Glass industry
Glass production requires high-temperature furnaces to melt raw materials like silica, soda ash, and limestone. This analysis compares several flat glass production configurations based on energy consumption and CO₂ emissions. These alternatives differ in terms:
- Energy vector for heat supply – natural gas, hydrogen, electricity
- Furnace technology – conventional air-fired furnace, oxy-fired furnace for efficient combustion, partial or full electrification
- Carbon capture technology – chemical absorption (MEA) or cryogenic CO₂ capture (CPU)
Want to explore the emissions in more detail?
Click below to access the detailed assessment to examine how the different technologies and energy vectors contribute to overall CO₂ emissions.
Energy demand components:
- Q-Process – Thermal energy for glass melting
- EL-Process – Electrical demand for furnace operations
- EL-ASU – Electricity for oxygen production in oxy-fuel systems
- EL-CPU – Power required by cryogenic carbon capture
- EL-CCS – Power Required by MEA-based carbon capture
- Q-CCS – Heat Required by MEA-based carbon capture
- Heat Recovered – Waste heat recovered for carbon capture
- Power Generated – On-site power generation from heat recovery
Carbon capture (CCS) impact:
Switch the toggle on to observe the impact of CCS implementation.
CCS increases energy demand due to CO₂ separation and compression but reduces overall direct (from fossil fuel combustion and decomposition of carbonate-based raw materials) and indirect (accounting for the upstream energy-related impact) emissions per ton of glass.
Carbon Capture