Glass Technology Services (GTS) has secured funding to commission a new pilot-scale research furnace at their laboratory facility in Sheffield.
GTS has been carrying out world-leading research in both mainstream and specialist glass fields for over a hundred years, but until now, glass melting trials have been limited to batches of a maximum of 2kg per melt. The new furnace will enable future trials to produce glass up to 50kg per melt, providing a reassuring scale-up of results on the path to commercial-scale implementation.
Explaining the new furnace capability, Chris Holcroft, Energy and Environment Lead at GTS, said: “Continuing a long-standing partnership with AFT Glass, we have designed a new modular furnace that allows rapid reconfiguring to accommodate different-sized melts depending on customer needs.
“This is coupled with an instrumentation and camera system to enable real-time logging of glass and furnace conditions throughout the melt process. The instrumentation pack can be modified to suit the testing being performed.
“The furnace will initially be configured to simulate melting under a natural gas atmosphere with up to 80% electrical heating. However, the innovative design allows for reconfiguration to test with alternative fuels as they become available on an industrial scale to provide industrially relevant results. This will enable low-carbon glass manufacturing innovations to progress from lab bench to industrial implementation, rapidly realising carbon savings in the real world.
“The facility also enables medium-scale development and production of non-standard glass compositions for bespoke products or research purposes.”
The furnace is scheduled to be operational by early 2025, with initial projects focused on studying low-energy refractories and continuing GTS’s work on waste vitrification glasses, secondary raw materials, and increased recycled content.
The facility is available for commercial projects and grant-funded partnerships.
Funding for the new furnace was obtained through a public tender contract awarded by Glass Futures as part of the Foundation Industries Sustainability Consortium (FISC) EconoMISER 2 project from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
FISC was founded in 2020 through UKRI and their Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge programme as part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. Designed to help energy-intensive businesses share expertise and develop radical innovations to reduce their carbon footprint.
The programme injects significant new public and industry innovation funding into the foundation industries, helping deliver against the vision of a cutting-edge, innovative and sustainable industrial sector. The government has provided £66 million, and £83 million came from industry.
