Ardagh Glass GmbH has commenced the construction of a hybrid furnace, which it says will facilitate the switch to renewable electricity, at its glass production facility in Obernkirchen, Germany.
The furnace named 'NextGen' will help the company reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 60% in the furnace, contributing towards achieving the targets set in Ardagh’s 2030 Sustainability Strategy.
Ardagh Glass GmbH is a part of Ardagh Glass Packaging (AGP) - Europe.
Martin Petersson, CEO of AGP – Europe commented, "The NextGen Furnace represents a significant investment in creating a sustainable future for glass packaging, and we intend to roll-out this and other low carbon solutions across other AGP facilities in the coming years.
"We are grateful for the grant support provided by BMWK1 and KEI which is helping to realise the benefits of this new technology."
NextGen Furnace
According to Ardagh, this furnace will be the 'first of its kind' that can run predominantly on renewable electricity and a small amount of gas.
It will use high levels of recycled glass cullet to produce up to 350 tonnes of glass bottles per day, primarily in amber glass, with the capability of making other colours.
The furnace is expected to become operational and commence the production of commercial glass containers later this year.
Currently, container glass production uses a mix of approximately 90% gas and 10% electricity.
The new technology will reduce the carbon footprint of glass packaging significantly by inverting this energy mix in favour of 80% renewable electricity and 20% gas.
Annelene Ikemann, sustainability director at AGP - Europe added, "In future phases of this project, AGP aims to replace the remaining gas with green hydrogen, which will further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"In subsequent steps on our sustainability journey, we will look at a wider range of alternative melting technologies as we decarbonise our other facilities."
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest packaging news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
