The container glass industry’s Furnace for the Future (F4F) project is in jeopardy after the EU rejected a funding application by the sector.
The F4F decarbonisation project was a concept endorsed by 19 glass manufacturers across Europe to build a large-scale hybrid electric furnace to run on 80% green electric energy.
The furnace would have been built at Ardagh’s Obernkirchen site in Germany.
But, despite the grant application receiving high evaluation scores in terms of innovation, sectoral approach and scalability, it was not successful in being awarded a grant by the EU Innovation Fund.
The European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) said: “Although the 19 companies volunteered to contribute financially to the project, the EU grant was still representing a significant contribution to the additional CAPEX and OPEX compared to a conventional furnace.
“Without the EU grant, the project cannot be pursued as initially planned. However, the industry remains committed to climate neutral production and is now evaluating how to proceed with their decarbonisation efforts.”
The 19 glass manufacturers which formed the project are Allied Glass, Ardagh Group, BA Glass, Beatson Clark, Gerresheimer, GCA, O-I, Pochet du Courval, Saverglass, SGD Pharma, Steklarna Hrastnik, Stoelzle, Verallia, Verescence, Vetreria Etrusca, Vetropack, Vidrala, VCP and Wiegand-Glas, alongside FEVE.
