Germany’s Heinz-Glas has secured EU funding of €15 million to invest in a flexible electric furnace at its Piesau, Thuringia facility.

The funding will be used by the glass manufacturer’s subsidiary Spezialglas Piesau to invest in a 90 tons per day furnace.

The subsidiary of the Heinz-Glas group also plans to replace downstream components with climate-friendly alternatives.

The overall investment will reduce CO2 emissions by 6250 tons a year.

The use of fully electric melting tanks (VES) makes it possible to replace fossil energy sources with green electricity.

However, electric ovens have technical limitations: the daily melting capacity is unflexible and the use of cullet is limited.

To technically overcome the previously known limitations, Heinz-Glas has researched a flexible fully electric melting tank.

As part of the experimental development, the melting furnace and the all-electric feeder channel are continuously analysed and evaluated according to scientific criteria during operation in order to derive parameters for flexible VES furnaces on an industrial scale.

The successful completion of the project will enable the use of the all-electric melting furnaces throughout the glass industry and can contribute to the decarbonisation of the industry.

The results obtained will be incorporated into the investment project, which, in addition to the construction of the new production building, also includes a conversion of existing systems at Piesau.

The tank technology is intended to respond better to required production capacities. The use of recycled glass shards is to be variable, depending on the colour of glass to be produced.

Carletta Heinz, CEO & owner, said: "We are investing €50-60 million to convert our oldest site, founded in 1622, from one gas-fired furnace to two electric furnaces.

“The federal government's funding will play an important role in realising our project and driving the transformation forward with full force.

"This biggest step in the targeted CO2 reduction in our group of companies is only possible if we can rely on affordable, green energy that is available 24/7.”

The company received the funding notice for the Glass4FutureInvest and Glass4FutureEE projects during a visit to the group’s headquarters by Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Dr. Robert Habeck.

The funding is from the German government’s Decarbonisation of Industry programme.