Decarbonisation
Decarbonising energy-related CO2 emissions in the glass industry Michael Zier,(1,2) Noah Pflugradt,(1,2) Leander Kotzur,(1,2) and Detlef Stolten(1,2,3) discuss how hydrogen combustion and electric melting will emerge as the main energy supply options for the glass manufacturing industry.
Process Control
Internal / external use
Gas
Solid
Biogas
Process Intensification
Submerged Combustion
Decarbonization Options
Fuel
Waste Heat Recovery
Electricity
Heat-toPower
Steam Turbine
Preheating Gas
TCR
Synthetic Methane
Wood Fluxing Agents
Pelletization
Oxy-Fuel Firing
Hydrogen
Recycling
Selective Batching
Solids
TEG
Fuel
Combustion Air
Cullet & Batch
Cullet
Submerged Electrodes Microwaves
Plasma Organic Rankine Cycle
� Fig 1. Energy-related decarbonisation options classified by efficiency measures and fuel switch. Efficiency measures are further categorized in terms of recycling, process intensification, and waste heat recovery (own classification) – TCR: thermo-chemical heat recovery; TEG: thermoelectric generator (adjusted
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from [2]).
T
o mitigate the natural disasters associated with anthropogenic climate change, cross-sectoral (energy, industry, buildings, mobility) greenhouse gas mitigation is essential. Although historic specific CO2 emissions (tCO2/tglass) in industrialised countries have steadily decreased, the global absolute emissions of the glass industry increased by about 215% in the period from 1995 to 2015 [1]. Therefore, the glass industry faces the
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challenge of profoundly decarbonising its production processes. Preserving product quality and process stability, as well as cost-competitiveness, is a prerequisite for this though. Both energy and raw material prices, as well as their availability, will be crucial for decision-making and these must be evaluated in conjunction with the capital expenditures (CAPEX) of different corresponding melting furnace designs [2]. As the larger portion of CO2 emissions is
produced by generating the process heat needed to melt the glass, it is logical to first reduce these energy-related emissions. Fig 1 illustrates different energy-related decarbonisation options, which are classified in terms of fuel switch, process intensification, waste heat recovery, and recycling. The most significant options are discussed in the following and their ellipses presented in bold in Fig 1. Switching the fuel to renewable energy carriers is by far the most important
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