Following the success of its webinar series in 2020, GlassTrend’s first 2021 webinar session on 26 January is entitled‘Oxy-fuel glass melting – A path to sustainability and lower CO2 emissions’by Shrikar Chakravarti and Sho Kobayashi of Linde plc.

Since 1991, over 300 commercial glass melting furnaces worldwide have been successfully converted to oxy-fuel firing. Despite the demonstrated benefits of oxy-fuel use in glass furnaces and the significant penetration of oxy-fuel in the specialty glass furnaces, only about 60 container and float glass furnaces have been converted to oxy-fuel firing. Meanwhile, most large soda-lime glass furnaces are still fired with air using large regenerators to recover waste heat in the flue gas.

he primary reason has been economic; with the prevailing environment of low natural gas prices in North America and Europe, the nominal 10% savings in fuel from switching to oxy-fuel is more than offset by the additional cost of using oxygen.

Nowadays, there is increased emphasis on sustainability and lowering CO2 emissions. As a result, process industries – refineries, steel mills, cement kilns and glass furnaces - are looking for ways to substantially reduce CO2 emissions from their operations. This emerging trend could substantially strengthen the case for oxy-fuel glass melting.  

All GlassTrend members companies are invited to join this event by registering via https://www.glasstrend.nl/events/