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2022 is the worldwide yr of glass. And but many glass factories are struggling to outlive. High power prices and appreciable CO2 emissions imply that cup manufacturing faces a difficult future. Researchers at FAU and Technische Hochshchule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm are presently conducting analysis geared toward discovering an answer to make glass manufacturing extra sustainable with out counting on fossil fuels. Their method is predicated on electrically operated furnaces.
“We use glass way more in our on a regular basis lives than we understand, typically coloured, typically clear, for an entire vary of various capabilities,” says Prof. Dr. Dominique de Ligny from the Chair of Glass and Ceramics at FAU. “Not just for home windows, but in addition for our smartphone screens, for storage jars, in rotary blades in wind generators or within the manufacturing of lasers.”
Producing glass requires massive quantities of power. In order to provide glass, varied uncooked supplies need to be heated in a furnace at temperatures of over 1600 levels Celsius. This excessive temperature is achieved by burning pure gasoline, however massive portions of CO2 are launched within the course of. Rising costs for pure gasoline imply that cup factories are going through big will increase in manufacturing prices. In the meantime, power prices account for greater than 40% of complete prices, whereas earlier than 2020 they solely accounted for 14%.
A pattern that’s already putting a number of glass factories on the brink of closure.
Melting glass utilizing electrical energy
Together with Prof. Dr. Sven Wiltzsch from the Faculty of Materials Engineering at TH Nürnberg, Prof. Dr. Dominique de Ligny has already been researching into strategies to make glass manufacturing extra sustainable and unbiased of fossils fuels since 2020. One choice is to warmth furnaces with electrical energy as a substitute of pure gasoline. In order to warmth the uncooked materials utilizing electrical energy, electrodes are connected to the sting of the glass melting pot. Electricity flows between the electrodes, transferring power to the fabric and inflicting it to begin to soften.
“If we presume that we will use inexperienced power in future, that will make this methodology way more sustainable. This course of would solely launch very small quantities of CO2, as purely electricity-based melting processes don’t contain any combustion. Side merchandise corresponding to CO2 or carbon monoxide would not be launched,” explains Prof. Wiltzsch. “If the furnace is operated utilizing electrical energy, much less power is misplaced than is the case when changing hydrogen, for instance. The system is due to this fact extra environment friendly.”
Blue glass as a substitute of brown glass
During their experiments, nevertheless, the researchers got here throughout an issue: their methodology isn’t appropriate for producing brown glass, however brown glass is significant for sure functions. Brown glass is required, for instance, to retailer drugs and foodstuffs, because it protects them from UV rays.
The motive why the strategy isn’t appropriate for producing brown glass is the excessive focus of oxygen in electrical furnaces. In conventional furnaces, the ambiance is low in oxygen, however in an electrical oven, oxygen ranges are excessive. The excessive focus of oxygen within the furnace adjustments chemical reactions on the degree of the atoms, producing blue moderately than brown glass.
Nicole Ostermeier is investigating the particular atomic properties of brown glass in her Bachelor’s thesis. She is finding out utilized supplies science at TH Nürnberg, and is finishing up analysis at FAU into why brown glass loses its coloration and the way the melting course of adjustments when electrical energy is used.
“If we understood the impact oxygen has on the colour of the glass, we might additionally be capable to produce brown glass utilizing electrodes, making the whole glass manufacturing course of extra sustainable,” say Prof. de Ligny and Prof. Wiltzsch.
Researchers produce cost-effective, environmentally pleasant glass materials
Provided by
Friedrich–Alexander University Erlangen–Nurnberg
Citation:
Glass and the power reform: Sustainable manufacturing because of electrical energy? (2022, May 23)
retrieved 23 May 2022
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