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Editor’s Comment International news
GREG MORRIS, EDITOR
Plenty of options for green glassmaking
Congratulations to WiegandGlas for its efforts to manufacture a truly ‘green’ glass bottle.
As you will see in the following news pages - and already published on the website - the German container manufacturer is involved in a collaboration to produce bottles made from biomethane, which would subsequently reduce the carbon emission of each bottle.
You may recall the recent efforts by Glass Futures and Encirc in manufacturing a bottle made from biofuels, which were subsequently used by bluechip organisations such as Heineken, Carlsberg and Diageo. The bottles smashed the carbon impact of the bottle by up to 90%.
I write this in the immediate aftermath of the Hydrogen in Glassmaking digital conference. The conference explored the potential of hydrogen for use in glass manufacturing and how it could help with zero or low carbon glass production. Visitor numbers remained strong throughout both days and attendees were from glass manufacturing plants around the world.
These three examples emphasise how important decarbonisation is to the industry. Ahead of legislation in 2030 and 2050 the sector must prove its environmental credentials. If not it risks losing the goodwill of an ever-more environmentally conscious public who want their packaging to be ‘green’.
The signs are the glass industry is moving in the right direction. FRONT COVER IMAGE: www.teco.com
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Sisecam in €255m Hungarian glass facility investment
Turkish glass manufacturer Sisecam is to invest €255 million ($310 million) to build a new glass packaging factory in Kaposvár, Hungary.
The facility will be built with two furnaces and will have an annual net production capacity of 330,000 tonnes.
The first furnace will start operating in 2023, and the facility will reach full capacity by 2025.
The facility will rely on advanced applications of glass melting technology, he added.
Electrical melting technology will also be used to minimise the carbon footprint.
It will also use industry 4.0 applications and the entire operation will be carried out with the perspective of resource efficiency and natural resources protection, he said in a statement.
KCC Glass breaks ground on Indonesian float glass plant
South Korean flat glass producer KCC Glass Corp has broken ground on a new float glass plant in Central Java, Indonesia.
The RP 5 trillion site ($350 million) in Batang, Indonesia will occupy 49 acres at the Integrated Industrial Estate.
When completed it will manufacture about 438, 000 tonnes/year of glass for the construction sector.
The construction phase is planned to be completed in 2023 and will start operating in 2024. It is KCC’s first overseas glass venture.
KCC Glass plans to sell construction glass to Indonesian and Southeast Asian markets. It aims to gradually expand its factories to become a ‘comprehensive glass cluster’ to target overseas markets.
CEO Nae-Hoan Kim said the factory will create 1300 jobs.
AB InBev has developed the world’s lightest longneck beer bottle for commercial production.
It said that, if used on a year’s worth of glass production for its brands in Europe, it would be the equivalent reduction in CO2 emissions as taking 62,000 cars off the road annually.
The brewer and owner of brands such as Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona, Beck’s and Leffe reduced the weight of its standard longneck beer bottle from 180 to 150g, cutting its CO2 emissions by 17% per bottle.
With packaging making up, on average, 50% of its product carbon product footprint, such innovations are an important part of AB InBev’s Sustainability Goals, which include a 25% reduction in CO2 emissions across its value chain by 2025.
This world first will developed at the brewer’s Global Innovation and Technology R&D Centre, GITEC in Leuven, Belgium.
Saint-Gobain in multi-million Indian investment
AGC is to sell its North American architectural glass business to US-based Cardinal Glass Industries for $450 million.
The deal will see AGC sell all three of its plants in Kansas, Tennessee and Virginia, which altogether has three flat glass furnaces and two coaters.
AGC said it would create further growth opportunities by transferring its North American architectural glass business to Cardinal Glass Industries.
AGC said it has had business trading experience with Cardinal in the past and is expected to make the most effective use of AGC’s assets and personnel.
Cardinal Glass Industries is based in Minnesota and is a manufacturer and supplier of window and door glass for residential use in the United States.
Saint-Gobain is to invest Rs 1,100 crore (US $151 million) to the state of Rajasthan, India as a part of a phased expansion plan.
The proposed investment will see more than 300 jobs created in the region of Bhiwadi and Alwar, making Rajasthan the headquarters for Saint-Gobain’s increasing Asian demand for float glass.
It said that its proposed investment comes after the company has already invested over Rs 1,200 crore (US $165 million) in the state since 2010, creating more than 1,100 jobs.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Stara Glass to rebuild Italian furnace
Stara Glass is to rebuild a furnace at an Italian glass manufacturer.
Stara Glass performed an AZS Chips Repair to the furnace in 2020 and successfully extended the lifespan for well over 12 months.
This summer the Genoese team will carry out the draining, demolition, installation of refractories for the glass melting area, the forehearths and heat up of the furnace.
Rondot Group establishes Indian subsidiary
The Rondot Group has established an Indian subsidiary.
Rondot India, based in New Delhi, was created in partnership with Moly Colloids Pvt Ltd.
The purpose of the new organisation is to market and service the products manufactured by the Rondot Group’s brands including Sheppee, Graphoidal, Sonicam Rondot, Novaxion and, since January 2021, Quantum Engineering.
