The H2GLASS Project: Decarbonising Our Future

Roll-out in the European Glass and Aluminium Sectors

Context

Decarbonising the energy-intensive industries is crucial for Europe to achieve its climate goals of becoming the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, and the European Union has identified hydrogen (particularly renewable hydrogen) as a key element of its strategy for the energy transition, net-zero, and sustainable development (source).

H2GLASS: A Processes4Planet Project

Funded by Horizon Europe under a Processes4Planet call, H2GLASS (full title: advancing Hydrogen (H2) technologies and smart production systems TO decarbonise the GLass and Aluminium SectorS) aims to ‘decarbonise our future’, by creating the technology stack of innovative burners and furnaces using green hydrogen for combustion that glass manufacturers need to realise 100% hydrogen combustion in their production facilities while ensuring the required product quality.

Goals and Vision

The project kicked off on 1 January 2023 and is expected to lead to a significant reduction of CO2 emissions in the glass industry by completely replacing natural gas with clean hydrogen (there is no emission of CO2 when burning hydrogen with oxygen). Furthermore, clean hydrogen will be supplied by water, which contributes to significantly reducing CO2 emissions of the energy-intensive glass industry. The developed technologies will be combined with Digital Twins, making the approach first-of-its-kind. The H2GLASS innovation will be tested on a large scale by five industrial demonstrators in the European glass manufacturing industry and one in the aluminium sector.

Implementation and Potential Impact

The project is implemented by a consortium of 23 partners (including five SMEs) under the coordination of the A.SPIRE member, SINTEF.

The industrial demonstrator Hrastnik1860 in Slovenia successfully concluded a testing phase in 2023 and achieved significant technological advancement in hydrogen utilisation in the glass industry by employing the H2GLASS technology. With over 60% hydrogen fuel content used for glass melting, Hrastnik1860 has reduced the direct carbon footprint of the melting process by more than 30% compared to standard procedures.

The H2GLASS technology has already been successfully employed in a second industrial demonstrator, Owens Corning. The project has already made significant progress in predictive maintenance of the glass manufacturing process through Digital Twins (i.e. an architecture for the models and a basic IT infrastructure for sharing data amongst the project participants have already been built up). First data have already been collected to be used in training the models for the Digital Twins approach.

In an interview published on the project’s website, Mateja Koritnik, Melting and Batching Manager at Steklarna Hrastnik talks about the success of the first campaign of introducing hydrogen in the glass melting processes, which indicates a great potential to significantly reduce GHG emissions. Additionally, the manager stresses that she is confident that retrofitting the H2GLASS technologies in the existing furnaces is feasible and that it is possible to achieve a 100% Hydrogen furnace by 2025.

Reinforcing the project’s commitment to social and inclusive responsibility, the interview ends with a piece of advice for young women willing to pursue a career in glass manufacturing – a traditionally male-dominated sector. Moreover, a second interview published on the project’s website, titled Women in Science, with two PhD students involved in the project, researching risk management and safety – guaranteeing the safe operability of hydrogen systems, respectively optimising the integration of hydrogen in the glass manufacturing process through Digital Twins addresses the challenges that women face in the STEM field.

The Coordinator’s Angle

Asked about what makes H2GLASS a success story, the project coordinator answers that the project will contribute to climate neutrality in Europe and to SDG 13 (Climate Action). Moreover, if all glass and aluminium cast houses in the EU would replace their current fuel consumption with 100% hydrogen, using H2GLASS technology, a significant fraction of the sectoral CO2 emissions would be avoided. For the glass industry, this would translate into a decrease of up to 80% by 2050. For the aluminium industry, it is expected to reach zero emissions by 2050 (100%).

Furthermore, The H2GLAS project is working on implementing a gender-balanced innovation approach, bringing in the perspective of female researchers, experts and technicians - the project coordinator is a woman, and two other women are leading work packages. Through its digitalisation aspect, the project has the potential to redress gender inequalities. With a total number of six industrial demonstrators, representing major players in the glass and aluminium sectors, along with a group of highly qualified industry experts and researchers, H2GLASS is implementing breakthrough technologies for employing green hydrogen in energy-intensive industries.

A.SPIRE applauds the project's commitment to social and gender equity. H2GLASS is a promising Success Story, exemplifying how collaborative, forward-thinking projects can drive sustainable innovation, reduce carbon emissions, and enhance inclusivity in European energy-intensive industries (specifically the glass and aluminium sectors) to achieve Europe’s climate and sustainability goals.

Download the leaflet for more information about the January Success Story. 

Visit the H2GLASS project’s website.

For more information about A.SPIRE, the Processes4Planet Partnership, and the Success Stories campaign contact the team.