Decarbonisation options for the Dutch container and tableware glass industry

Container and tableware glass industry in the Netherlands

Manufacturing of container and tableware glass in the Netherlands takes place at four locations. The focus of this report is on the operations of two producers of container glass within the context of the Dutch industry, namely Ardagh Group and O-I, and one tableware glass producer: Libbey.

Glass production takes place through a series of processes, consisting of batch preparation, melting and fining, refining and conditioning, forming, annealing, surface treatment, and inspection. The furnace, where melting and fining of the glass takes place, accounts for the majority of energy consumption. From the furnace also process emissions take place, which accounts for approximately 15% of furnace emissions.

Decarbonisation options for glass production

All-electric melting, as well as biofuel and hydrogen combustion are promising alternatives to traditional natural gas consuming melting activities, provided that they are developed further. The potential of waste heat recovery options can be further exploited by exploring their optimal use within traditional melting and coupling with innovative melting methods.