The managing director of the new organisation is Haider Soomar, who also runs Moly Colloids.
British Glass raises UK DRS concerns
British Glass has raised serious concerns that the UK Government’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) proposals will have a detrimental impact on closed loop glass recycling.
It responded raising fears that the proposed DRS will have a detrimental impact on closed loop glass recycling, increase carbon emissions and incentivise an increase in plastic consumption at the expense of glass.
In addition, a new report published by circular economy experts Oakdene Hollins has found that it will cost almost three times as much to recycle glass through a DRS compared to alternative kerbside recycling, favoured by the public.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Sisecam plots Turkish fl at glass investments
Sisecam is to increase its fl at glass production capacity to 2.5 million tonnes with an investment in two new fl oat lines in Turkey.
The Turkish manufacturer will also make improvement works on existing lines to support the growth in its locomotive sectors.
Sisecam Chairman of the Board and General Manager Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kirman said it would commission the fi fth furnace with a capacity of 240 thousand tonnes and strengthen its operations within the architectural glass fi eld.
Rob Ireson wins Michael Garvey award
Glass Futures’ Rob Ireson has become the latest recipient of the Michael Garvey award for best paper during the Furnace Solutions conference, held online this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Ireson is the Innovation and Partnerships Manager for Glass Futures, the non-forprofi t organisation aiming to build a Centre of Excellence in St Helens, UK.
He presented the paper ‘Alternative Low-Carbon Fuel Technologies for Glass Manufacture’.
AGC make mirror coater for world’s biggest telescope
AGC Glass Europe will deliver a coater for the mirrors of the world’s largest telescope in the Atacama desert in the Chilean Andes.
Its Plasma Technology Solutions business unit signed a second contract with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) to deliver a coater equipped for the large mirrors.
The telescope has the purpose to acquire scientifi c data to study the universe and through specifi c observations address certain unsolved problems of fundamental physics, study exoplanets and investigate other objects and phenomena across the universe.
Zippe Industrieanlagen designed and realised the batch and cullet system for the furnace at Verallia’s Villa Poma glass container manufacturing facility, Italy.
At the beginning of 2021 container glass manufacturer Verallia celebrated the inauguration of its 11th production furnace and demonstrated its intention to continue investing in Italy, strengthening the Villa Poma facility.
It was the second furnace modernisation at the Villa Poma site since 2019. Verallia has invested €60 million into this project.
The plant went into operation successfully in March.
Towards the middle of the year, the batch plant will be extended by two sand silos, for which Zippe will supply the dosing and weighing equipment.
Dirk Pörtner retires as Heye International MD
Heye International Managing Director Dirk Pörtner has retired after more than 40 years in the glass industry and 13 years of management activity at the company.
Achim Prange (CTO) and Jens Langer (CCO) will take over the tasks of Mr Pörtner in addition to their previous fi elds of activity.
Mr Langer has been with the company for six years and is now responsible for sales, product management, marketing, service, IT, human resources and fi nance.
Mr Prange has been working in various management positions at Heye for over 20 years and will be responsible for the areas of development, production, logistics, purchasing, quality, application engineering and project management in the future.
Mr Pörtner was given a small retirement event due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Horn starts heat-up process of Frigoglass’ 300 tpd furnace
Horn has started the furnace heat-up process at container glass supplier Frigoglass’ 300 tonnes per day end-fi red furnace GF2 in Nigeria.
The heat-up started on Friday, 21 May, with the fi rst glass expected on 2 June.
Once heated, the new container glass furnace will manufacture glass in green and amber.
Horn technicians will support the entire start-up process, with the project due to fi nish in mid-June.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Saint-Gobain sells glass processing subsidiary
After entering into negotiations in November 2020, Saint-Gobain has fi nalised the sale of its home improvement products manufacturing subsidiary Lapeyre to German-based company Mutares.
Saint-Gobain said it would provide Lapeyre with around €245 million to fi nance its operations as well as the investments and measures necessary to continue modernising the brand and the plants, and the return to profi tability.
Lapeyre has approximately 3,500 employees, with 10 plants and 126 stores in France.
Horn to rebuild glass furnace in Taiwan
Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Corporation has started construction of a glass manufacturing furnace.
German glass engineering company Horn received the order in April for the rebuild of its furnace number 4.
The existing furnace will be demolished and replaced with a 150 t/d furnace. The 57 m² end-fi red furnace with two forehearths is designed with advanced technology to produce fl int, green and amber glass.
Zippe wins Orora benefi cation plant contract
Australian container glass packager Orora has awarded Zippe the contract to design and deliver a glass benefi ciation facility. The new benefi ciation plant adjacent to Orora’s glass manufacturing facility in Gawler, South Australia will enable Orora to procure more beverage glass through established sources and new container deposit schemes to increase the amount of recycled content used.
The plant is expected to be commissioned by the fi rst half of 2022, will provide Orora with more capacity and technology to meet its sustainability goals.
Top 10 stories in the news
Our most popular news over the past month, as determined by our website traffi c. All full stories can be found on our website.
