Glass international february 2015

EXCLUSIVE: O-I FRANCE FURNACE INAUGURATION

February 2015 | Vol. 38 No.2

EXCLUSIVE: O-I FRANCEREFRACTORIES

UK OVERVIEW

Glass International February 2015

www.glass-international.com

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Contents

Glass International Februrary 2015

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February 2015 Vol.38 No.2

2 Editor’s Comment

5 International News

Company profi le: Owens-Illinois 12 O-I to invest €14 million in Labégude, France

Company profi le: Grupo Vical16 Central to American production

Refractories19 Independent services: Reducing the risk of procuring low-cost refractories22 A history of refractory innovation 24 An overview of alumina-silica refractories and their advantages 27 The performance of a bonded high alumina refractory in a glass plant

32 History

34 British Glass

UK overview36 UK industry continues to thrive40 British Glass elects new President 42 Glass manufacturers reassess relationship with energy as costs rise

Furnaces44 Saving energy by pre-heating gas

Cold end46 SmartLine inspection machine with non- contact features

Batch plant47 Change of mixers at Stölzle Oberglas

Front cover image courtesy of Pennine Industrial Equipment (UK)

www.pennine.org

40 Plus fi nd us on Linked-In and Twitter.


@Glass_Int

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EXCLUSIVE: O-I FRANCE FURNACE INAUGURATION

February 2015 | Vol. 38 No.2

EXCLUSIVE: O-I FRANCEREFRACTORIES

UK OVERVIEW



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Editor’s comment


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Welcome to the February 2015 issue of Glass International. The industry is in a positive mood at

the moment with plenty of investments and several contracts for new orders between manufacturers and suppliers.

This upbeat theme is refl ected in the fi rst feature of this issue, an exclusive look behind the scenes at Owens-Illinois’ (O-I) plant in Labégude, France.

The plant recently inaugurated a new €14 million furnace and very kindly in-vited Glass International’s Sally Roberts to the opening event. She provides an exclu-sive report from the event, including an interview with O-I Director of Operations for France-Spain, Jean-Pierre François.

The Labégude site is regarded by O-I as its best in the world for productivity, safe-ty and quality. An impressive feat consid-ering the size of O-I and the number of plants it operates around the world!

Elsewhere in the news and available on the Glass International website, is more good news from France, this time from perfume and cosmetics glass manufactur-er Pochet du Courval. It, too, has recent-ly invested in its furnace, hiring German company Horn to repair its 80 tonnes per day Furnace No.4.

The furnace produces super-fl int per-fume and cosmetic bottles. Thanks to Horn’s latest technology the furnace now emits less than 700 mg NOx per cubic me-tre of waste gases.

On top of the news that fellow French manufacturer SGD is to construct France’s fi rst new glass plant in 20 years, at St Quentin Lamotte in the north of the country, the future of the French hollow and container glass industry certainly looks healthy at the moment.

All of which ties in nicely with the forthcoming Glassman Europe exhibi-tion and conference in Lyon in May.

As conference organiser, Glass Inter-national was inundated with requests to speak and unfortunately has had to turn down a number of speakers.

Hopefully though we have a varied and informative conference that appeals to a range of executives from the container and hollow industry.

Confi rmed speakers at the event in-clude FEVE, Siemens, Stölzle, O-I, Ar-dagh, the Food Packaging Forum, IHS Global Limited, Heye-International and BDF, among others.

Keep an eye on the weekly newsletter and Glassman Europe website in coming weeks as paper titles, speaker names and presentation abstracts are uploaded to the event’s website.

We look forward to welcoming you to the exhibition and conference, both of which are free to attend. More informa-tion at www.glassmanevents.comGreg [email protected]

Greg Morris

Plenty of good news in the French glass industry


Quartz Glass Portfolio

Editor: Greg MorrisTel: +44 (0)1737 855132Email: [email protected]

Editorial Assistant: Sally RobertsTel: +44 (0)1737 855154Email: [email protected]

Designer: Annie BakerTel: +44 (0)1737 855130Email: [email protected]

Sales Director: Ken ClarkTel: +44 (0)1737 855117Email: [email protected]

Sales Manager: Jeremy FordreyTel: +44 (0)1737 855133Email: [email protected]

Productive Executive: Martin Lawrence

SubscriptionsTel: +44 (0)1737 855023 Fax: +44 (0)1737 855034Email: [email protected]

Published by Quartz Business Media Ltd,Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road, Redhill, Surrey RH1 1QX, UK.Tel: +44 (0)1737 855000. Fax: +44 (0)1737 855034. Email: [email protected]: www.glass-international.com

Glass International (ISSN 0143-7838) (USPS No: 020-753) is published 10 times per year by Quartz Business Media Ltd, and distributed in the US by DSW, 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Glass International c/o PO Box 437, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437.

Offi cial publication of Abividro - the Brazilian Technical Association of Automatic Glass

Industries

Member of British Glass Manufacturers’ Confederation

China National Association for Glass Industry

Glass International annual subscription rates including Glass International Directory:For one year: UK £159, all other countries £224.For two years: UK £285, all other countries £403.Airmail prices on request. Single copies £44.

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Printed in UK by:Pensord, Tram Road, Pontlanfraith, Blackwood,Gwent NP12 2YA, UK.

© Quartz Business Media Ltd, 2015ISSN 0143-7838

Monthly journal for the industry worldwide

Directory 2015Annual international reference source

Glassman specialist exhibitions rotate between America, Asia and Europe


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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

Maximilian Sollfrank retires from Horn GlassMr. Sollfrank has retired from his position as Executive Chairman of Horn’s Board of Directors.

A member of the board since 2001, Mr. Sollfrank has successfully managed the fortunes of Horn since the business’ foundation in 1999.

Mr. Sollfrank will keep in touch with the company, and will manage the Asian subsidiaries in China and Singapore as well as continue to advise Horn with regard to strategic and operative decisions.

Recycling system for the float industryHyGear is currently developing a recycling system for the float glass industry to recover the hydrogen and nitrogen from the tin bath.

The opportunities lie in the reduction of the operational costs of utilities (hydrogen and nitrogen) and therefore fit well with the glass industry’s aim of energy and cost savings.

The Gas Recovery System (GRS) will extract and purify the hydrogen-nitrogen mixture that forms a controlled reducing atmosphere over the bed of molten tin.

Preliminary calculations show that with an off-gas collection of 40% – the rest is lost due to leakages within the tin bath – a hydrogen and nitrogen recovery of nearly 70% can be reached.

3D laser cutting of glassUK independent research and development, consultancy and testing facility, Glass Technology Services Ltd (GTS), is developing laser process to optimise the production of customised three dimensional glass components.

Designed to meet increased industry demand for low-cost, flexible manufacturing of complex glass shapes, 3D Clear-Cut will enable several pieces to be laser-cut from a single block of glass.


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VISIT: www.glass-international.com – For daily news updates and regular features

5

Glassman Europe speakersRegistration is open for Glass-man Europe, 6-7 May 2015, Lyon, France. Complete the online form at www.glass-maneurope.com/register to receive a free pass to attend.

The event includes a free conference featuring a num-ber of expert internation-al speakers. Speakers so far confirmed to speak include Siemens, FEVE and the Food Packaging Forum.

More Glassman Europe speaker details will be an-nounced soon.

Ardagh plans $71 million upgrade of Winchester plantArdagh plans to invest $71 million at its Winchester, In-diana, USA plant.

The money will be spent on making improvements to the 78-year-old facility that em-ploys 400 people.

The upgrades will be made over three years and be aided by a slew of incentives from state and area economic devel-opment groups.

“This level of investment in a single glass-manufacturing facility in such a brief period of time is unprecedented for Ardagh Group and extremely rare in our industry,” John Ri-ordan, CEO of Ardagh Group Glass North America, said.

Built in 1937, the facility specialises in manufacturing glass containers for the food and spirits markets. The plant was owned by Anchor Glass

Container Corp before Ardagh Group purchased the compa-ny for $880 million in August 2012.

Incentive agreements for the project include a $6.1 million tax abatement over 10 years from the city of Winchester and a grant of $300,000 for local equipment purchases and training of em-

ployees associated with the project from the Randolph Economic Development Corp.

In addition, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. has offered up to $1 million in conditional tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants, according to Ardagh.

Vidrala has bought glass bottle manufacturer Encirc in a deal speculated to have cost up to £400 million (€409 million).

Encirc, which makes bottles for a range of suppliers includ-ing Diageo and Britvic, used to trade as Quinn Glass.

Spanish bottle manufactur-er Vidrala has now snapped up the Encirc bottle and jar making business that employs 1,100 people in Cheshire, UK and Northern Ireland.

Adrian Curry, managing di-rector at Encirc, said: “Vidrala has a sizeable presence in Eu-rope and has committed to supporting Encirc’s continued development and investment.

“This will ensure that the

business will continue to grow, innovate, maintain and enhance its market-leading position to the benefit of En-circ’s employees, customers, suppliers and local communi-ties alike.”

Gorka Schmitt, chief exec-utive of Vidrala, added: “En-circ has demonstrated a solid market share in recent years thanks to the engagement of its employees, its modern fa-cilities, competitiveness and strong customer relationships.

“This acquisition represents an important milestone for Vidrala. The integration will ensure both Vidrala and En-circ are better placed for the future.”

Vidrala buys Encirc

feb news.indd 1 2/4/15 4:07 PM

International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

Be first with the news! VISIT: www.glass-international.com for daily news updates


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Smartstak system to ‘cap’ bottle packagingLoadhog’s glass bottle containment system, Smartstak, has launched a product designed to optimise the transport of glass bottles and jars, particularly in Europe.

The new element introduced to the Smartstak concept is the Smartcap - a universal plastic reusable capping tray.

When used in conjunction with the Smartpad - a Smartstak component - the Smartcap creates an intelligent glass bottle packaging system which eliminates cardboard capping trays used predominantly in Europe, in addition to shrink wrapping.

Graco celebrates 20th anniversaryGraco has celebrated its 20th anniversary of its European headquarters.

Gray Company Inc. was established in 1926 in Minneapolis, USA and changed its name to Graco Inc in 1969. In 1994, moving away from several regional locations, the EMEA headquarters opened in Maasmechelen, Belgium.

Pilkington loses appeal over EU fineFlat glass manufacturer Pilkington has lost its challenge to a €357 million ($445 million) cartel fine after a top EU court said regulators had come up with the correct sanction.

Pilkington, Saint-Gobain and two other companies were hit with a €1.35 billion fine by the European Commission in 2008 for fixing prices and sharing markets over a five-year period from 1998.

UK-based Pilkington, acquired by NSG in 2006, challenged the ruling at the Luxembourg-based General Court of the European Union, asking judges to annul the finding and to cut the fine.

Judges at Europe’s second-highest court were not convinced by its arguments.

Since introducing its latest generation Evolution glass container inspection ma-chines at glasstec exhibition last October, Iris has delivered 55 new machines to glass-works in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. They provide inspection precision that is easy to use and con-tributes to plant efficiency.

The Evolution range now provides better performance than ever, thanks to its new PC, bigger HD touch screen (21.5in), new HD cameras and software. Iris has re-duced maintenance costs via the design and assembly employed. There are fewer components in the PC itself and direct access to the HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is provided on the front panel. Improved cooling is another feature. Es-sentially, the new processing unit is ready to accept future innovations and the require-

ments of customers.The 21.5in high definition

screen provides quicker acces-sibility to different screens; less switching between screens; the instant display of parameters; faster adjust-ments; quicker optimisation and easier fine-tuning.

The screen permits the full display of high resolution images taken by cameras, with no need for zoom, for genuine vision of containers and faults, better detection of small faults and an improved

understanding of machine behaviour.

The cameras are 400% more powerful, providing sharper and more accurate images, as well as improved discrimina-tion between different types of defects (e.g. small stones and blisters), better definition of container shapes and ex-cellent dark glass inspection capabilities. Evolution offers precise inspection of glass containers. Retrofit kits are available for all existing Evo-lution machines.

Owens-Illinois (OI) has named Vitaliano Torno as Managing Director of O-I Europe, effec-tive immediately.

Torno succeeds Erik Bouts as the most senior level executive for O-I in Europe. As the head of O-I’s largest region, Torno

will continue shepherding the company through its asset op-timisation programme.

Torno has worked in the glass industry for more than 25 years and following O-I’s acquisition of BSN in 2004, was named VP of Sales & Busi-

ness Development for O-I Eu-rope. After serving in several commercial leadership roles for the region, he was named Vice President of O-I’s Euro-pean country organisation, a role he will maintain in his new position.

O-I appoints new head of Europe

Vetropack Moravia completes furnace reconstructionVetropack Moravia Glass has completed the reconstruction of glass furnace for clear glass.

The last silica wedge was symbolically hammered into the repaired furnace which

began being heated up to 1600°C.

The reconstruction of the furnace and its related tech-nology took three months at a total cost of CZK 900 million

($37.9 million).The reason for the invest-

ment is not only to increase output and the quality of pro-duction, but also to reduce en-ergy demands.

55 latest Iris inspection machines sold since glasstec


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International News


Ardagh Group has achieved two firsts on the new bottle of Sailor Jerry, a premium spiced rum from William Grant & Sons.

Ardagh has been able for the first time to produce at its Scottish plant in Irvine a cork mouthed bottle using its weight saving ‘narrow neck press and blow’ (NNPB) glass manufacturing process.

While a cork mouth finish is relatively straightforward to produce using the blow blow process, it was untested and far more difficult under NNPB conditions. Ardagh technicians found a means of successfully performing this task.

The second ‘first’ came in the form of neck embossing

– the first time this has been applied by Ardagh for the UK spirits sector.

The results is a bottle that is 20% lighter and also able to display embossed brand-ing on the prominent neck feature.

Global Brand Director for Sailor Jerry, Julie Doyle said: “Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum was developed to continue the legacy of Norman ‘Sailor Jer-ry’ Collins and was inspired by his era, when goods were made by hand and people had a stronger sense of pride in their work.

“The new packaging has been introduced to align the brand’s look and old school feel with the premium, au-thentic nature of the spirit.”

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Arc International receives€60 million takeover planA €60 million takeover plan has been put forward to French tableware group Arc International.

The injection of €60 mil-lion would help finance the restructuring of the group and the modernisa-tion of its main production site at Arques, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.

The takeover offer was led by PHP, an Ameri-can investment structure founded by Tim Gollin, a former associate of One Equity Partners, as well as Cédric Aymard and Didier Riebel in France, two spe-cialists in business trans-formation.

