New world class glass furnace
Glass Futures has appointed Italian glass engineers Stara Glass to design its 30-tonne/day experimental research and development furnace, which will be the core of Glass Futures Global Centre of Excellence being built in St Helens in the UK.
Stara Glass is part of the Hydra Group of companies, which has close ties with Genoa university in Italy, and the glass industry supply chain.
The 165,000ft2 Glass Futures’ Centre of Excellence is being built on a 14-acre site, with the facility centred around a 30-tonne/day low carbon demonstration furnace creating the world’s first openly accessible, multi-disciplinary glass melting facility.
This will have provision for research and development trials to establish new manufacturing techniques, raw materials and improved efficiencies while decarbonising the glass industry.
Ernesto Cattaneo, head of computing and innovation projects at Stara Glass, said: “Normally, a glass furnace is commissioned and it runs continuously, as any downtime means a huge loss in production and profit. That is not the case here.
“The Glass Futures’ furnace is a world first and will be designed with multi-functionality in mind. It will need to use different fuels such as methane, hydrogen, biofuels and electricity and have multiple test areas; it will be like a playground for glass engineers. There has never been anything like this before and that is what’s so innovative about Glass Futures’ vision for the industry.”
Glass Futures is a not-for-profit research and technology organisation building the £54 million Global Centre of Excellence for Glass R&D, Innovation and Training in St Helens, in the north west of England.
The facility is set to connect the glass industry and academia to deliver exportable R&D and innovation, as well as training and up-skilling opportunities, ensuring glass making’s future is built on sustainable, recyclable, carbon-zero products.