Combining their expertise on raw materials and glass melting processes, material supplier Sibelco and technology company CelSian have agreed to share laboratory functions and work on joint research to improve services to their customers

“The fact that Sibelco’s major laboratory is only 30 minutes’ drive from CelSian’s laboratory is very practical and will make working together on a regular and frequent basis possible” said Harmen Kielstra, Managing Director of CelSian. “Our collaboration with Sibelco will enhance new insights and solutions for our customers.”

The UK government’s decision to increase the glass remelt target for businesses from 67% to 72% for the next two years has been welcomed by British Glass, representative body for glass packaging manufacturers.

Ahead of the Spring budget in March 2020, British Glass wrote to the chancellor asking to increase glass recycling targets as part of the glass sector’s commitment to decarbonise.

The raising of the glass remelt target in accordance with newly-published recycling targets for 2021 and 2022 will support the decarbonisation of the glass sector, boost the circular economy of glass and encourage closed loop ‘bottle to bottle’ glass recycling.

Vidrala is investing in HSBC UK’s Green Deposits scheme as part of the Spain-based company’s ongoing commitment to support the fight against climate change.

The project will be set up by HSBC UK to use funds from Encirc, the Northern Ireland-based subsidiary of Vidrala.

Following a successful longstanding relationship between Vidrala and HSBC UK, the company will invest an initial sum of £5 million into the HSBC Green Deposits scheme, with the interest being used to finance environmentally progressive projects such as those focused on renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution control and biodiversity conservation.

The decision to invest in the Green Deposits scheme signals the continued commitment to sustainability by both the Vidrala Group and Encirc.

C-Capture Ltd has been awarded funding through Innovate UK’s Sustainable Innovation Fund to support experiments that quantify the compatibility of C-Capture’s carbon capture technology with the requirements of the glass manufacturing industry.

C-Capture was supported in its application by Pilkington United Kingdom Ltd. The experiments will assess the feasibility of deploying carbon capture technology on-site at Pilkington and are considered an important step forward in decarbonising glass manufacture.

Based in Leeds, C-Capture is developing what will be the world’s most energy efficient- processes for the capture of carbon dioxide. It has patented a low cost technology that uses up to 40% less energy than current commercially available technologies.

Glass Futures has been awarded £15 million investment from the UK Government to kickstart the Centre of Excellence in St Helens.

The funding is part of a wider £54 million investment for the Liverpool City Region to revive the local industry; £15 million is direct investment from the UK Government as part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge.

The remaining funding is being provided by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, St Helens Borough Council and Glass Futures, a not-for-profit organisation.

The funding will be used to establish a state-of-the-art glass furnace R&D facility in St Helens, reviving the former United Glass facility.

NSG Group’s has started up its float furnace to produce TCO (transparent conductive oxide) coated glass for solar panels in Luckey, Ohio.

The 500,000ft2 production facility was built as part of the 38 billion yen investment plan announced in May 2018 to expand production capacity of TCO glass to support the growing solar market.

The investment is part of a long-term supply agreement with USA-headquartered First Solar Inc., which operates the Western Hemisphere’s largest photovoltaic (PV) solar manufacturing footprint in north west Ohio.

Manufactured with the online coating technology, in which a conductive oxide on the glass surface is formed during its passage through the float line, NSG’s TCO glass is very durable with a wide range of applications.

In 2030, European buildings would consume nearly 30% less energy if they were all glazed with high performance glass, according to the latest research commissioned by Glass for Europe.

The reduction of energy consumption is one of the key goals defined by the European Union. Energy can be saved predominantly through buildings, which still consume huge amounts of energy.

Therefore, according to a recent Guardian Glass statement, it stands to reason that the subject of energy efficiency is widely discussed in the construction sector. In this context, the most popular are renewables and thermally insulating materials. It turns out, however, that facade glazing also has much potential.

Based in Orizaba, Veracruz, Crown Sivesa has recently commissioned its latest rebuilt furnace in Mexico.

Germany’s HORN received the order to rebuild Crown Sivesa’s A furnace at the end of 2018, having already commissioned the factory’s 360 tonnes/day recuperative B furnace in spring 2018 and a 450 tonnes/day end-fired furnace in late 2017 for Crown Vichisa in Chihuahua, Mexico.

The latest project included the repair of a 260 tonnes/day recuperative furnace with two production lines for container glass with a melting area of 109m² at container glassmaker Crown Sílices de Veracruz (Sivesa) in Orizaba.

Glaston has received an order for a CBRC Series flat tempering line from a leading flat glass processor in North America. The line is scheduled for delivery in Q3/2021.

The CBRC Series tempering line is advanced technology of Glaston’s CB concept (Continuous Batch) tempering furnace model and can be operated both in continuous and batch mode.

This enables customers with high capacity needs to produce high quality glasses flexibly from 3mm up to 19mm with the same machine.

Glaston’s Vortex Pro convection system improves the control of air placement onto the surface of the glass and allows the operator to precisely control the thermal profiles.

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