If accepted, PHP’s pro-posal will maintain Arc’s production and staff levels in Arques. It will also pro-

vide a full transformation of the mode of produc-tion, from a ‘push’ model (driven by production) to a ‘pull’ one (driven by client orders) with smaller pro-duction batches and an or-ganisation geared towards ‘lean manufacturing’.

If accepted, the takeover will include investments aimed at upgrading plant and equipment at the Ar-ques site.

Arc International’s cred-itors, national and local public authorities as well as other debtors have reached an agreement for the re-structuring of Arc Interna-tional’s historical debt. The restructuring will improve the financial situation of the company.

Arc warned that staff

reductions will be inevita-ble due to the scale of the transformation.

Tim Gollin, Cédric Ay-mard and Didier Riebel will take on operational responsibilities during the transformation alongside key managers of the group and members of the found-ing family.

“Arc International is an iconic French company”, said Mr Gollin.

“We strongly believe in the development potential of this company in France and abroad, through the unique know-how of its staff and the production of high-quality function al products with innovative design.”

Ardagh navigates new waters with Sailor Jerry


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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

Be first with the news! VISIT: www.glass-international.com for daily news updates


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ICG organises the 7th summer school in Montpellier, FranceThe International Commission on Glass (ICG) will host its workshop for new researchers in glass science and surface and thin film technology in Montpellier, France, July 6-10, 2015.

The Summer School 2015 will be organised as two parallel streams, one following a glass science theme, focused more on academic topics, and the second looking at glass surface and thin film technologies from an industrial and academic perspective.

The glass science workshop will provide an overview of key fundamentals in glass science, with an emphasis on structure-property relationships and transport phenomena.

Glass community to gather in BeijingThe 26th China International Glass Industrial Technical Exhibition (China Glass 2015) will be held at the China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing on 20-23 May 2015.

The exhibition will take place in all eight halls of the exhibition centre and the exhibition area will reach 100,000 square meters for the first time.

Eight hundred glass businesses from around the world over are expected to participate in the event and the exhibition hopes to attract a great number of professional visitors in the world.

UK partnership boosts STEM sector skillsThe UK’s Glass Academy and Sheffield College have entered into a new phase of partnership to promote and stimulate meaningful work experience placements and careers advice for the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) sectors in general.

The new five-year agreement aims to consolidate the partnership.

Maltha Glassrecycling is to invest €4.5 million on upgrad-ing its production lines at its Heijningen, The Netherlands site.

Maltha is a subsidiary of the Van Gansewinkel Groep, and said the upgraded facto-ry will enable it to increase the amount of raw material it recovers from waste glass by 11% and further improve the quality of the recycled cullet.

The Heijningen site is the company’s largest. Conver-sion work will start in March 2015 and take several months to complete.

Maltha specialises in recy-

cling glass waste from busi-nesses, local authorities and households, which it process-es to create new raw materials for the glass and glass wool

industry.More than 1 million tonnes

of glass waste are processed every year by the glass recy-cler.

FEVE report: EU Circular EconomyThe container glass sector in Europe brings value to Eu-rope’s social, environmental and economic welfare, accord-ing to findings from an Ernst & Young (E&Y) study commis-sioned by FEVE.

Annually, up to €610 mil-lion is invested to innovate and maintain a network of 155 plants across the EU, which equates to 10% of the indus-try’s operational costs every year.

The industry contributes €9.5 billion annually to the EU’s GDP, and has a positive impact on Europe’s trade bal-ance of €21 billion for prod-ucts primarily packed in glass.

Some 125,000 jobs are maintained by the sector, which supports a wide range of other local industries.

The industry is also a prime

example of a well-function-ing circular economy. It is reducing its environmental footprint thanks to effective bottle-to-bottle closed loop recycling.

This allows the sector to collect seven out of every 10 bottles for recycling - mean-ing one ton of recycled glass saves 1.2 tons of virgin raw materials and cuts CO2 emis-sions by 60%.

The container glass indus-try, NGOs and several groups in the European Parliament are calling on the European Commission to ensure that the Circular Economy Package remains on the EU agenda – as it is an important tool to rec-oncile Europe’s environmen-tal objectives with economic growth.

Heye International has launched a new website, www.heye-international.com.

It provides valuable pro-duction technology support for glass container manufac-turers with a user-friendly format.

The company has devised a comprehensive communica-tions strategy via a responsive website design that is equally accessible via PC, tablet and smartphone.

The latest technological innovations are presented, together with videos, anima-tions, flyers and technical data sheets. A log in-protected customer area simplifies the process of data uploads and spare parts ordering, as well as facilitating data exchange during active projects.

Heye’s updated website

Maltha Glassrecycling invests in new recycling plant


Company profile: O-I France


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European operations represent 40% of O-I’s business and in 2014 the company invested €140 million into its European

factories, reconstructing furnaces and upgrading manufacturing equipment.

Situated in France’s Rhône Valley, close to the wine region of Burgundy, the Verrerie O-I de Labégude was initially inaugurated in 1885, and prior to O-I was owned by French giant BSN. With 130 employees, the plant is an important source of industry for the local area, which, based in the Ardèche region, is otherwise dominated by agriculture and tourism.

“The new furnace is very important, for this reason”, noted François Pierrot, O-I’s Country Executive for France and Spain: “It signals a continued investment in the plant; the furnace is replaced every 15 or more years, so it means a further 15 years minimum of industry for the plant, and for the region.”

O-I’s top performing plantO-I’s investment of €14 million in the Labégude plant is significant for another reason as well. The age of the factory site, which has been operating as a glassmakers for almost 130 years, means it was designed prior to France’s modern transportation systems: “There is a lack of good transportation links to this plant, but they keep it going because it is the top [O-I] plant in the world for productivity, quality and safety,” confirmed François.

As well as being the top performing plant out of all 77 of O-I’s worldwide factories in terms of quality of production, safety, and productivity, the factory also uses 80% cullet in its batch mix, and with the help of the new furnace is focused

O-I invests €14 million in Labégude

Owens-Illinois’ (O-I) Labégude factory in France has recently benefitted from a €14 million investment in a new furnace. Sally Roberts went to the inauguration of the furnace to discuss what this means for the company and the region with some of O-I’s key executives.

O-I France

With nine manufacturing plants in the country (Béziers, Gironcourt, Labégude, Puy Guillaume, Reims, Vayres, Veauche, Wingles and Vergèze), O-I France is the largest container glass producer in France.

O-I entered the French market in 1986, with the largest ever acquisition in the French container glass market: The company’s $625 million acquisition of BSN Glasspack in 2004 instantly made O-I the largest producer in the domestic market.

O-I made another acquisition in 2010 when it bought the Verrerie du Languedoc, a small glassmaker based in Vergèze, for $15 million. Founded in 1973, Verrerie du Languedoc operates one furnace and four production lines, and produces glass containers for the beverage industry.

In 2013, O-I invested €140 million across its European operations, including €40 million dedicated to its French operations. As well as the investment at Labégude, this included new equipment at the Wingles (Pas-de-Calais) and capacity addition at the Gironcourt-sur-Vraine (Vosges) plants, both of which produce container glass for the beer industry.

A new production line will be added at its Vayres plant (Gironde), which produces bottles for the wine market. O-I also plans to invest at

Around 230 people attended the inauguration of the furnace.

O-I plant visit.indd 1 2/4/15 4:13 PM



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on reducing its energy consumption. The plant has three production lines and

produces 130,000 tonnes of glass per annum, a figure which equates to 300 million bottles a year. For the most part the site caters to the wine market, and it also produces bottles for the spirits industry. Its wine customers are situated on average less than 300km from the plant, an O-I company policy along Europe’s wine-belt that allows for a strong relationship between it and its customers, as well as reduced transportation costs and carbon footprint.

Its clients include well-known names such as Cellier des Dauphins, Pernod-Ricard, La Maison Chapoutier, and La Martiniquaise, the second largest spirits group in France.

The inaugurationAs is traditional in France, two of O-I’s clients attended the inauguration of the furnace to be named as its godmother and godfather. On this occasion Valérie Lyet, Purchasing Director of La Martiniquaise, and Michael Chapoutier, CEO of La Maison Chapoutier, were there to accept the honour on behalf of their companies.

In total, 230 people attended the event including local officials, clients, and journalists, and after the opening ceremony were given a tour of the factory.

This was followed by speeches from Francois Pierrot and Jean-Pierre François, Director of Operations for France Spain, who both reasserted the importance of the new furnace to the region and the company, and the benefits it will bring in terms of environmental footprint. r

its Puy-Guillaume (Puy-de-Dôme) and Veauche (Loire) plants. The former produces for the food industry, while the latter specialises in producing glass containers for cognacs.

The company has confirmed that going forward, one of O-I’s European focuses will be on wine. O-I prides itself on having has the best footprint in the wine industry, with a factory every 150km along the European wine belt which begins in Bordeaux, western France, and continues into eastern Italy. Approximately 80% of all European wine is produced in this belt, and O-I has 10 facilities in this region which gives it the flexibility to have inventory and bottles available to winemakers as and when they need them.

The Labégude site

predominantly produces wine

bottles, as well as for the

spirits industry.

“The new furnace is very important... It means a further 15 years minimum

of industry for the plant, and for the region. ” The new furnace (above and below) indicates a continued

investment of at least 15 years for the Labégude plant, one of

the only industrial employers in the region.

After the opening ceremony for the furnace, visitors were shown around the Labégude plant.




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What are the key aspects when it comes to maintaining production lev-els at the plant? Electricity isn’t cheap, and we never stop. We have a lot of water, which we use as a cooling system, including around the furnace. So, energy and water are key to maintaining 24 hours a day, seven days a week production.

Does the plant consume less energy with the new furnace?The new furnace use 100% gas. The new design of the furnace has been integral to reducing the consumption of energy. We use 10% less energy today than we did in October, before we stopped the old furnace.

The furnace design is very important for preserving energy consumption, but on top of that the way we are driving and leading is key. We are focusing on best practices; on having good quality glass, and a low energy consumption. These are two big parameters for us: Good quality of glass, and low energy consumption.

This is the best plant of the O-I world for productivity, safety, and quality. For cullet, no, but it is probably one of the better ones.

What level of cullet is used in the batch at Labégude?When we eject bottles from the cold end we keep

the bottles and use the cullet. Our cullet ratio is around 80%, which is considered a high level.

What is produced at the plant?Our production at this plant is dead-leaf colour, and within this colour we are able to produce a lot of different shapes, from 25 centilitres up to 1.5 litres, and mainly we produce for still wine, both red and white.

Within France we produce 600-800 different shapes. Our commercial perspective depends on the market we deliver to: We want to light weight the bottles, and for standard wine we produce very light bottles, but for a grand cru, or something like that, we produce a very heavy bottle. So, for the same bottle we can move between a weight of 300 grams to 600, or 800 grams.

Does it depend on what your customer wants, as to how heavy you make it?Yes, for mass market it is low weight, and for quality bottles, heavy. However, there is absolutely no relationship between the breakage percentage and the weight of a bottle. It is not because it is heavy that it will break, or that it is light that it will break. We work on different technology to ensure the ‘un-breakability’ of the bottles.

What is the daily output for this factory?It is 300 million bottles a year, and 700,000 bottles a day.

How would you describe the French market at the moment?It is stable. There was no increase in 2014, but also no decrease. Our customers are expecting the economy to start up in the next few months; they have an expectation of improvement.

And how is the region around Lyon faring?Much the same as France in general, there is no difference. r

Jean-Pierre François, Director of Operations for France-Spain at Owens-Illinois (O-I), took time out at the inauguration of Labégude’s furnace to discuss the environmental benefits that this investment will bring to the plant, and the state of the French market at the moment.

“This is the best plant of the O-I

world for productivity, safety

and quality.”

O-I: Interview

Jean-Pierre François speaking at the event.


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RZ_HEY_HiP_Speedline_Schutzgitter_GlassInternational.indd 1 25.09.14 09:34

Company profile: Grupo Vical


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Continued>>

Central to American productionCentral America’s Grupo Vical has gone from strength to strength since its formation in 1964. It serves the Central American and Caribbean markets and uses modern, environmentally friendly technology to produce glass containers. Greg Morris spoke to Dr. Eduardo Ordoñez, spokesman for Grupo Vical.

Can you give a history of the company? In 1964 Vical started operations in Guatemala as Centroamericana de Vidrio, becoming the first glass container manufacturer in Central America (which later became Vidriera Guatemalteca). In 1978, we opened a second production facility in Costa Rica to keep up with market demand, named Vidriera Centroamericana.

The group today also owns and operates two silica extraction facilities. Vical’s main focus is to provide good quality and service to our customers while being committed to environmental protection and occupational health and safety. Vical currently has 1,500 direct employees.

Can you tell me more about the Vical group, such as number of produc-tion lines and what type of specialist equipment is used? Vical currently operates four furnaces and 13 production lines with blow and blow, and press and blow processes.

We have forming technology with single, double and triple gob systems equipped with weight monitoring, Narrow Neck Press and Blow and Applied Ceramic Labels (ACL) decorating. These provide Vical with great versatility to accommodate different product and customer profiles.

Lines are equipped with cold end inspection technology from Bucher Emhart Glass, plus automated bulk packing equipment.

What products do you make and what is your most popular product? Vical currently supplies products to different segments (including medicine and food), however the most popular are glass containers for beer, soft drinks and liquors.

How has the glass container market performed in Central America and the Caribbean in recent years, in light of the global recession? Products bottled in glass are important alternatives to this market, especially in a difficult economy, where the value of the refillable containers creates huge savings to the producer (bottler) and therefore to the final customer as well. These benefits have been acknowledged by most of our Central American clients who have experienced

“We believe, today Vicesa is the only facility to comply with European

standards on this side of the Atlantic.”

Costa Rica profile.indd 1 2/4/15 11:15 AM

Company profile: Grupo Vical


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Central to American production

the real benefits in their cost evaluation, thus marking a renewed interest in the returnable bottle both for beer and soda.

What makes the company stand out from its competitors? The availability of several locations, type of processes and glass colours allow Vical to offer our flexible service to different segments of the market.

What geographical markets does the company serve?The Central America and Caribbean market, serving customers in 27 countries. Vical’s export markets represent around 65% of our sales.

How important is the Central America market to you and do you think the market is set to grow? Central American markets are very important

to Vical, not just as our geographically natural market, but also because these markets have been growing well recently and are setting the conditions for future growth. Vical is preparing to serve this new demand.

