flow control equipment 800-654-4567 (code 344) gigmrktg@airproducts.com airproducts.com/glass

(39101)

Global Combustion Systems

for boosting systems

- Water-cooling Systems

Total Support

for electrode holder

- Electrode holder

- Power regulation /

Unit 43, Evans Business Centre, Easter Inch, Bathgate EH48 2EH, Scotland, UK

Special services - Hot drilling - Change of electrode holder

Tel+44 (0) 1506 657310 Fax +44 (0) 8704 799975 Email Sales@globalcombustion.com Web www.globalcombustion.com

for bottom / side / top

Transformers

Bock Energietechnik GmbH Gösen 15 92685 Floss Germany

Tel: 0049 9603/1295 Fax: 0049 9603/2995 info@bock-energietec.de www.bock-energietec.de

INSPECTION

RAW MATERIALS

Rio Tinto Minerals 2 Eastbourne Terrace London W2 6LG, UK TIAMA ZA des Plattes, 1 Chemin des Plattes, 69390 Vourles, France Tel +33 (0) 4 37 20 15 00, Fax +33 (0) 4 78 07 94 50 Email: marketing@tiama.com Website:www.tiama.com

Tel +44 (0) 207 781 1450 Fax +44 (0) 207 781 1851 Email: simon.cook@riotinto.com Web: www.riotintominerals.com

Contact Esme Horn T+44 (0) 1737 855136

SCREEN PRINTING

to book your space KAMMANN GmbH

DIGITAL SCREEN PRINTING HOT STAMPING FULLY AUTOMATIC UNIVERSAL DECORATING MACHINES

Bergkirchener Straße 228, 32549 Bad Oeynhausen, Germany kammann.de

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53035 MONTERIGGIONI (SI) ITALY - Strada di Gabbricce, 6 Tel +39 0577 304730 ifv@fonderievaldelsane.com

www.fonderievaldelsane.com

Laser welded 2 pin Conveyor Chain