� 1. Sisecam to invest €255 million on Hungarian glass packaging facility � 2. AB InBev develops lightest beer bottle in the world � 3. 2022 WILL be the International Year of Glass � 4. AGC sells North American architectural glass business to Cardinal � 5. O-I to invest €30 million in Seville glass manufacturing facility � 6. Zippe delivers greenfi eld glass plant for Verallia � 7. Sisecam plots Turkish fl at glass manufacturing investments � 8. The ‘Furnace for the Future’ project gathers momentum � 9. Piramal Glass renamed to PGP Glass � 10. Glassmaker to receive Government grant for furnace rebuild
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Forglass completes project for UK furnace modifi cation
Polish glass melting technology supplier Forglass has completed a project on a UK furnace.
Having completed a similar project for the same client recently, Forglass was once again chosen to raise the working end, waist and canal monorails of the furnace.
Forglass developed technical documentation, a model of the existing structures, drawings of supporting structures, calculations and necessary descriptions.
The hydraulic system used by Forglass is said to guarantee a smooth and safe lifting of the structure.
As Forglass has its own fabrication facilities, it allows for great fl exibility and agility in responding to clients’ needs.
Tiama acquires pharmaceutical glass inspection company
Tiama Inspection Worldwide has acquired Dutch fi rm Vimec, a company with 30 years of experience in the fi eld of non-moulded glass control & inspection for the pharmaceutical industry segment.
Eindhoven-based Vimec has developed expertise in controlling vials, ampoules, syringes, and cartridges at different steps of their production thanks to its machine vision solutions.
Recently, Vimec has been providing dedicated services for the inspection of vials used for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Tiama’s objectives are to speed up Vimec’s growth by developing synergies (R&D, purchasing, etc.) and increasing Vimec’s sales and services presence to a worldwide level.
It also plans to bring technologies it has already developed for food & beverage glass defect recognition (artifi cial intelligence, deep learning, etc.) to this segment.
NEWS IN BRIEF
31st China Glass comes to a successful end
Organised by the Chinese Ceramic Society, the 31st China International Glass Industrial Technical Exhibition came to a successful conclusion in Shanghai despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its many related uncertainties.
The event brought new opportunities to the entire industry and demonstrated confidence and vitality to the global glass industry.
China Glass helped enhance technological innovation and trade circulation of the industry, while providing more opportunities for domestic circulation of the glass industry and promoting domestic and international cooperation.
Glass Focus Awards 2021 date announced
This year’s British Glass Focus Awards will be held inperson on 18 November 2021.
Following last year’s virtual awards, the 2021 awards ceremony will see a return to a traditional awards format with dinner, dancing, and entertainment at a venue to be confirmed.
The 2020 awards saw a record number of entries and British Glass said it it is looking forward to hearing about and celebrating the products, people, and initiatives the glass industry and supply chain have been working with since then.
Full awards categories will be revealed when entries open at the end of June and the deadline for submissions will be 22 September 2021.
Isra Vision founder and CEO to retire
Founder and CEO of automation technology provider Isra Vision, Enis Ersü is set to retire from his position at the end of June 2021 after 36 years.
In his next stage of life, he intends to support young technology companies with his expertise in a consulting capacity.
Wiegand-Glas to collaborate on biomethane glass bottle
Wiegand-Glas has partnered with biomethane producer bmp greengas to manufacture a ‘greener’ glass bottle for its customer soulproducts.
After soulproducts expressed the wish to produce its glass drinking bottles with biomethane in the future, bmp greengas agreed to supply Wiegand-Glas in February 2021.
The soulbottles are now produced exclusively with green gas, which reduces CO2 emissions.
The range of climate-neutral glass bottles is part of the Eco2Bottle concept, an initiative by Wiegand-Glas for environmentally friendly packaging solutions.
The use of biomethane - together with the increased use of waste glass, optimised transport packaging and the use of green electricity - is said to reduce emissions by more than 75% compared to the original 1.0-litre soulbottle.
The green gas is produced from municipal waste and comes from Germany, thus creating a low-CO2 value chain during production and transport.
Hygear signs $1.6 million hydrogen glass manufacturing deal
Dutch provider HyGear has signed a 10-year hydrogen recycling Gas-as-a-Service contract with a float glass manufacturer.
The pay-per-use contract is valued at approximately $1.6 million in total revenues over the 10-year agreement and was signed after successfully validating the quality of gas over several tests at two flatglass manufacturing facilities in Germany.
In February, HyGear signed a similar agreement valued at approximately $1.2 million in total revenues with Obeikan Glass Company, the largest float, coated, and laminated glass manufacturer in the Middle East.
Delivery of this unit is expected to occur later this year.
Corning and Apple collaboration reaches new heights
When Corning announced in summer 2020 the production of Gorilla Glass Victus, the newest generation of the chemically strengthened Gorilla Glass brand, it was thought that it would be at least another two years before the next generation hit the market.
But in October 2020, Apple publicised the new iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro would feature Ceramic Shield, a glass-ceramic developed in collaboration with Corning.
Compared to previous generations, Gorilla Glass Victus improved both scratch resistance and drop resistance.
Glass-ceramics are a hybrid material that features nanoceramic crystals embedded within a glass matrix.
