Ardagh Glass Packaging-Europe (AGP-Europe), an operating business of Ardagh Group, has successfully completed an industrial fuel switching trial to produce glass packaging using biofuel in the furnace at its Knottingley, UK facility.
The £6 million industrial fuel switching trial, funded by the UK Government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio programme and led by Glass Futures, the UK-based Global Centre of Excellence for glass R&D, Innovation and Training, brought together several manufacturers in both the glass and ceramics sectors, including AGP-Europe, Encirc, O-I Glass, Pilkington UK and DSF Refractories & Minerals. The project’s goal was to evaluate the feasibility of using alternative liquid bio-derived fuels in the glass melting process, with the aim of completely replacing natural gas with lower-carbon biofuel in the furnace.
Over the course of seven days, the AGP-Europe trial successfully replaced 100% of natural gas with liquid bio-derived fuels, producing 4.1 million glass containers and reducing CO2 emissions by 242 tonnes[1]. The trial demonstrated that lower-carbon glass packaging can be produced at commercial scale without compromising glass quality or process efficiency.
Dean Butler, Business Development Director, Ardagh Group, commented:
“This trial validated and supported our existing knowledge and proved that liquid bio-derived fuels can effectively replace natural gas in glass packaging production over an extended period.
“This is an exciting development for the glass industry as we continue to seek innovative solutions to reduce carbon emissions. The trial provides a clear example of how adopting liquid bio-derived fuels has the potential to help the industry to meet its ambitious sustainability goals.”
This trial highlights the potential of biofuels as one of many viable routes to decarbonisation for the glass industry, which are currently being progressed and deployed within AGP-Europe.
AGP-Europe continues to explore additional innovative technologies to help achieve its CO2 reduction targets for 2030, that can also contribute to a low-carbon future for the glass industry.
[1] Compared to carbon emissions from the same furnace using 100% natural gas.