Can anything be done to improve the Central America market? From the point of view of the glass market, the main driver of growth for these countries is new products. Any support that we can give our customers to develop them will improve their competitiveness to reach not just new local segments, but the possibility to access unlimited markets abroad.

This, in addition to the use of glass in Central America as an environmentally friendly material, driven by increasing producer/consumer responsibility, may stimulate the improvement of this market.

What is your daily output of glass? In all, around 800 tons of glass or 2.4 million containers are produced daily.

Are there any ‘green’ technologies in place at the plant? In 2013 Vical installed and implemented, through a $7 million investment, emissions control equipment designed to treat gases resulting from glass furnaces. The system was manufactured by Maguin group, a French company with more than 35 years of experience, and achieved a 32% reduction in sulphur oxide, an 18% reduction of nitrogen oxide and an 85% reduction of particulate matter. We believe, today, Vicesa is the only facility to comply with European standards on this side of the Atlantic.

In your view, what are the current glass industry challenges and oppor-tunities? Glass containers have been challenged by low price, low quality alternatives for some time now; environmental and health impacts have been overlooked at a great cost to society. We believe more sustainable businesses, new environmental regulations and increased consumer awareness will provide a competitive advantage for glass in the coming years.

What does the future hold for the company? Vical is prepared to face the future with a positive view and our planning is orientated to maximise the potential growth of the markets where we participate, with state of the art technology and high quality service. r

www.grupovical.comCosta Rica and Guatemala

Costa Rica profile.indd 2 2/4/15 11:15 AM

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The developed economies of the western world have faced an economic crisis of an unprecedented

span, the associated social costs of which have proved to be comparable only with the outcome of the major global wars of the last century.

The consequence of this crisis, however, has been unaccompanied by the material devastation of war, which resulted in a huge reconstruction effort and almost full employment for years after, revamping the economy. The current crisis, though resulting in similar economic devastation, has left behind it a large level of unemployment.

In the western world, the US is possibly at the end of a long stagnation, while Europe is still struggling between recession and stagnation. Meanwhile, the large eastern economies, led by China, have suffered blows to their role as a global production hub due to the crisis of their western customer, and has observed a fall to single-digit increase in GDP (Fig. 1).

The Chinese economy has focused on low-cost leverage, leaving areas such as refractories for glass underdeveloped in terms of products and services. It has expanded its domestic markets and in doing so had to accept double-digit annual inflation to its labour cost, impacting heavily on its global competitiveness.

The western and global glass industry has reacted to the distress of the crisis using all the levers of the classic capitalist system, such as reducing fixed cost structures (particularly at the level of staff in corporate offices and technical offices) and in marketing and sales. The best organisations have only partially reduced their R&D functions, focusing their activities on cost reduction and the rapid engineering of products and services in their areas of expertise.

The consolidation process has gone

and we are at a point where in the near future a few mega-industries will control the global containers market. In float glass, global players have already reduced in number.

The refractories industry for glass, viewed as a minor segment by the major firms (in which the steel, foundry and cement segments dominate), has followed strategies deriving from its core business, with the exception of the fused-cast refractory specialist segment for which, traditionally, there are devoted companies beside a few generalist.

With reference to fused cast producers, it has been noticeable in the past two decades that there are a large number of independent Chinese players compared to a limited amount of ‘historical’ western suppliers (less than five, including the Japanese).

With the exception of one, all these western producers have manufacturing capability in China (and India), while all independent eastern manufacturers have focused on their low-cost feature, not investing enough in the development of products and services. Hence, they are currently facing rapidly increasing labour costs and a product that still has to point grossly on price leverage to be successfully marketed.

The result of the changes in the overall market structure of glass and that of refractory manufacturers (particularly electrofused) has increased the need, real or perceived, to procure low-cost refractory materials when planning major reconstruction of glass melting furnaces.

The glass industry has found itself challenged by the reduced capacity of managing refractory orders (as a consequence of the glassworks’ fixed costs reduction) and by the increased level of technical risk associated with low-cost procurement (due to a different level of reliability of products and services provided by the supplier).

In other words, glassmakers face a dilemma between the need to technically control the process of procurement of critical refractory (now more at risk) and the ability to do so by its own means, now significantly reduced.

While the economic benefit related to buying low-cost, even if financially significant, does not justify the higher risk of technical accident or even failure (whose consequences can be catastrophic), there is a need to reduce the risk associated with the procurement of

Independent services: Reducing the risk of procuring low-cost refractoriesP.Carlo Ratto* outlines the perils associated with the low-cost procurement of refractories and discusses how glassmakers can overcome these challenges.

Refractories


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Fig. 1 China’s GDP figures for 2012-14. - Percent change in gross domestic product

9 98.9

8.1

7.6

7.4

7.9

7.77.5

7.8 7.7

7.4 7.5

7.3

8.5 8.5

88

7.5 7.5

7 7

2012 2012 2013 2013 2014 2014

Carlo Ratto.indd 1 2/5/15 8:27 AM

Refractories


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low-cost, thereby making the associated financial benefits more acceptable.

Due to limited resources in the glass industry, there is no alternative other than to defer to structures outside the industry capable of providing professional specialist support on the basis of an ‘on demand’ service.

So what are these sensitive points?

Pre-order criticalitiesA low-cost procurement requires technical knowledge of the project much deeper than when buying from a traditional western supplier.

Some ‘details’ that are otherwise considered trivial and taken for granted, such as the positioning of casting scars or bottom skirt grinding of sidewall blocks, must be spelled-out to a low-cost manufacturer. This will prevent unpleasant surprises and disputes during the acceptance inspection.

Communication with the supplier is critical due to the language and cultural barriers. Sometimes the deal is conducted through a commercial middleman (representative, retailer, promoter) that can facilitate communication. This absorbs a substantial share of the economic benefit related to the low-cost purchase though.

There are many types of so-called middlemen. These range from purely commercial intermediaries acting as cross-cultural translators but without technical competence, to traditional refractory suppliers already known in the glass market but who do not produce their own fused cast and are capable of providing technical support, but in a

conflict of interests.Then there are preliminary operations

of the project normally carried out by traditional suppliers, such as, for example, the subdivision in tiles of a paving and the calculation/distribution of thermal expansion joints which, in case of dealing with alternative suppliers, must be cautiously managed by the glassmaker or by the intermediary, only when specifically competent.

During-order criticalitiesThere are now more than 20 independent producers in China alone, including at least six companies with export capacity, and a variable level of capabilities. Leaving out the process of selecting the particular supplier, a crucial fact is the negotiation or at least the common understanding of technical specifications, for the refractories to be ordered.

While traditional western suppliers operate on the basis of commonly agreed quality standards, to the point that rarely inspector and supplier check the materials with technical specification books in hand, in the case of procuring low-cost it is recommended that the parameters of quality acceptance (especially for attributes such as cracking, spalls and dimensional tolerances) are made clear not only before the inspection time, but before the order, since these parameters involve evaluations of cost/value of the supply.

This aspect cannot be handled by the buyer alone or with the commercial intermediary, as it requires a specific competence from an entity that operates in the primary interests of the buyer,

without conflicts of competence, using knowledge aspects that are typical of the supplier and its process capabilities.

Post-order criticalitiesOnce a low-cost provider has been chosen, following commercial and technical negotiations on the basis of detailed requests and agreed-upon technical specifications, the order is issued with a technical attachment containing details about what the supplier must provide together with the supply of materials. This generally concerns documentation to be provided before or at the time of inspection of pre-assemblies at the supplier’s premises.

The scope of these requests, as it is for the agreed-upon specifications, is to clarify what the client expects from a supplier, in preparation for technical inspection, thus preventing discrepancies in the inspection process. This is necessary because the emergence of important critical issues can cause long delays in the shipping process, caused by the required corrective actions.

A knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of specific low-cost suppliers at this stage, acquired through previous experience, is important to continue the process. The final step of the procurement process is, of course, the technical inspection of acceptance ending in a detailed report including a list of the blocks rejected, the list of amendment operations agreed and the relevant timing, for a complete definition of the supply.

Continued>>

Raw materials weighing

Batching Mold making

Mold flasking

Fused cast refractories are manufactured through a very peculiar technology and know-how.

Understanding this technology is paramount to offer to the glassmakers the best risk/advantages optimisation, when low-cost procurement is approached.

EAFElectro fusion

Block pouring

Block machining First inspection

Second inspection Set-up Packaging & ship

Block annealing

Fig 2.

Fused cast refratory

manufacturing

cycle.

Glassmaker decision

to procure refractories

low-cost

External professional support on:

- Source definition, validation- Definition of project details

- Additional working on project

Value of external support: making possible low-cost procurement @ acceptable

ratio risk/value

External professional support on:

- Technical specs negotiation- Technical T&C agreement- Technical comparison of

alternatives project

External professional support on:- Drafting technical attachment

to order- Complete management of the acceptance inspection process

- Follow-up of corrective actions deriving from inspection

- Autiditing of shiping

Acceptance inspection

@ supplier’s premises

Pre-order criticalities definition

Post-order criticalities definition

In-order criticalities definition

Fig 3.

Glassmakers support

process.


Refractories

This phase is of course highly critical because the materials, once formally accepted by the inspector and inserted in the delivery process, are hardly contestable for qualitative aspects by the purchaser.

All possible qualitative issues, especially those that effect refractory performance, must be reasonably detected and included in the correction process. The capability to discriminate between defects mostly ‘cosmetic’ and mainly ‘functional’ allows a customer to bring the list of rejections and corrections to a reasonably manageable size.

The understanding of the particular low-cost supplier and its specific technical/technological weaknesses allows the inspector to manage the entire testing process (time, cost and effectiveness) in the best way.

The use of specialised inspectors (instead of or as well as the glassmaker’s technical staff) enables access to the necessary know-how, particularly when finalising a low-cost procurement.

Fortunately, professional services are now available for the management of the three critical phases mentioned above, on the basis of ‘on demand’ services that are not going to affect the fixed costs of the glassmaker, and that may be provided for the overall handling of the supply, or for the specific management of individual aspects, such as the technical inspection of the refractories at the supplier’s premises (e.g. in China).

The overall cost of such outsourced services is relatively low compared to the mark-up of a typical commercial intermediary that, when involved in the process of acceptance inspection, cannot do anything but operate in a situation of conflict of interests.

Reducing the risksObviously, each case must be addressed specifically, but, while a commercial intermediary absorbs approximately not less than 5% of the cost of supply, the management of the aspects mentioned above on the basis of the provision of independent services (for the exclusive interest of the client), and in alternative to the use of a commercial intermediary, for a supply of the value of $1million can represent a cost of about 1% (for inspection only) or about 2% when all critical aspects mentioned above are managed, leaving the glassmaker to predominantly focus on the commercial aspects of the acquisition.

In conclusion, due to the streamlining of the technical overheads of many glassworks due to the prolonged economic crisis, and the frequent recourse to the low-cost procurement of refractories, a conflict has been generated, where new and increased technical skills are required to address a low-cost procurement.

Today ‘on-demand’ resources are available, capable of reducing the level of risk associated with imperfect supplies in terms of products and services, but attractive in economic terms.

Since, in most cases, the assumption of a badly defined level of technical risk in the refractory procurement is not acceptable, the availability of these services provides an injection of know-how necessary to make the low-cost procurement of strategic refractories conveniently accessible. r

*Owner, Fused Cast Technologist, San Vito al Tagliamento (PN), Italy. http://www.fusedcast.com


Refractories


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The Bucher Emhart Glass Refractory group is currently based in Owensville, USA. The site has been

producing refractory materials for the glass industry since 1980 and is the company’s sole producer of refractory materials. With a staff of approximately 50, the site supplies customers around the globe with refractory feeder expendables, cements, insulation and forehearth refractories.

Part of the core refractory business for Bucher Emhart Glass is the production of distributor and forehearth refractory superstructures for the glass industry. In addition, units designed for borosilicate and C-glass have also been supplied. Bucher Emhart can provide specific shapes, or complete packages including brick, mortar and insulation.

Bucher Emhart also offers substructure refractory for forehearths. Bonded refractory channel blocks are produced out of Bucher Emhart material 333, an aluminium zirconium silicon oxide material containing 11% zirconium

oxide. This material has been the workhorse for glass contact applications for many years and has a proven track record. For flint container glass, it offers a lower cost alternative to fused cast channels.

The substructure and superstructure for the forehearths are cast and fired in Owensville. They are then machined to specifications and preassembled. During the preassembly, the blocks are match marked and photographed to make assembly on-site simple.

Within the Owensville plant resides the refractory research and design group.

It is here that new materials are investigated to address the various needs of the glass industry.

New developmentsOver the last few years, a number of new products have been released. Bucher Emhart Glass material 301 was developed as an ultra-premier refractory material containing 35% zirconium oxide for feeder expendable applications. According to the company, Material 301 has improved the useful service life of refractory spouts when compared to other materials. An insulating castable refractory labeled EmCast 25 was designed to ease the installation of a refractory spout or orifice ring by providing a material that could flow underneath and fill the voids beneath the refractory. EmCast 25 also provides some protection in the event of a crack in

A history of refractory innovation

Bucher Emhart Glass has continued its tradition of innovation with the development of refractory materials to address the growing needs of the glass industry. Materials have been designed to provide better insulation, withstand greater thermal shock and provide longer service life for various aspects of the glass industry. Roger Smith* reports.

Continued>>

Spout covers made of EmLite 30 in service.

z Fig 1. Cross-section of EmLite 30.

Fig 2. Heat Loss as

calculated by Steady-State

Heat Flow comparing Em-

Lite 30 and Material 345.

Fig 3. Thermal conductiv-

ity of EmLite 30 compared

to Material 345.

4.0

3.5

2.5

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.00 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600

2.0

3.0

Material 345

EmLite 30

Ther

mal

Con

d (W

/m-°

c)

Temperature (°C)

1400

Cover block

∆ T ≈ 50°C

Material 345

EmLite 30Insulation board

Insulation board

Insulation board

Distance (inches)

1200

1000

800

Tem

pera

ture

(°C

)

600

400

200

00

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Emhart.indd 1 2/5/15 9:08 AM

Refractories

the refractory. The material mixes with the glass and raises the melting point, freezing the glass off at the crack.

Weight reduction for partsOne of the latest developments is an effort to reduce the weight of some refractory cover blocks. These are heavy because they are designed to withstand the rigours of plant life under extreme environments.

