Glass Futures is a not-for-profit, membership-based, research organisation, based at its Global Centre of Excellence in St Helens, UK. The remit of the organisation is to enable its members from across the glass supply chain and beyond to collaborate in areas which affect all parties, with a particular focus on decarbonisation of the glass-making process and its upstream and downstream activities.
At the heart of the new Glass Futures’ facility is a 30 tonnes/day pilot-scale glass furnace, which has been designed to enable the industry to develop and trial new technologies at an industrially relevant scale, without risk to their commercial manufacturing assets, thus providing increased confidence for manufacturers looking to invest in low-carbon technologies such as alternative fuels, CCUS technologies and new raw materials.
The first phase of trials to be undertaken on this new pilot line will investigate a range of alternative, low-carbon fuel scenarios for glass furnaces, including hydrogen, biofuels and electric melting.
In this paper, an overview of the facility is provided along with an overview of findings from these initial trials into low carbon fuel scenarios. Future opportunities to make switching to low-carbon fuel scenarios more commercially attractive for the glass industry, such as dynamic fuel switching and pyrolysis technologies, will also be explored.
Glass Futures
Bridget’s work focuses on connecting industry, academia and government to accelerate the decarbonisation of glass manufacturing and other foundation industries. She has a strong track record of creating and delivering collaborative R&D programmes, helping to secure more than £40 million in grant funding to support the development and industrial demonstration of low-carbon technologies. Her work spans technically creative concept development, pilot-scale trials and scale-up.
Previously, Bridget held senior scientific and research leadership roles at the Materials Processing Institute and Tata Steel Research & Development, delivering internationally funded projects to improve efficiency, product quality and environmental performance. Bridget also brings experience from academia as a former Senior Lecturer in Materials Engineering, with a long-standing passion for knowledge sharing and developing people. She holds a PhD in Glass Chemistry and brings a pragmatic, industry-focused approach to innovation
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