AGC Glass Europe’s Fabrice Fasilow secured the best paper award at this week’s Furnace Solutions conference for a presentation on decarbonisation.
Mr Fasilow, the company’s Sustainability Manager, gave a 40-minute paper titled ‘AGC’s decarbonisation pathway towards net zero emissions: from processes to products’.
It outlined the company’s plan to reduce scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in 2030 by 30% compared to its 2019 emissions.
Mr Fasilow was handed the Michael Garvey Award for the conference best paper. Furnace Solutions was organised by the UK’s Society of Glass Technology and took place at the Totally Wicked stadium in St Helens, UK this week.
Afterwards Mr Fasilow said: “The key point of the paper is that there is no unique solution to decarbonise the glass industry.
“You have to analyse all the technical solutions on offer today and, for a company like us, to try and see which solution is best for each plant according to the constraints and benefits the solution can bring you.
“Among all the technologies for us the two main pillars we are working on to 2030 are electrification and the circularity of the cullet.”
Mr Fasilow thanked the members of his team he works with and who have helped contribute to the paper.
“I am happy and glad that the paper was so well appreciated, for me it is a big surprise and I was not expecting this very nice award.
“I just wanted to explain objectively what we are doing in our company because I think we are doing a nice job.
"Decarbonisation needs a lot of resources but I wanted to show that some things are possible and also to inspire the entire glass industry to move forward together towards these global warming issues.
He added: “I hope the paper will help inspire the glass community to speed up its decarbonisation efforts and to not be afraid to face challenges.
"My message is let’s work together to overcome these challenges, we will need courage and vision.”
Delegates heard 16 technical papers from technology suppliers and glass manufacturers.
The event also included a training day as well as a site tour of the Glass Futures R&D facility located next to the stadium.
