Decarbonising the European Glass Industry: Real Paths to Net-Zero

Attending the webinar on Decarbonising the European Glass Industry provided me an opportunity to connect with researchers working hard to make glass production more sustainable.

Glass is one of the most important materials that enables several critical technologies powering the world. Fiber optic cables,displays, scientific equipment,lenses and of course windows. Every year nearly 150 million tonnes of glass is made. Therefore it is essential that we find ways to produce glass in a more eco-friendly way.

The European Innovation council has been leading the effort in this space by funding research projects like H2 glass, Everglass and GIFFT in collaboration with industrial partners like Schott,PlasmaAir and several universities throughout the region.

One strategy is to reuse and recycle existing glass. Here innovations like localised melting with lasers are making the process cheaper as compared to full melt processing but concerns about gathering waste glass remains. It's not easy to get feedstock to drive a recycling plant.

The other approach is to use sustainable fuels to decarbonise the energy required to manufacture glass. Despite the reputation glass may have, the embodied energy required for its manufacture is slightly less than steel. Yet its dependence on LNG is problematic. The speakers suggested use of hydrogen as a substitute which works but it comes with the additional complexity of handling electrolysers and pipes.

Hydrogen has its place but for this particular problem, a far better option, I think, is to use plasma torches which not only have better electrical-heat conversion efficiency (easily attaining temperatures as high as 5000K at 70% efficiency) but are also much simpler to set up and control.

For packaging , glass bottles beat PET if they are refilled and reused. But what could enable even more savings are glass + natural fiber composites where glass lining could seal off pores in natural fibers providing a longer lasting lightweight container. It doesn't have to be either all glass or all plastic. New possibilities are emerging and these materials systems will be essential to realise a truly sustainable product.

While the discussion centered around glass, if techniques could be developed to purify common hematite coated sand it would have a massive impact on the entire industry by reducing dependence on pure quartz or on heavy chemicals treatments. That would be revolutionary.

Akshat Jiwan Sharma

Strategy Consultant--Innovation/ Materials science/International relations/Telecommunications/Digital Transformation/Partnerships

Mobile/whatsapp:+919654119771

email:getellobed@gmail.com

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Akshat Jiwan Sharma

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