The blocks must withstand chemical attack from the glass and alkali vapours, they must handle extreme heat and remain strong to contain the many tons of glass they are exposed to on a daily basis. In some applications, these heavy blocks are in the form of covers that must periodically be moved to conduct maintenance. This often requires an operator, or pair of operators, to physically lift the block out of position, typically under extremely hot conditions.

What if the all of these requirements could be met while reducing the weight of the refractory? A new material, labeled EmLite 30, has been developed that maintains all of the core requirements for a refractory spout cover, while reducing the weight of the cover by 30% (Fig. 1). This reduction provides improvements to the health and safety of the operators that must work around the feeders in a glass container plant.

The reduction in weight of EmLite 30 is achieved by increasing the porosity of the material. Most refractory cover materials contain between 18 and 20% porosity, but EmLite 30 increases that value to more than 40%, more than doubling the porosity while still maintaining enough strength for cover applications. Many of the pores, or voids, in the material are in the form of large, macro-scale bubbles, which provide a regular distribution throughout the material.

The increase in porosity not only reduces the density of the material, but also increases the insulation value. Thermal conductivity measurements have been performed comparing EmLite 30 to Bucher Emhart Glass material 345, a mullite composition commonly used for spout cover applications (Figs. 2 & 3). At 1000°C, the thermal conductivity of 345 is approximately 2.5 W/mC, compared to 1.5 W/mC for EmLite 30. This results in a 50°C reduction in the surface temperature of the cover. By increasing the insulation value of the cover, more heat is retained within the spout, which in turn leads to less fuel consumption by the spout burners.

EmLite 30 has seen in service in a number of glass plants throughout the United States over the past year. All of the plants have reported excellent results.

Today, additional products are being developed to further aid the glass industry. Refractory materials with greater thermal shock resistance are being investigated to make the material less prone to cracking during hot installations.

New processing techniques are being developed to reduce refractory lead times without sacrifi cing material quality.

The goal of Bucher Emhart Glass is to fi nd new solutions to the various issues faced in a glass plant, whether those problems are in the form of equipment design, controls matters, or refractory needs. The company will continue to address the refractory needs of the glass industry by developing new materials and improving processing techniques, striving to improve effi ciency, performance, and health and safety.

*Technical Manager, Ceramist based in Owensville MO, USA Bucher Emhart Glass, Cham, Switzerlandwww.emhartglass.com

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Emhart.indd 2 2/5/15 9:08 AM

Refractories


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Refractory materials for the construction of melting furnaces can be divided into two groups. In

the first group there are materials for direct contact with molten glass, which are high corrosion and erosion resistant. They should not react with molten material during service, and withstand high temperatures. The most popular product in this group is ‘AZS’ – alumina-zirconia-silica block (Al2O3-ZrO2-SiO2), produced by the fused cast method.

Its low porosity, specific chemical and phase composition all help it to fulfil the in-service requirements. The zirconia and alumina oxide contained in AZS material increases its corrosion resistance. However, there are no universal bricks that can be used ‘everywhere’, and there is no one product suitable for all zones of the furnace. In every part of the furnace there are different conditions and requirements for the refractory lining. The disadvantages of fused cast materials are low thermal shock resistance, high density and high costs due to the manufacturing process. These characteristics mean they are seldom used in parts of the furnace that do not come in to contact with molten glass.

The second group of materials are bricks for areas other than glass contact

An overview of Alumina-Silica refractories and their advantages

Rafal Sindut PhD*, Wojciech Ojczyk PhD** and Ken Williams*** outline the advantages and disadvantages of alumina-silica refractories and unveil the latest research aimed at increasing the service life and improving the alkali resistance of the high alumina grades utilised in the regenerator stack.

Continued>>

z Fig 1. Picture of STD andalusite product and Sillmax 60Zr. [Vesuvius Poland]

z Table 1. Comparison of basic properties of

standard Andalusite brick and new Sillmax 60ZR. z Table 2. Basic parameters of new Mullite F.

STD andalusite Sillmax

product 60Zr

Chemical analysis [wt %]:

SiO2 30 ÷ 40 36.0

Al2O3 57 ÷ 67 60.0

TiO2 0.3 0.1

Fe2O3 0.9 0.6

ZrO2 - 2.8

Bulk density [g/cm3] 2.50 ÷ 2.65 2.68

Apparent porosity [%] 13 ÷ 18 10.5

CCS [N/mm2] 50 ÷ 100 88.0

Thermal shock resistance

[DIN 51068] >30 >30

PLC [%] 1600°C/5h -0.1 ÷ +0.1 0.0

Product Brief :-Based on fused mullite fired brick.

Extra low creep material, high service temperature

(>1700°C)

Physical Properties Thermal Properties

Apparent Porosity (%) 14.5 D 0.5 >1700°C

Bulk Density (g/ml) 2.65 D max 1576°C 0.69%

Cold Crushing

Strength (Mpa) 90 T1 >1700°C

Chemical Properties

Al2O3 74.5 P2O5 < 0.1

SiO2 24.5 CaO/MgO -

Fe2O3 0.1 Na2O/K2O 0.1

sections. They are produced from many different raw materials by the pressing and firing process. There are different requirements to their properties compared to AZS, although they often

work in hard conditions too – the regenerator is an example of an extremely harsh environment. Where there is a high

vesuvius.indd 1 2/5/15 9:11 AM

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z Fig 2 Alkali cup test of standard andalusite (Sill-

max 66) and Sillmax 60ZR brick. [Vesuvius Poland]

Continued>>

concentration of aggressive/corrosive components such as soda, sulphur and ash in the combustion gas the fluctuating temperature conditions can be harsh, often rising above 1500°C, which leads to problems with thermal cycling.

Conventional fired bricks Fired refractory materials or bricks for glass furnace construction consist of a large group of materials.

Magnesia bricks are often used for regenerator checkers because of their high thermal capacity. Unfortunately, they are not hydration resistant. High iron oxide levels in these materials cause problems such as cracks and gas infiltration. Additionally, in the higher section of the regenerator MgO reacts with SiO2, and in the lower section we observe formation of calcium and magnesium sulphate.

Chrome- magnesia bricks are sometimes recognised as a much more resistant material. It is expected that chromium oxide in these bricks would have a positive influence on their properties. However, tests performed in 2001 by Valez M, Karakus M from the Department of Ceramic Engineering, Rolla, USA have revealed an even higher degree of cracks on Chrome- Magnesia samples compared to pure magnesia. Samples were also very brittle after the test [1].

The alternative to magnesia materials are fired alumina silica bricks. This includes materials and formulations for different application areas and operating conditions. Chamotte bricks, (36-42% Al2O3) are relatively low cost materials characterised by good thermo-mechanical properties. They are successfully used as economical solutions in lower temperature parts of furnaces. In more aggressive and corrosive environments, a lining containing higher alumina oxide contents i.e. Andalusite or Mullite bricks can be used. These are low thermal expansion, high thermal shock and alkali resistant materials. Mullite phase in these materials improves their thermo-mechanical properties.

However, there is no perfect material 100% resistant to gas infiltration. After several years of service with Andalusite bricks inside the regenerator, the products of reaction between silica and alkali gases can be seen on their surface. The brick deterioration can be described in the following statements: Sodium volatiles react with sulphur and condensate on the brick’s surface. Sodium components

react with the internal alumina-silicate components, creating the glassy, alkali aluminium silicate phases.

Chemically differentThe main target of the latest alumina silicate brick developments at Vesuvius Poland was to increase the service life and improve the alkali resistance of the high alumina grades utilised in the regenerator stack. It was also important to improve thermal shock resistance. The reason for the research on the new material was also to introduce a brick suitable for hot repairs. To achieve these targets many improvements were made to the highest quality Andalusite brick (Sillmax 66).

There is little difference in appearance (Fig 1), but chemically they are

completely different materials. Regarding physical properties, the porosity of the new brick was reduced in comparison to the standard Sillmax 66. The New Silmax 60ZR also exhibits low permeability and fine pore size to prevent chemical and gas infiltration.

On the topic of chemistry, many changes have been made:

Checking the phase composition by XRD method, it can be seen that the typical Andalusite brick (Sillmax 66) is a product mainly based on conversion of the Mullite phase (3Al2O3·2SiO2) and Corundum (Al2O3). With the new Sillmax 60ZR, in the phase composition Mullite (3Al2O3·2SiO2), Zirconium Oxide (ZrO2) and Silicon Oxide (SiO2) can be found.

Comparison of basic properties of these two materials can be seen in Table 1.

The new brick is a denser material with lower porosity. For its final properties, important for the application in aggressive, corrosive environment, the pore dimension and distribution is also very important. Sillmax 60ZR is characterised by a much lower pore diameter (4.29 vs 0.38µm average). This new structure helps to reduce gas infiltration to the brick. A standard alkali test performed at 1200°C for five hours revealed the new material had a high resistance (Fig 2).

Fig 2 shows that there is a reaction area between the material and potassium carbonite marked by blue and red.

The next step of our research involved an in-situ test in an operational float glass regenerator, performed in known aggressive conditions.

The material was working in a high concentration of aggressive/corrosive

Silimax 60Zr after alkali test @1200°C

4 months in service

8 months in service

8 months in service

Fresh installed bricks

4 months in serviceSillmax 60ZRSTD andalusite product

z Fig 3. Top section of furnace regenerator after tests with standard andalusite and New Sillmax 60

ZR. [Vesuvius Poland]

STD andalusite product after alkali test @ 1200°C


Refractories


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components such as soda, sulphur and ash in the combustion gas; the environment and temperature conditions were extremely harsh at 1500°C.

The material was installed during a hot repair with wrecking and replacement of the damaged sections carried out during the production process. Results of the test are shown in Fig 3.

Fig 3 show the new Sillmax 60ZR performed much better compared to the standard Sillmax 66.

Additionally, there was no problem with installation even during hot repair when, with most of other bricks, it is impossible due to thermal shocking of the cold replacement bricks.

Material developmentAnother new material development introduced to the market by Vesuvius in 2014 was Mullite F. The material, based on its fused Mullite ALME brick, was improved to achieve extra-low creep resistance in high temperature operations. This feature is desired by furnace designers and users to avoid dimension change during furnace exploitation. Basic information about the New Mullite F is in Table 2.

The New Mullite F was designed to

work in the highest sections of furnaces and regenerators where the conditions are harsh. Service temperature of the material is sometimes above 1700°C and all thermal properties, such as refractoriness under load and hot strengths, are impressive.

SummaryAlumina silica materials, like any other, are not 100% corrosion resistant. In contact with high concentrations of alkali gas, the silica present in the material reacts slowly with sodium and after some time negative changes on the surface of the brick can be observed.

The latest research on the mechanisms of corrosions in alumina silica bricks and the possibility of improving their properties caused modifications in their structure. In the past few years a new generation of refractory materials, highly resistant to aggressive, corrosive gases have been introduced.

New Andalusite materials modified by different oxides, such as ZrO2 are highly thermally shock resistant. For example, new Sillmax 60ZR has positive features of both Andalusite and Mullite brick. Its properties are a result of specific chemical and phase composition, production and

firing process. High thermal shock and alkali resistance, RUL, CCS allow its use in difficult and arduous conditions such as hot repairs of regenerators.

Mullite F is designed for applications where thermal properties are important especially extra low creep and high service temperature stability, which eliminates problems such as furnace wall and roof construction and their movements in high temperature. r

References1. Valez M. Karakus M. Microstructural

Texture in Material Science: Refractories,

RLDM, vol 21, No 1, 2001

2. A. Rezaie, W. L. Headrick, W. G. Fahrenholtz,

R. E. Moore, M. Velez, W. A. Davis, Refractories

Applications and News Vol 9 No 5, 2004

3. Refractories –A Global Strategic Business

Report, Global industry analysts Inc, 2007

4. Pawlowski S. Materialy Ogniotrwale,

Arkady Warszawa 1990

5. Piech J. Piece ceramiczne i szklarskie, AGH

Kraków, 2001

*Technical Manager-Glass Sales - IP East Europe, Vesuvius, Poland, **Vesuvius Poland, ***Vesuvius Germany.www.vesuvius.com

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Following an extensive development programme, precast bonded high alumina refractory distributor and

forehearth shapes were first put into service in 2005.

Since then, the refractory has been installed at 25 container glass manufacturing facilities in the US and Europe. Forehearth channels transport molten glass from the distributor to the various glass forming stations.

The temperature above the glass in the chamber is maintained at around 1300°F. Although variable, the typical depth of the glass stream is around 10cm to 15cm, and movement of the glass stream is at a rate of tons per hour (also variable) on a 24/7 basis. Refractory shapes used in this application must show adequate and uniform erosion resistance (including at the glass line), glass corrosion resistance, joint integrity, and resistance to cracking from thermal gradients and thermal cycling, while minimising or eliminating the potential for blister formation in the glass.

The bonded high alumina refractory described here (SSRCs ChannelCast XTR) has an alumina content of 99.5%.

Following a brief description of our laboratory testing and evaluation procedures, discussions are provided of several post-service evaluations of the material from the field.

All of the information provided here relates to this material.

Laboratory evaluationCovered crucibles of the refractories were charged with cullet of the container glass under test and exposed to a temperature of 1425°C for 48 hours. Additional quantities of sodium oxide were added to the cullet to lower the viscosity and increase the chemical aggressiveness of the glass. The cover is made from the same refractory material as the crucible.

This provides an opportunity to evaluate the resistance of the refractory to sodium vapour attack. Following the test, the crucible and lid were examined for evidence of expansion and cracking and chemical attack. Saw-cut sections of the crucibles were examined at the glass line and at the glass/refractory interface. Fig. 1 shows an example of the post-test condition of the XTR refractory.

When examined at room temperature following the test, the XTR crucible/lid assembly shown in Fig 1 experienced no warping or cracking. The maximum cut depth at the glass line is 0.5mm.

The dots on the crucible in Fig. 1 are placed in regions where the glass has penetrated into the crucible wall for a distance ranging from 1mm to 6mm. As

The performance of a bonded high alumina refractory in a glass plant

David Lankard* outlines the performance of a bonded high alumina refractory within a container glass manufacturing plant that has now been in service for four years.

Refractories


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27Continued>>

z Fig 2.The exposed channels at the time of the

furnace shut-down.

z Fig 1. A post-test photograph of an XTR crucible

following heating at 1425°C for 48 hours.

SSRC.indd 1 2/5/15 8:31 AM

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it turns out, this glass penetration of the XTR refractory played a major beneficial role in its performance in the distributor and forehearth channel applications.

