The ZeroCO2-Glass project aims to develop a CO2-neutral melting process for container glass with a new type of melting tank.
Project partners include Horn Glass Industries, the International Partners in Glass Research (IPGR), RWTH Aachen and Wiegand-Glas.
Horn supplied the equipment for the 2.4 tpd hybrid furnace, the combustion and process control system, as well as the complete construction work for refractory material and steel.
The furnace, which was built in Aachen, Germany, is designed as a hybrid furnace with hydrogen oxy-firing or natural gas oxy-firing and a variable electric boosting share.
The forehearth can also be operated with either natural gas/O2 or H2/O2.
In the project, operating conditions are investigated to determine how they influence the glass melting process, the interaction of the furnace atmosphere with the refractory materials, the forming process and the product quality.
The hybrid furnace celebrated first glass on 28th October 2024.
At the beginning of this year, the first operating state was successfully started up and kept stable so that a large number of measurements could be carried out.
This data will represent the reference case when comparing the operating states.
Data relating to the glass melting process will be gathered to characterise combustion, batch coverage, various temperatures and energy consumption, among other things.
With regard to the forming process, for example, the gob weight and temperature, the number of cuts and the wall thickness distribution of the bottle are determined.
Product quality is described, among other things, by the dimensional accuracy of the bottles and the number and size of glass defects, blisters and bubbles.
This data is currently being analysed.
In the meantime, preparations are being made to start up the next operating state: in the next steps, the electric boosting share will be varied, inter alia.
Other operating states, such as firing with H2/O2, will be tackled afterwards.
