Ardagh Glass Packaging (AGP) - Europe has successfully completed an industrial fuel switching trial to produce glass packaging using biofuel.
The £6 million trial, funded by the UK Government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio programme, took place at its Knottingley facility in the UK.
The trial, led by Glass Futures, brought together several manufacturers in both the glass and ceramics sectors.
This included 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.
This produced 4.1 million glass containers, and reduced CO2 emissions by 242 tonnes (compared to carbon emissions from the same furnace using 100% natural gas).
The trial demonstrated that lower-carbon glass packaging can be produced at commercial scale without compromising glass quality or process efficiency.
Ardagh Group, said: “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.”
AGP-Europe said it would continue to explore technologies to help achieve its CO2 reduction targets for 2030, which can also contribute to a low-carbon future for the glass industry.