Fig. 1 shows a post-test photograph of an XTR crucible following heating at 1425°C for 48 hours. The crucible charge is a sodium-enriched container glass cullet. The crucible has a diameter of 10cm and a length of 11cm. The wall thickness is tapered and varies from 13mm to 25mm.

The dots are placed in regions where the glass has penetrated into the refractory. The maximum depth of the cut at the glass line is 0.5mm. This result was obtained on replications of tests on the refractory.

Post-Service evaluation Fig. 2 shows the condition of the bonded alumina refractory forehearth channels after one year in service at a container glass manufacturing facility. A planned shut-down of the furnace provided the opportunity for a detailed post-service examination of the channels.

The red arrows in Fig. 2 point to the shallow (ca. 13mm) cut at the glass line. The blue arrows point to a tight joint line between adjacent XTR channel shapes. The shallow glass line cut, the tight joints, and a uniform wear of the channel sidewalls is typical for this installation after one year of service.

Following the tear-out of the forehearth, pieces of the channel were collected for subsequent examination using optical microscopy procedures, x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), in conjunction with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS). These analyses were made on sections that were saw-cut perpendicular to the channel sidewalls. As will be shown, the phenomena

observed at the glass/refractory interface in the laboratory test are similar to those seen in the refractory in service.

Fig. 3 shows a saw-cut surface of one of the XTR refractory channels, in which the surface was stained to show relevant microstructural features, which include (1) the presence and distribution of the alumina particles, (2) the shallow cut at the glass line, and (3) the homogeneous appearance of the refractory in direct contact with the glass. A schematic of the channel section shown in Fig. 3 is shown in Fig. 4. The channel sidewall thickness is 152mm.

Fig. 3 shows a profile of the shallow cut at the glass line (G). The yellow arrows point to the depth that the glass has penetrated into the refractory (12mm to 19mm). The green arrows point to a few of the alumina grains.

Fig. 4 is a schematic of the channel section highlighting the features shown in Fig 3. The dashed lines show where saw-cuts were made to provide material for chemical and mineralogical analyses.

In Fig. 3 the molten glass moved into the porosity of the refractory for a distance of 13mm to 19mm during one year of service. This penetration ceased at the point where the viscosity of the molten glass could not overcome the surface tension encountered, or where the glass actually solidified due to lower temperatures away from the hot face.

There is no cracking associated with this microstructural feature either (1) within the glass-impregnated layer, (2) outside of the impregnated region, or (3) at the boundary between the two.

Chemical and mineralogical The major constituent of the container glass is silica (SiO2), with moderate amounts of sodium oxide (Na2O) and

calcium oxide (CaO). The XTR refractory is over 99.5% aluminum oxide (Al2O3).

The EDS chemical analyses on powdered samples of the material in the glass impregnated zone (the black dot in Fig. 4) show 82.6% Al2O3, 12.3% SiO2, 3.6% Na2O, and 1.5% CaO.

X-ray diffraction patterns obtained on the same powdered samples used in the EDS analyses show that the major crystalline phase is alpha alumina. Other crystalline phases include a small amount of nepheline (a sodium aluminosilicate), and a trace amount of low quartz. SEM/EDS examinations on polished surfaces of the refractory in the glass-impregnated region provided information on events at the microstructural level.

The likely scenario of events based on these findings is as follows. When the glass penetrates into the accessible porosity of the refractory at and near the hot face, there are some early reactions to form a small amount of nepheline, a sodium aluminosilicate.

As the sodium content is depleted from the glass by these localised reactions, some silica remains, so that a trace amount of crystalline quartz is also present. At this point there are no further reactions within the impregnated region of the refractory as the porosity is sealed and no new supplies of the potentially reactive species, particularly sodium and silica, can enter the refractory.

Much of the glass that has impregnated the refractory remains in the glassy state (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5 is a photograph (taken at a magnification of 20X) of a fresh fracture surface of the XTR channel refractory within the glass impregnated region. The arrows point to a 1.5mm wide air void

Continued>>

z Fig 3. A saw-cut surface of one of the XTR

refractory channels.

z Fig 4. A schematic of the channel section shown

in Fig. 3.

z Fig 5. Photograph (taken at a magnification of

20X) of a fresh fracture surface of the XTR channel

refractory within the glass impregnated region.

SSRC.indd 2 2/5/15 8:31 AM

Refractories


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that has been partially filled with the glass. The yellow dot is on a 0.4mm thick layer of the glass that is adhered to the hot face of the refractory.

The refractory in the glass-impregnated zone is hard and dense (virtually no open porosity), homogeneous (uniform colour), and there is no boundary that can be readily detected between alumina aggregate particles and the matrix phase.

There is an easily detected transition from the glass-impregnated region to what in Fig. 4 is identified as the region of ‘No Glass Impregnation’.

Channel refractory Compared to the glass-impregnated region, the matrix in the non-impregnated region of the refractory is softer, and the alumina grain boundaries with the matrix are easily distinguished.

EDS chemical analyses data and companion XRD analyses data were obtained on material collected in the non-impregnated refractory at a distance of 5cm from the glass contact face (green dot – Fig. 4).

The EDS chemical analyses on powdered samples of the material in the non-glass impregnated zone show 98.5% Al2O3, 0.48% SiO2, 0.45 Na2O and 0.56% CaO. The primary crystalline phases in this zone include (1) alpha alumina (major), and (2) sodium beta alumina (minor). There are also trace amounts of (1) a calcium aluminate phase, and (2) a calcium aluminosilicate phase (but no nepheline).

Although the alumina content of this non-impregnated region of the refractory is high (98.5%), it is still slightly lower than the alumina content of the XTR refractory, which is 99.5%. The silica, calcia, and sodium oxide content, although low, are higher than

the respective values of the refractory as-manufactured.

This finding confirms that these constituents of the glass did penetrate into the refractory at least a distance of 5cm from the glass contact surface.

Whether this transport was via the vapour phase or if a small amount of molten glass actually moved this into the refractory was not confirmed. There is no evidence of any cracking or disruption of the microstructure of the channel refractory in those regions where the molten glass has not penetrated.

Post-service evaluation A planned shutdown in 2010 provided another opportunity to do a post-service study of XTR channels, which had been in service for four years.

A photograph of this forehearth during tear-out is shown in Fig. 6.

The cut at the glass line typically ranged from 20mm to 35mm at this time. The wall thickness is 152mm. The greatest cut depth (45mm) occurred in the channels coming off of the distributor.

At this facility the joints between the channels typically remained tight and no glass was found on the cold face side of the channels. Fig. 6 shows a region of the channel sidewalls where the wear is reasonably uniform.

Directly opposite this location, the sidewalls show some random pitting erosion. This difference in wear is most likely due to variations in the flow patterns and roiling patterns of the glass in the various locations in the forehearth.

SummaryA bonded high-alumina refractory (ChannelCast XTR) performed well as pre-fired, precast shapes in glass contact sites in the forehearth and distributor

components of container glass furnaces. In the service experiences described

here, precast forehearth channels have shown good resistance to erosion and glass corrosion, and to thermal cycling and thermal gradient stresses.

The joints between adjacent channels have typically remained tight and sound. There have been no occurrences of blistering in the glass at these manufacturing facilities (or at the other glass manufacturing locations where the material was used).

The low thermal conductivity of the high-alumina material (relative to higher density refractories) is also a benefit in this application. In addition to reduced heat losses, the movement of molten glass through joints to the cold face surfaces of the channels is thwarted.

Laboratory studies and opportunities to examine post-service (one and four year) field samples of the channels have provided insights into the factors influencing their satisfactory performance.

Early in the life of the refractory, molten glass penetrates into the accessible porosity of the glass contact surface of the refractory for a short distance. This glass-impregnated region provides a hard, dense erosion resistant surface, which, as it has sealed the porosity, thwarts further intrusion of the glass (in the molten or vapour state) into the refractory.

Channel shapes of the bonded high alumina refractory have now been in service for one to ten years at 25 container glass manufacturing facilities.

To date, there have been no instances of peeling or cracking of the glass impregnated layer, which is attributed in large part to the fact that potentially adverse chemical reactivity within the refractory (including expansive nepheline formation) is limited to the early service life of the refractory and is not on-going.

This year (2015) will provide an opportunity to examine XTR channels that have been in service for 10 years.

More information will be available on the rate and the nature of refractory erosion. In the meanwhile development work is continuing on the means to improve erosion and wear resistance, particularly for the channels at the hot end of the forehearth. r

*Special Shapes Refractory Company, Alabama, USA.www.ssrco.com

z Fig. 6: The XTR channels in the forehearth at the time of shutdown after four years of service.

SSRC.indd 3 2/5/15 8:31 AM

History


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My first example is its amazing capacity to withstand thermal shock. Thus red-hot silica

crucibles can be quenched directly into ice cold water. The American space shuttle has silica windows and during re-entry relies on silica fibre tiles for insulation. Glass furnace crown repairs can be carried out on the run using vitreous silica bricks because they will survive the thermal shock of insertion; they then slowly crystallise to a mechanically more stable format. The key factor is a thermal expansion coefficient lower by a factor of 20, linked to its strongly bonded, fully connected, three dimensional network structure.

Interestingly, silica melts share with water near its freezing point the unusual property of a density maximum i.e. a temperature range where the thermal expansion in the liquid state is actually negative. Silica’s open structure and the absence of space filling alkali ions also has many consequences. For example many diffusion pathways for small noble gas atoms and hydrogen molecules exist. This is why hydrogen and helium are so effective as refining aids. The clear pathways only become apparent in 3D where the typical tetrahedral ring structures can be oriented in many different planes.

Because pure silica lacks mobile alkali ions, its electrical conductivity and dielectric constant are low. It offers high temperature electrical insulation, for example as dual core rods for thermocouple wires. It is an excellent envelope for quartz halogen lamps, which operate at higher temperatures than standard filament lamps to increase their light output and operating efficiency.

Optical properties are another key feature of silica. Being alkali-free it lacks

the weak bonds between alkali items and non-bridging oxygens that cause light absorption at longer wavelengths in the ultraviolet and so transmits down to 180nm, much deeper into the UV than most commercial glasses other than phosphates. This is valuable for astronomers interested in high energy emissions, another reason why the Suyuz space station and American Space Shuttle have silica windows. Its transparency at short wavelengths has also allowed manufacture of high resolution optical systems for photolithography.

Silica is used for telecommunications fibres because of its exceptional optical and mechanical properties. Down to 1.6 microns transparency is limited primarily by Rayleigh scattering, which decreases rapidly as the fourth power of wavelength. Beyond this, infrared light absorption as heat is the dominant factor limiting transmission. At its most transparent 10% of the incident light is still transmitted after 70km. The IR transmission is influenced by the OH levels introduced during manufacture. The natural vibrations of OH groups correspond to a wavelength near 2.9 microns, and a weaker overtone exists at half this value. The result is two transmission windows at 1.3 and 1.55μm, and they underpin the fibre communications network.

The silica network has insufficient flexibility to accommodate high-added ion concentrations. Instead phase separation occurs, as for the Vycor process based on boron additions. Nevertheless dissolved, optically active, rare earth ions create optical amplifiers (fibre lasers), which can extend the already high transmission distances in optical fibre telecommunications network central to mobile phone technology and the internet; they also promote multiplexing,

where simultaneous transmission of different wavelengths allow greater information densities.

Silica’s solubility in water or acid is low, although it will dissolve in a strong alkali; consequently it is an excellent container for modern ultra-sensitive pharmaceutical drugs. Glass tubing used for ampoules may be coated with silica using a chemical vapour deposition process. The lack of chemical attack, in particular on flaws, has been used to explain the relatively high strength of silica glass. Anomalous density behaviour is not only a feature of high temperature. High pressure induces a semi-permanent silica glass density increase, caused by tetrahedral rotation without bond breakage. Such effects are important in geology and also significant in understanding viscoelastic behaviour. Fortunately under standard conditions, being alkali-free, its optical properties are exceptionally stable. Similarly it is relatively radiation hard although short wavelength UV irradiation causes local structural damage, inducing colour and refractive index changes. So periodic diffraction gratings designed to separate signals at different wavelengths can be written into optical fibres, facilitating multiplexing. Even fibre optic strain gauges exist.

The reflection of an earth-based laser beam from silica optics, installed during a moon landing, has measured the distance to our nearest astronomical neighbour (±15cm) and many optical devices operating under extreme conditions on earth rely on the same material. r

Prof Emeritus John Parker, Curator of the Turner Museum of Glass at Sheffield University, UK.Email [email protected]

First Glass

Prof. John ParkerTurner Museum of Glass and ICG

In my last article I promised to show how silica’s exceptional properties, forged in extreme conditions, have given it a prominent position among speciality glasses.

History.indd 1 2/4/15 12:20 PM

Saving Energy and Fuel Lubisol Engineering is offering significant savings of energy and fuel by efficient thermal insulation of glass furnace crowns. The Lubisol crown insulation design is based on the principle that the usual light silica bricks insulation is partly replaced by the Lubisol insulation, applied over the light silica bricks. It is followed by a layer of Lubisol Cover Coat on the top. The thickness and the total cost of the insulation remain almost the same, but the heat losses from the crown are reduced by about 800-1000 W/m². The amount of the saved fuel is around 1300-1500 m³/m²/year natural gas or 1200-1400 kg/m²/year heavy oil. The cost of the saved fuel is significant. The insulating material Lubisol 2-SL has a very low specific density of 0.3 kg/dm³, a high working temperature of 1500 °C and a very low thermal conductivity of 0.11 W/m.K at 500 °C. The cost for one cubic meter of this insulating material is lower in comparison with the cost of the light silica bricks, and in the same time it is about 3 times more efficient. The Lubisol crown insulation package is suitable for application on all types of glass furnaces producing any type of glasses, including float glass, container glass, tableware or technical glass. It is very suitable for insulation of silica crowns as well for AZS and alumina fused cast crowns. It has been applied recently on 80 glass furnaces all over the world. The efficient Lubisol insulation package brings significant energy and fuel savings without any additional material and labor costs. It is just a very good technical solution and a better option for the glass industry. _____________________________________________ website: www.lubisol.com e-mail: [email protected]

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Glassman Europe returns to Lyon in 2015 due to popular demand. Join us 6-7 May for this international exhibition and technical conference.We are looking for:

Equipment manufacturers, suppliers and service providers who want to meet an international audience of glass producers

Technical experts in the primary glass manufacturing process who can discuss the opportunities and challenges in the market and/or present case studies

Professionals and decision-makers working within the glass industry who are looking to develop competitive advantage and new opportunities for their business




Visit the website for more information www.glassmaneurope.com

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Glassman Europe 2015 hp ad.indd 1 30/09/2014 17:26

British Glass


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The UK needs flourishing manufacturing sectors, such as glass, in order to secure growth in

employment, economic development and to compete on the world stage. We would call upon government to consider the following viewpoints when reviewing the economic well-being of industry, manufacturing and international competitiveness.

