PPG Industries will manufacture Starphire ultra-clear glass using oxy-fuel furnace technology at its float glass plant in Fresno, Calif. Starphire glass was formerly manufactured only at PPG’s central Pennsylvania plant.
West Coast production of Starphire glass will enable PPG customers to purchase products made using the most environmentally-advanced float glass furnace technology, and adding production in Fresno will create a more local and reliable supply of Starphire glass for architects, fabricators and independent glass shops in the western USA, PPG officials report.
“As far as we know, Starphire glass will be the only ultra-low-iron glass in the world manufactured on an oxy-fuel float glass line,” said Patrick J. Kenny, PPG director of marketing, flat glass.
PPG’s Fresno plant is one of only six flat glass production facilities in the world to incorporate oxy-fuel furnace technology, which employs oxygen instead of air to help combust raw materials used in the manufacture of float glass.
Oxygen-fired glass furnaces consume 15% less natural gas than conventional air-fired furnaces while reducing carbon emissions by 10% and nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 50%.
The Fresno plant will produce Starphire glass in thicknesses of 3 to 12mm, which will be available by mid-summer.
