Batch and Cullet Preheating technology first-of-a-kind, commercial-scale demonstration towards decarbonization of flat glass production

Introduction

The European Union is the world's biggest producer of glass with a market share of around one third of total world production. In 2019-20, the sector employed 100 thousand people and generated a turnover of 15 BnE. Moreover, the glass industry is linked to major strategic sectors in Europe and worldwide, such as construction and automotive industries.

Environmental Impact

Nevertheless, the glass sector is an energy-intensive industry that generates a considerable amount of greenhouse gases (more than 7 Mt CO2/y for the flat glass sector in EU 27). Major environmental improvements have been made within the sector, giving rise to substantial reductions in furnace emissions and energy usage.

Challenges and Solutions

Still, the CO2 emissions linked to energy consumption remain a major issue that adds heavily to the climate change problem. Innovative solutions are then needed to overcome the challenge of industry decarbonization.

BCP's Strategy

BCP’s strategy to decrease the environmental footprint of this process is to implement and validate at the commercial scale an innovative technology that allows for the recovery of waste heat from furnace fumes in order to preheat batches of raw materials and cullet.

Technology Benefits

This first-of-a-kind technology would:

1. Save 10% of the total energy consumption of a glass furnace in a float line (30 GWh/y).
2. Result in savings of more than 5600 t CO2/y for a standard float line (7% of the total CO2 emissions).

Project Leadership and Alignment

Led by Saint-Gobain, BCP project’s technology is the result of about 10 years of R&D studies and is the core of an unprecedented waste heat recovery strategy that will be validated in the float line of Saint-Gobain's Glass Aniche in France. BCP is in line with Saint-Gobain's decarbonization strategy, which involves thorough CO2 monitoring across all plants and substantial efforts in sustainable R&D, e.g., hydrogen trials.

Future Implementation

After this first implementation, the technology could be easily replicated to the other 60 plants of the European flat glass sector, starting within the Saint-Gobain Group.