Industrial growthBritain needs a stable and competitive environment for growth; this is essential to help new businesses flourish and enable existing companies to grow.

Strategies should be led by businesses themselves, working in partnership with Government and encompassing the entire supply chain. We suggest Government:

r Builds on the success of theRegional Growth Funds – enabling local areas to decide what will benefit them most.

r Improves and eases access to financial support.

r Focuses on ways of boosting productivity and skills utilisation throughout the UK’s manufacturing sector.

r Sets new targets for gender diversity at all levels, encouraging more inclusive workplaces.

Skills and trainingWe must develop the skills of the next generation – both those currently in work and young people entering the labour market.

We need schools and colleges to equip young people with the appropriate skills to succeed in the workplace and encourage more collaboration between schools and businesses so that students can increase their knowledge of business

and are exposed to the realities of work.r Continuation of current employer-

led schemes, such as the Trailblazer programme for Apprenticeships.

r Support SMEs by cutting bureaucracy so they can invest in skills and talent pipelines.

r Government and industry need to work together on a long-term commitment to developing and maintaining the skills base.

r Skills policy should not be about numbers, it is about making employers ambitious, demanding and competitive.

Waste and recycling The UK has increased its glass recycling over the last 20 years, however, more is needed and we need the right infrastructure in place to allow us to achieve this.

The waste infrastructure and targets need to be geared towards the quality of waste arising and the closed loop recycling of products as part of a workable resource efficiency programme.

To increase recycling further and to improve the quality of glass recycling, we request the following to be undertaken:

r Following a review, for Government to produce guidance for local authorities to include geographical variations, types of collection and costs.

r Government to intervene to bring local authorities in line with industry, who have to comply with waste/recycling legislation

r Government to support the environmental benefits of closed loop recycling.

Energy and the environmentGlass sector companies need access

to secure, internationally competitive energy supplies if they are to invest and

remain in the UK. This means taking account of the cumulative burden of climate policies on industrial energy prices and ensuring that UK competitiveness is not compromised by these measures. We suggest that an incoming government in 2015 consider:

r Supporting investment in industrial energy efficiency.

r Realistic and achievable decarbonisation targets.

r Early repeal of the Carbon Price Floor.

r Commitment to extension of the compensation package for Energy Intensive Industries.

r Constant monitoring and action to ensure the affordability and security of UK gas supply.

r Long-term targets for improvements in energy efficiency for buildings should be clarified and bound in law.

We need a joined up strategy working cross-departmentally to encourage future investment in industries such as glass and prevent further carbon and investment leakage.

Outcomes for industryIn essence, we need pro-growth, long-term policies with businesses and Government working together to make the UK a more enterprising, prosperous and skilled nation, equipped for and focused on the future.

British Glass and its members are committed to restoring the UK’s heritage in manufacturing excellence, but this will only happen if we are all working together to achieve a common goal of what’s best for UK industry. r

*CEO at British GlassWebsite: www.britglass.org.uk

Securing the future of industry

British Glass

Dave Dalton* discusses the upcoming UK general election and how this is an important time for the glass indus-try to gain widespread understanding among the key political parties regarding the issues the industry faces and its role at the heart of Britain’s industrial landscape.

British Glass.indd 1 2/4/15 12:23 PM

UK OVERVIEW

www.fic-uk.com

FIC COVER.indd 1 2/16/15 10:58 AM


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Historically, European glass making was dominated by the Venetians and then later

on the production of fl at glass was ameliorated by the French. The UK’s contributions to the processes used to manufacture glass have also, however, been historically signifi cant and trend-setting.

By the 17th century England had become dominant in the manufacture of bottles for storage and transportation, and in 1676 George Ravenscroft developed a formula for making glass using lead. An English glassmaker who had lived in Venice for many years, Ravenscroft’s lead glass stayed workable for a longer period of time than other types of glass and because of its weight and clarity it changed the way people viewed and used glass: More attention was given to the actual glass itself, and people began to make vessels without external decoration.

Jumping ahead to the 20th century and to one of the greatest achievements in glass production history, between 1953 and 1957 Alastair Pilkington and Kenneth Bickerstaff invented the fl oat glass manufacturing process that is used all around the world today.

This revolutionary method of producing high quality fl at glass by fl oating the liquid mixture over a bath of molten tin saved both time and money, and improved quality by removing the need to grind and polish plate glass to make it clear. Pilkington went on to license out the process to manufacturers, and it remains the dominant form of production used today.

Today, across the entire UK glass industry

UK industrycontinues to thrive

The recent purchase of Encirc Glass by Spanish group Vidrala has put the spotlight on the UK glass industry, which has had several investments in recent years. Sally Roberts investigates the UK glass industry.

approximately 4 million tonnes of glass are produced each year – an industry worth £2.5 billion to the UK annually. Of this, container glass accounts for an estimated 60% with a total of 2.3 million tonnes, and fl at glass makes up around 30% of the market with a reported 1.3 million tonnes produced . The remaining 10% of glass produced within the UK is divided between the fi breglass, domestic glass (such as lead crystal giftware), and special glass (such as lighting, or medical) categories. The majority of glass produced within the UK is clear.

Container As the population expands and more consumers are growing wary of health issues related to non-glass food packaging, it’s no surprise that on average it is estimated that each family in the UK uses 330 glass bottles and jars per year.

Currently, there are six container glass manufacturers in the UK, primarily based in the north of England. The UK’s largest container glass manufacturer is Ardagh Glass, followed by Encirc (now owned by Vidrala) and O-I. The rest of the container glass tonnage produced in the UK is supplied by Allied Glass, Beatson Clark and Stoelzle Flaconnage.

ArdaghThe second largest producer of container glass packaging in the world, and number one in northern Europe, Ardagh Glass employs 1400

Continued>>

“Today, across the entire UK glass

industry approx-imately 4 million

tonnes of glass are produced each year - an industry worth £2.5 billion to the UK annually ”

36

UK glass industry.indd 1 2/4/15 4:15 PM

UK glass industry profile


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More than 2 million bottles a day are produced on this site, for the spirits, beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages sectors. In 2014 O-I announced it will be investing €30 million into the plant, to upgrade its design, product development, glass colour and decoration facilities, with the aim of improving its premium offerings to its customers including equipment for black glass containers.

O-I is also set to invest a further €30 million in its Harlow plant, which focuses on the UK beer industry. The site’s two existing furnaces are reaching their end-of-life, and will be replaced with one new line. The investment will also be spent on quality equipment for the plant.

AlliedAllied Glass is relatively new to the industry having been established in 1999, although its site in Leeds has a history of glassmaking from 1891, and its Knottingley site was home to Hope Glass Works from 1874. Allied specialises in premium branded spirits, with 72% of the company’s sales coming from this sector. 79% of these spirit sales are in the whisky sector of which, obviously, Scotch whisky dominates the market.

Interestingly, with 80% of all Scotch whisky produced being exported to foreign markets it is one of the UK’s most lucrative export products.

Allied itself sells around 40% of its products to the domestic market, with the rest exported to the rest of the world. With two factory sites, Allied can produce around 13 million units per week on 16 production lines, with a product portfolio ranging from a 50ml to a 4.5ltr container.

Since 2010, Allied has invested £15 million into both its factory equipment and its design centre, installing ink printing machines to aid its premium branded customers in creating glass designs that stand out.

Heavily focused on design, reflecting the company’s primarily premium customer base, Allied also prides itself on its ability to produce glass in numerous colours and with a variety of depths ranging from light translucent to solid colour.

people and has four sites across the UK (in Barnsley, Doncaster, Knottingley and Irvine).

In the UK, Ardagh is the largest glass container manufacturer producing more than 3.2 billion containers per annum for food and beverage brands. These include glass bottles for the beer, cider, wine, spirit and soft drink sectors and glass jars and glass bottles for the food sector.

As for current investments, Ardagh’s average annual investment in the UK glass business is in the region of €35m. A recent example is a €39m three-year improvement programme at its Irvine facility in Scotland, the first phase of which was completed last year. This included a new energy-efficient furnace, the installation of a Heye 10-section double gob forming machine, and inspection equipment, with the final phase due for completion in 2015.

Ardagh’s UK production facilities are complemented by a dedicated decoration centre and also a dedicated trial mould facility, which delivers shorter NPD lead times through the quicker delivery of trial mould equipment. Both of these facilities are both located at the Barnsley site, but provide support to all of the company’s UK plants.

EncircFounded in 1998 in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, Encirc Glass (formerly Quinn Glass, now owned by Vidrala) caused a stir in the UK market when construction started on its Elton, Cheshire site in 2003, due to initial objections from rival companies and issues with planning permission.

The plant commenced operations in 2005, and in a short space of time has helped Encirc become one of the largest container glass manufacturers in the UK, the only one to also offer an on-site filling and distribution service to its customers.

Recently, Encirc has been bought by Spanish manufacturer Vidrala, which has pledged to keep both production sites operating business as usual.

From an initial investment of £325 million, the Elton site has two of the largest furnaces in the container glass industry, 13 lines, and an annual capacity of 1.6 billion units. Its furnaces were actually designed to be float glass furnaces, but were re-worked to accommodate container glass.

The Derrylin site supplies more than 95% of the Irish market, including customers such as Baileys, and in 2007 it received a £40 million investment into a complete furnace rebuild.

Between the company’s two production sites, Encirc currently operates 21 production lines and produces a total capacity of 2.4 billion units.

O-IO-I has two sites in the UK, based in Alloa, Scotland and Harlow, Essex. The Alloa site has been used for glassmaking for 260 years, and is in fact the oldest glassworks in Europe still operating on its original site. Continued>>

z Map courtesy of British

Glass.

“The flurry of recent investment

among glass manu-facturers in the UK demonstrates both the strength of the industry in the re-gion, and the com-

mitment from glass manufacturers in

terms of enhancing their presence and offering to the UK

market”

UK glass manufacturer locations

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Flat glassThe three companies that produce flat glass in the UK are Saint-Gobain, Pilkington and Guardian.

Founded in 1826 in St Helens, Lancashire, Pilkington has since become a worldwide brand due to its float glass manufacturing process. It employs 3,000 people across the UK and is owned by Japan’s NSG Group.

Saint-Gobain was founded in 1665 by King Louis XIV. Now the world’s largest habitat and construction glass manufacturer, Saint-Gobain first came to the UK in 1985 with the acquisition of Stanton PLC and now has in excess of 80 manufacturing sites, 30 brands and 16,000 employees in the UK alone.

Guardian’s first UK line was constructed in 2003, and the company now manufactures, sells and exports clear float glass from its plant in Goole, East Yorkshire. In 2008 Guardian added an art glass laminating facility, enabling the manufacture of safety and security glass. Employing around 300 people in the UK, Guardian recently invested £35 million in an off-line, magnetron coating facility.

Between them, these companies produce approximately 1.3 million tonnes of flat glass in the UK each year, with the majority going towards glazing products for buildings and the rest generally used in automotive applications.

Going forwardThe flurry of recent investment among glass manufacturers in the UK demonstrates the strength of the industry and the commitment from manufacturers in terms of enhancing their presence and offering to the UK market.

On top of this, the amount of investment within the container glass industry earmarked for the decoration of glass demonstrates the growing demand for printing, etching and embossing straight on to glass (perhaps marking the redundancy of traditional labels all together), and indicates an industry-wide trend aimed at winning the ongoing battle for shelf differentiation. r

www.ardaghgroup.comwww.encirc360.comwww.o-i.comwww.allied-glass.comwww.beatsonclark.co.ukwww.stoelzle.com

Beatson ClarkBeatson Clark is a UK veteran, founded in 1751 in Rotherham. Starting out as a purely medical glass manufacturing company, Beatson Clark remains the UK’s largest manufacturer of pharmaceutical glass, although food packaging now makes up 51% of its sales. The company’s focus is on niche brands in the pharmaceutical, food and beverage sectors, and it is currently enjoying a great reputation within the craft beer industry.

Its South Yorkshire facility produces more than 514 million containers each year, and the company has paid special attention to its design offerings for niche customers. In contrast to Allied, Beatson Clark primarily serves the domestic market exporting only 20% of its products worldwide, albeit to more than 60 countries each year.

From 2012 the company has completely rebuilt, repaired and installed a variety of furnaces and equipment, investing more than £10 million.

The company’s recent investments include a completely new white flint furnace, new automatic inspection equipment, a new multi-inspection machine, metal detectors and an updated computer-aided design (CAD) system.

Stoelzle Flaconnage Stoelzle Flaconnage’s West Yorkshire site has been producing glass since 1871, under the name J.W. Bagley and Co. Acquired by Stoelzle in 1994, the company manufactures glass for the healthcare, prestige and tableware markets, with 70% of its output for the prestige spirits and design market.

The furnace produces 155 tons of extra-white flint glass per day which equates to a production of 110 million glass containers a year and with production sites also in Austria, Poland, France and the Czech Republic, the group as a whole produces 2.4 billion glass containers a year.

From 2010 the UK site has received major investment in its production and decoration equipment, and as with O-I and Allied, particular attention has been paid to the decoration side of things.

The company can now offer familiar processes such as acid etching, screen printing, tampo printing, lacquering, hot stamping, transfers or gluing, and works with selected partners to offer a range of decoration techniques including sleeving, metallisation and laser cutting.


E-Glass Installations up to 3,500kW in oxy-fired furnaces for extra tonnage and improvingglass quality to eliminate strand breakages.

Container Glass Various installations inflint and coloured glasses, up to 2,500kW forincreased output and quality.

Float Glass Boosting installations fromsingle zone 1,000kW designs to 3 zone 6,000kWinstallations, for increasing clear output, maintainingoutput on tinted glass, energy substitution andreducing emissions. Multiple bubbler installations.

Display Glass Numerous installations ofup to 1000kW installed power for TFT/LCD glassesusing tin oxide electrode blocks to achieveexceptional glass quality.

Electric Furnaces Developing newfurnace designs for most glass types, includingopal. Complete technical back-up for melting qualityimprovement from raw materials though toforehearth, including all operational problems.Trouble shooting service on all types of existingfurnace designs.

The World,s Number One

in Furnace TechnologyTel +44 (0) 1736 366 962Fax +44 (0) 1736 351 198Email [email protected]

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FIC ads 2014-3 23/4/14 16:39 Page 1

British Glass interview


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Can you give some background information on your career so far in the glass industry?Educated at Hornsey College of Art in ceramics and glass, I moved around the UK, building my skills and knowledge in glass art, until settling on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire and founding Daedalian Glass Design with Chris, my husband.

I’ve continued to expand my repertoire of glass design skills, travelling the world to learn new techniques and styles in

Germany, Switzerland, Italy and America; and educating new generations of glass designers.

Can you give an overview of what the role of British Glass President will entail?I’ll ensure that I work closely with the team at British Glass to promote glass as a material in all its forms and applications, raising the profile of the industry. I’m also passionate about encouraging the next

generation into the industry in all areas, including design and manufacturing roles and of course, I would also like to use my time as President to encourage diversity across the industry.

As President, I will also represent British Glass at various events throughout the year, including charity days, glass industry conferences and related supply chain events at local and national level.

British Glasselects new President

Davia Walmsley, Creative Director at Daedalian Glass, has been elected as President of the British Glass Manufacturers’ Confederation. Glass International spoke with Mrs Walmsley to find out what she aims to achieve in her two-year tenure, which was effective from 1st January 2015, and her thoughts on the UK glass industry.

Continued>>

z Davia Walmsley, newly elected President of British Glass.

British Glass President interview.indd 1 2/5/15 8:32 AM


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Are there any initiatives in par-ticular that you will be focusing on during your two year term? In my own business we’ve identified the need to establish apprenticeships in the various skill areas Daedalian Glass needs, but of course starting with design. To begin, we have already begun to forge working partnerships with relevant universities. I know that The Glass Academy set up by British Glass has been very active in this area, developing links between education and industry to highlight the varied and exciting career options across the sector.

I will be continuing to support this initiative as I believe that young people need to be shown the career possibilities that exist in the glass sector, the creative possibilities and the opportunities for international work and travel. The perception of the industry needs to be developed and brought into the 21st century so that the ‘Millennial Generation’ is aware that it’s a great sector to work in.

As the organisation’s first fe-male President, is the Women in Manufacturing movement an issue that you are keen to be involved with?As the first Female President in the organisation’s 100-year history, I would also like to use the opportunity to focus on women in business and in the glass industry. Like many sectors, it is male dominant but there are plenty of ways in which women can and should be encouraged to join us.

I think that the ‘Women in Manufacturing’ initiative is important and necessary – we need to attract, support and retain women into roles in the glass industry across all job roles and at all levels. This is a ‘women in business’ issue as much as in manufacturing and is one that we should all be keen to get involved with.

I will be encouraging women in the sector to join the ‘Women in Manufacturing’ Ambassador programme which facilitates links between women in industry and their local secondary schools to inspire the next generation.

You are the Co-Director and Creative Head at Daedalian Glass Studios. Is the design aspect of glass something you would like to promote during your tenure?

Design is crucial in all aspects of glass. For example, in how flat glass is formed and produced – although it certainly forms part of it, design isn’t simply about the unusual or the impressive. A completely flat piece of glass, a simple curved sheet or the Coca-Cola bottle of the 1950’s are all examples of the importance of design.

I would like people to say at the end of my time as President of British Glass that I championed the use of glass in all its forms – whether that’s in expected ways in containers or flat glass or unexpected uses for design, medical and technological applications– glass as a material is flexible, sustainable, beautiful and needs to be celebrated and recognised.

I aim to represent the industry as a whole and promote glass in all its forms.

How do you feel the UK glass industry has fared over the past few years? The glass industry has, like most manufacturing and industrial sectors, faced a somewhat turbulent time over recent years, with the flat glass/architectural sector suffering more than most due to the knock-on effect of the recession on the construction sector.

However, as the economy improves and building projects are on the increase, the future is looking much more optimistic.

Staples such as glass containers have weathered the turbulence a little better but again, it has not been easy. In times of economic hardship, luxury goods, including high-end tableware and decorative/art-glass, tend to fare better as it is usually the middle that gets squeezed.

Glass makers are by nature tenacious and innovative and I believe the industry is now once again on the upward curve as technical glasses, fibre for reinforcement and wind-turbines etc are proving that glass can provide a wide range of

solutions to society’s needs.

In your opinion, what is the main problem facing the UK’s glass industry at the moment? The industry is in good shape with a strong manufacturing base and is well positioned to take on the challenge of encouraging new talent into it from all backgrounds - be that young, old, male or female.

How do you think British Glass can most help the UK glass industry over the coming years? I would like to spend some time learning what British Glass staff think the answer is, then what the industry thinks it is. I have been absorbed by the demands of my own business and have my own views on what the answer to this question is; but I need to ensure I have a balanced view before expressing one.

One thing I do feel is that the new British Glass Innovation Centre that is being built in Sheffield will be very positive for the industry – providing a centre of excellence for glass makers and manufacturers, supporting the development of an innovative culture and training the next generation with the skills the sector needs for the future.

What do you think is the most positive thing about the UK’s glass industry at the moment?It’s British. That still commands respect around the world; it has credibility and as a result we have an industry that exudes quality, diversity and value for money. I know from conversations with industry colleagues we all feel the same way, and I think we should shout a little louder about this. r

British Glass, Sheffield, UK.www.britglass.org.uk

z Dave Dalton, CEO of British Glass, with Davia Walmsley.

British Glass President interview.indd 2 2/5/15 8:32 AM

Environment


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To shed further light on this important subject, Siemens recently undertook research into attitudes

and approaches to energy management across the glass sector. The findings highlight how many glass manufacturing operations are now taking consumption responsibilities seriously as rising costs, compliance with the forthcoming Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme (ESOS), and supply pressures conspire to ensure energy remains a top business priority. Critically, the research also demonstrates

that for those that have proactively taken strategic measures to improve their energy performance, evidence clearly points to tangible bottom line benefits.

Today, no glass manufacturer is immune from the combination of rising energy costs and environmental responsibilities, as well as the impact regulatory compliance has on the effective day-to-day running of any organisation.

With ESOS compliance now under 12 months away, the pressure is on for many to get their energy commitments in order as they seek consumption, and, by extension, operating cost reductions, while at the same time satisfying stringent regulatory controls.

As seen in many other sectors, companies in the glass industry are being

Glass manufacturers reassess relationship with energy as costs rise

With energy estimated to account for up to 35% of a glass manufacturer’s variable costs, it is clear that consumption and its ongoing management are set to remain a critical business issue for the foreseeable future, states Steve Martin*.

Continued>>

Fig 2. Dave Dalton CEO, British Glass Manufac-

turers’ Confederation and Brian Holliday, Managing

Director, Digital Factory – Siemens UK & Ireland

The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is a new piece of EU legislation which mandates that all large businesses in the UK undertake comprehensive assessments of their energy use and energy efficiency opportunities at least once every four years.This means that more than 9,000 (including many glass manufacturers) companies across all sectors will be required by law to comply. And there is not that much time left with the first audits scheduled to be completed by 5th December 2015. By this

date, qualifying businesses will have to achieve compliance with the regulations and notify the Environment Agency.To comply with the regulations, a ‘Lead Energy Assessor’ will need to conduct an ESOS Assessment to:r Measure total energy consumption for buildings, industrial processes and transport;r Identify areas of significant energy consumption, accounting for at least 90% of total energy consumption;r Identify cost-effective energy efficiency

recommendations for areas of significant energy consumption; r Report compliance to the Environment Agency.Siemens recognises the challenges this poses to many glass manufacturers and has set up a bespoke energy management team – including Lead Energy Assessor - to assist organisations through the assessment process and ensure their readiness for 5th December 2015. Contact: Steve Martin at [email protected]

Why ESOS matters and where you can get help

Steve Martin.

forced to reassess their relationship with energy and how it is used and managed. To understand more, Siemens commissioned research among senior personnel, including board directors, senior management and energy managers, across the glass industry in the UK.

The research, outlined in ‘The Future of Energy: The UK Manufacturing Opportunity’, sought to assess general business attitudes to energy, uncover if strategic planning is in place to drive

Siemens UK.indd 1 2/5/15 8:33 AM

Environment


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improvements, and see what practical steps are being taken from an energy management perspective.

Leading from the topThe research shows that 90% of glass manufacturers are already actively discussing energy management as an important issue at board level, with another 82% stating that managing energy within their company was now a business-critical issue for them.

More than two thirds (68%) of those questioned also said that energy management was now on a par with other strategic decision making responsibilities. The need to drive improvements has also resulted in 76% of glass manufacturers having a senior director now take responsibility for managing the company’s approach to energy management going forward.

Investment and EngagementWhen questioned about the investment decisions they had made to tackle energy concerns, 65% admitted to increasing investment in energy management solutions over the past 12 months. 65% also said that plans were in place to increase their investment levels in the year ahead, primarily to satisfy regulatory requirements and reduce the organisation’s carbon footprint. Three quarters of organisations questioned have purchased energy saving technology, and 77% have invested in renewable and self-generation technology to safeguard their energy futures as costs continue to rise and supply comes under increasing pressure. With any energy management strategy hugely dependent on a buy-in from all staff members to be truly effective, it is heartening to see that 69% of glass manufacturers have a formalised energy management training process in place.

A strategic approachWith successful energy management strategies not purely about the here and now, longer term planning is essential to drive continuous improvements and with it, beneficial results. More than two thirds (70%) of firms said they had energy management goals in place one year from now, with just over a half of glass manufacturers saying that they had established energy management goals in place for the next five years.

Such longer term planning will only improve the chances of delivering

sustained improvements and energy consumption managed continually.

While it may seem an obvious question, it was also welcome to see that 78% of companies acknowledged they were aware of their current annual energy expenditure and so had a base line for improvements. For those that do not currently have annual energy spend figures to hand, this is an essential first step on the road to increased efficiencies.

Key drivers and barriersWhen asked what they considered to be the most important criteria when assessing if an energy management project or programme has been a success, two primary areas were cited. Firstly, the belief they were achieving a competitive advantage as a result of reducing energy use and with it operating costs.

Secondly, the impact on staff morale was highlighted as a key success factor for many. The impact of engaged and proactive staff who shared the company vision to use less energy, reduce the impact on the environment, and at the same time help contribute to a healthier bottom line, should not, and cannot, be underestimated, according to the senior personnel questioned.

All too often it is easier to say that improvements or changes cannot be made as there are too many barriers.

When asked about the biggest barriers to the adoption of a proactive and continuous energy management programme, more than three quarters (82%) stated that the ‘poor’ or ‘uncertain’ return on investment levels was a concern for them.

The answer to this is simple. Of all those questioned in the glass industries, more than three quarters (79%) said their company bottom line had subsequently improved as a result of undertaking energy management measures.

Progress being made It is clear that much progress is being made by the sector when it comes to recognising the importance of energy management on their daily business and, crucially, doing something about it. The research findings indicate that the industry has a high awareness of energy-related issues, but is maybe currently held back slightly by a cautious approach to making the most of investment opportunities.

The use of innovative and tailored investment funding options such as

the one in place between Siemens and Pilkington, part of the NSG Group, is a prime example of how collaboration can lead to customer benefit.

As a result of the energy management technologies now in place at Pilkington sites (supported by a Siemens funding package that shares the risk between the two organisations), £1 million has been wiped off the company’s energy costs in the past three years and Pilkington is deriving best value from its capital expenditure management (Fig. 1).

Steps are being made across the glass sector in terms of active and formalised training programmes for staff and other areas of strategic improvements.

This approach is to be applauded and echoes the ambition of the British Glass Manufacturers’ Confederation to make the UK glass sector globally competitive. This ambition will be realised through the recent technology partnership agreed with Siemens (Fig. 2). At its heart is an investment of £4 million to provide technology, R&D and skill support services, and the construction of a British Glass Innovation Centre in Sheffield.

However the primary reward for glass businesses is evidenced in bottom line benefit and the 79% of organisations who are happy to say it has improved as a result of implementing energy management measures in recent years.

This is good news for a sector that is generally recognised as a high intensive energy user, with the inevitable costs associated with this status.

The challenges around managing energy consumption will only intensify in the years to come and doing nothing is not an option for glass and solar manufacturing operations wanting to thrive in the future. r

Head of Glass Sector, Siemens UK & Ireland.www.siemens.co.uk

Fig 1. Energy efficiency improvements are

now in place at Pilkington sites.

Siemens UK.indd 2 2/5/15 8:33 AM

Furnaces


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Saving energy and emission reduction is a priority for all kinds of production processes of the

future. Environmentally, these targets are important in saving natural resources and decreasing pollution.

Economically, energy savings and emission reduction are essential in order to decrease production costs and survive in the international market.

In the long tradition of glass manufacturing several solutions were implemented into the production process in order to reduce the energy demand of the total manufacturing process.

For example, the average specific energy demand of the German glass industry to produce one ton of glass was about 15.5MWh/t in 1930 and about 2.5MWh/t in 2010. The success of different optimisation activities is easy to see from these numbers.

But one of the biggest initiatives to reduce the amount of energy in the melting process was discovered at the end of the 19th century.

The Siemens brothers achieved energy savings of about 40% when they used the energy of the flue gas to heat the combustion air by using a ceramic regenerator. The Siemens furnace in Dresden is the historical base for present standard furnace designs. Since then investigations on regenerative and recuperative furnace designs have been carried out to increase the efficiency of the melting process.

Different types of improvements with new constructions and materials allow for higher preheating temperatures and

longer lifetime of the heat exchangers. In the 1990s the first 100% oxy-fuel-

furnaces were established. In the early days energy consumption decreased about 10% by using oxygen instead of air. But more importantly at this time, regulationswere introduced by law to reduce NOx emissions and also

technical needs to produce, for example, borosilicate fibreglass or display glass.

Compared with air-fuel-furnaces, missing waste heat recovery concepts are still a big disadvantage of oxy-fuel technology. Perhaps due to safety concerns and the availability of technologies, heating oxygen by the heat of the flue gas was not thought of.

SavingsOver the past three years, UAS Messtechnik has developed the preheating system ‘Oxyfire-Pro’ to heat gaseous fuels, such as natural gas or LPG, and the oxygen to temperatures of up to 400°C, by using the waste heat of the flue gases after a furnace. Already with this relatively low temperature, compared to regenerative air preheating, energy savings of more than 10% have been achieved.

The preheating of gas and oxygen is a combination of waste heat recovery and combustion optimisation. Depending on the preheating temperature, gas composition and oxygen purity, savings of about 3% to 6% can be made at an oxy-fuel furnace.

What brings total savings to more than 10% is the effect of the substantial increasing of the flame luminosity leading to improved heat transfer into the glass surface. The increase of the flame luminosity decreases the ‘foam’ formation on the glass surface.

Besides energy savings, priorities for the design of the system are safety and flexibility.

Saving energy by preheating gas

There has been a lot of discussion within the industry recently about energy savings and emissions reductions. Here, Florian Stadler* and Jörgen Backhausen** discuss the substantial energy savings that can be made by preheating oxygen and gas on oxygen fired glass furnaces.

Continued>>

z Fig 1. Cold flame.

z Fig 2. Hot flame.

UAS messtechnik.indd 1 2/4/15 4:21 PM

Furnaces


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By using premium materials for pipes, valves and gaskets and evaluating them under hot conditions in long-term tests in combination with the UAS safety control technology, all safety issues were solved. ‘Oxyfire-Pro’ fulfills safety standards according to EN746-2 and is certified by German TÜV.

Every controlled burner or burner zone is equipped with its own preheating module to ensure the high flexibility on the control of the furnaces.

The fully automated system allows an independent temperature control of gas and oxygen per burner or burner zone. Skids are designed to run ‘hot’ and ‘cold’, and are able to handle change to the flow rates of gas and oxygen (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2).

The system can also handle differences in the heat source temperature. Overheating of gas or oxygen is avoided by the safety and control equipment installed on every module.

FunctionalityThe energy saved by using ‘Oxyfire-Pro’ is a benefit for the customer as they save money by raising the efficiency of the process. Also important is keeping the furnace operating and producing glass 365 days per year.

That is why ‘Oxyfire-Pro’ is equipped with an automatically operating bypass system. In case of any failure, such as over-temperature, over-pressure or leakage, the system switches automatically from ‘hot’ to ‘cold’ operation within seconds without shutting the burner.

This action causes no negative effect on furnace operation and also no additional control effort for the operators.

The control system is clear to the operators, with low additional operational or maintenance demand. ‘Oxyfire-Pro’ is designed as a stand-alone system operating independently from the existing safety and flow control systems, with only a few control signal interfaces.

The preheating-modules are installed between the flow control skids and the burners as close as possible to the furnace. The layout of the skids is flexible, so as to fit it into the available space at the furnace. All preheating-skids are equipped with high efficient heat exchangers for gas and oxygen and automatic control and bypass system.

Depending on the availability of heat sources it is easy to make a retrofit to an operating furnace. The modular design allows a flexible expansion of the number of burners equipped with the

‘Oxyfire-Pro’ system. It is possible to first install the system for a selected number of burners to ensure savings and effects of the system, and then later install the rest of the burners to make it a complete ‘Oxyfire-Pro’ installation on the furnace.

Reachable preheating temperatures are directly dependent on the heat source. Due to problems with corrosion and dust it is not advisable to use the direct flue gas of an oxy-fuel furnace. The demand for maintenance to keep the preheaters clean and efficient will be too high, and it is also a safety issue by using aggressive and corrosive flue gases to directly heat up the oxygen and gas. The most common solution is the utilisation of clean hot air out of a recuperator installed in the flue gas channel.

This will increase the investment for the installation, but because of the low maintenance effort and efficiency of the system it is an investment with a reasonable payback time.

Today, nobody would run an air-fuel furnace without a regenerator or recuperator. In addition to recuperators there can be alternative hot air or other types of heat sources that are available and usable as the heat source for the ‘Oxyfire-Pro’ system.

UAS specialises in finding and utilising different kinds of heat sources suitable for supplying the necessary heat for the ‘Oxyfire-Pro’ system.

Industrial pilot installationAfter long-term laboratory tests, the first

‘Oxyfire-Pro’ was installed at an oxy-gas fired reinforcement fibre glass furnace in Germany, in March 2013 (Fig. 3).

At this installation the company had hot air available from an existing recuperator with a temperature of about 300°C. By using this heat source, preheating temperatures of up to 250°C can be reached for natural gas and oxygen.

In the first weeks, different preheating temperatures from cold up to 250°C were used to evaluate the influence on flame, furnace atmosphere and gas consumption.

With rising preheating temperatures, energy savings and flame characteristics improved. Gas consumption at 250°C of preheating was more than 10% lower compared with the non-preheated burner. Also, the luminosity of the flame increased with the higher temperatures, and this was a major contributor to the substantial increase of the heat transfer to the glass.

Since start-up, the systems have been stable without any disturbance or additional work for the operators and with a minimum of maintenance.

Depending on the preheating temperatures, energy savings were recognised from the first day onwards. r

*Florian Stadler, Project Manager Energy & Environmental, UAS Messtechnik **Jörgen Backhausen, Combustion Specialist, UAS Messtechnik, Viechtach, Germany, www.uas.de

Fig 3. The first ‘Oxyfire-Pro’ installed

at an oxy-gas fired reinforcement fibre

glass furnace in March 2013.

UAS messtechnik.indd 2 2/4/15 4:21 PM

Check detection is one of the most important quality inspections during the quality control of glass

containers. Checks are often difficult to detect, and at the same time are responsible for critical errors. Heye solutions are able to inspect not only round but also non-round containers, which often cause problems at the Cold End lines.

360° inspection The non-contact diameter and ovality inspection module allows inspection of round bottles for minimum and maximum diameter and ovality at up to three levels. Two sensors per inspection level on both sides of the container scan the sidewall of the spinning container. The sidewall of the container partly hides the sensor area. Thus, the value of the sensor signal is related to the hidden area of the sensor. According to these signals, the dedicated software algorithm determines the container diameter and calculates the ovality continuously while the container rotates. Inspectable defects include maximum and minimum container diameter and ovality of the container.

Unfilled and overpressed finishHeye’s camera unfilled finish inspection module allows inspection bottles for incomplete and unfilled finishes, as well as overpressed inner edges.

In addition, bottles with other sealing surface defects such as chipped finishes, dirty finishes or similar criteria can be detected.

The modules’s principal characteristics are of bright-field inspection: The inspection zones are displayed as a bright area and finish defects appear as dark objects. During inspection, the finish is illuminated from above by several light sources.

A high resolution CCD camera records images of the finish. A computer-supported image processing system, with software specially designed for this application, evaluates the images recorded by the camera.

The inspectable bottle defects are incomplete finish, unfilled finish, overpressed inner edges, chipped finish, dirty finish or damaged sealing surface.

Camera bore gauge With the camera bore gauge inspection module on the SmartLine, it is possible

to inspect the inner finish diameter for minimum and maximum bore and filling tube diameter.

r High intensity LED illumination underneath the bottle illuminates the borer Above the finish, there is a high resolution camera with telecentric lenses installed to photograph the finishr The software algorithm calculates the centre of the finish and together with an edge detection algorithm, calculates the bore diameterr The special Fill Tube function checks whether the fill tube diameter has passed through the centre of the finishr The special spike detection function detects spikes inside the inspection area

The inspectable defects are maximum bore diameter, minimum bore diameter, filling tube diameter and spikes. r

* Product Manager Cold End Solutions, Heye International, Obernkirchen, Germanywww.heye-international.com

Cold end


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SmartLine inspection machine with non-contact featuresGerd Schuetz* discusses the continuous improvement of a stable and reliable inspection machine.

zHeye’s SmartLine inspection machine. zThe camera check detection module.

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The contract included the supply of two new Fejmert Mixers model S-1500, designing a new mixer platform, and the planning and execution of the changing procedure.

The complete changing operation commenced at the beginning of August and was completed by September 2014.

The job presented a number of difficulties, such as how to remove the existing machines and how to get the new machines into place.

With the existing mixers placed on a platform surrounded by a large number of support girders, a temporary removal route had to be arranged.

FeaturesTo ensure that each mixer (Fig 1)could act as a backup for the other, the distribution of the mixed batch on to two different conveyor belts had to be engineered. Previously, this had been arranged via vibrating chutes, but now a simpler solution could be incorporated. The task was carried out by the use of a simple swivel pipe with a roller bearing arrangement that could be swung over either of the two conveyor belts.

One of the features incorporated into the Fejmert Mixer is the self-developed water addition system. This system is made up of a centrally mounted, rotating coupling which leads the batch liquid/water to a manifold, which is fitted to the mixing rotor. The liquid therefore rotates with the mixing motor, covering the complete batch area.

The manifold is equipped with a set of spray nozzles designed for fine, atomising distribution of the batch liquid/water.

Combined with the high rotational speed of the Fejmert mixing rotor, 24rpm, it ensures an even distribution of the batch liquid/water, resulting in a shortening of the batch cycle. r

Fejmert Mixer, Nyköping, Sweden. www.fejmert.se

Change of mixersat Stölzle OberglasIn April 2014 Fejmert Mixer was awarded the contract by Stölzle to replace two mixers at its Köflach, Austria operation.

Batch plant Recruitment


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z Fig 1. Fejmert Mixer S-1500

x 2 prior to mounting.

Encirc Ltd has two modern, state-of-the-art glass manufacturing plants producing glass containers for the food, beverage, wine and spirit industries. On-going investment in the production facilities and operations in both plants allows us to produce consistently high- quality products for our customers. The flexibility of our 21 production lines enables us to do this quickly, competitively and efficiently - resulting in a world-class service for some of the world’s most recognised brands.

Following our recent acquisition by the Vidrala Group, we are seeking to strengthen our leadership teams in preparation for substantial investment. Exciting opportunities have therefore arisen for experienced Operations Managers. Reporting directly to the Plant Managers at either our Derrylin or Elton sites, you will lead, manage and develop production teams, including Shift and Line managers to maintain and improve upon the world class standards Encirc are renowned for delivering. Your KPIs will include Health & Safety, Quality, Cost and Efficiency measures.

To apply for this position you will have a proven and demonstrable track record of leading large multifunctional teams and at least 10 years industrial manufacturing or similar experience. You will be a strong communicator, decisive and able to lead by example, motivate and manage teams within a fast paced industrial environment. A good understanding of Health & Safety is required for this post as is a qualification in IOSH Managing Safely.

This is an excellent opportunity to join a large, well established manufacturing company that offers state of the art facilities.

Please send CV details in confidence (stating which site you wish to work at) to our Recruitment Partner, GSS-Recruitment, via email to:[email protected] or call 01928 762919. For a confidential chat outside of office hours please call Diana on 07825 393131

Operations Managers

Encirc GlassLocation: Elton, Chester or Derrylin, Co. Fermanagh

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CLASSIFIEDS

contact us [email protected] www.vidromecanica.com

for Tableware and Stemware

TEMPERING LINES ON BELT / SPINDLES

ANNEALING & DECORATING LEHRS for Containers and Tableware

KBA-KAMMANN GmbH Bergkirchener Str. 228D-32549 Bad Oeynhausen (Germany)

Fon +49 (0) 5734 5140-0 Fax: +49 (0) 5734 [email protected] www.kba-kammann.com

DECORATING MACHINES

FLEXIBLE.PRECISE.INNOVATIVE.

Rio Tinto Minerals

2 Eastbourne TerraceLondon W2 6LG, UK

Tel +44 (0) 207 781 1450Fax +44 (0) 207 781 1851Email: [email protected]: www.riotintominerals.com

Global CombustionSystems

Total Support

Unit 43, Evans Business Centre, Easter Inch, Bathgate EH48 2EH, Scotland, UK

Tel+44 (0) 1506 657310Fax +44 (0) 8704 799975Email [email protected] www.globalcombustion.com

On-line Process & Quality Control

TIAMA - msc & sgccZA des Plattes, 1 Chemin des Plattes, 69390 Vourles, FranceTel +33 (0) 4 37 20 15 00,Fax +33 (0) 4 78 07 94 50Email: [email protected]:www.tiama.eu

INDUSTRIAL GAS ENGINEERS U N I T D 2 , B RO O KS I D E B U S IN E S S PA R K , G RE E NG A TE , C H AD D E RT O N, M2 4 1 G S , EN G L AN D

T E L E P H ON E : 0 1 6 1 - 6 5 4 7 7 0 0 F A X: 0 1 6 1 - 6 5 5 3 8 1 2

E-MAIL: S A L E S @MO N T S E L A S . C O. U K WWW.MONTSELAS.CO.UK

INDUSTRIAL GAS ENGINEERS

Unit D2, Brookside Business Park, Greengate, Chadderton, M24 1GS, UK

Tel +44 (0) 161 654 7700 Fax +44 (0) 161 655 3812Email [email protected] www.montselas.co.uk

MANUFACTURERS AND SUPPLIERS OF SELAS SQUARE PORT GAS & AIR VALVES

AIR GAS

ANNEALING LEHRS FURNACES HEAT-UP SERVICES

SCREEN PRINTING

RAW MATERIALS

INSPECTION

COMBUSTION EQUIPMENT

COMBUSTION SYSTEMS/BURNERS

GLASS LEVELMEASUREMENT

Glass International directory 2015 contact: Esme Horn to

receive your copy

Glassman events visit:www.glassmanevents.com

ContactEsme Horn

T+44 (0) 1737 855136to book your space

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Changshu Jianhua Mould Technology Co., Ltd. is China’s most emerging mould manufacturer, with about 40 years’ experience in the design and manufacture of

glass moulds. At present, Jianhua Mould has three divisions: the Foundry Section, the Container Mould Section and the Tableware Mould Section. It also operates on

R&D institute with local government in China developing mould material and seeking solutions to overcome problems in the mould industry. Now Jianhua Mould is looking

forward to cooperating with more packaging companies around the world...

Good delivery + Better quality + Best price = Our moulds

For more information, please contact us: [email protected] \ +86-512-52506751

Material Jianhua operates its own foundry to ensure qualified castings.

Manufacturing Jianhua has a highly experienced team ready to serve you at any time.

Capacity Jianhua has four workshops capable of producing large quantities of moulds

Delivery Jianhua applies efficient production management to ensure quick delivery

Quality Jianhua has tailored technology in production with total quality control

Reputation Jianhua is the first Chinese mould manufacturer operating an NNPB R&D center.

www.jhmould.com

Evolution range is more performant than ever, thanks to its new PC, bigger HD touch screen (21.5'), new HD cameras and the innovating software.

Fast, powerful, easy to use, Evolution offers an enhanced and precise inspection of glass containers.

Of course, retrofit kit is available for all existing machines.

Documents

Glass international february 2015