A week after the release of the UK government’s hydrogen strategy, a trial of using 1,00% hydrogen to produce float (sheet) glass began in the Liverpool city region, the first of its kind in the world.
Fossil fuels such as natural gas, which are normally used in the production process, will be completely replaced by hydrogen, demonstrating that the glass industry can significantly reduce its carbon emissions and take a major step towards achieving net zero.
The trials are taking place at the St. Helens factory of Pilkington, the British glass company that first started making glass there in 1826. In order to decarbonize the UK, almost all sectors of the economy will need to be transformed. Industry accounts for 25 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.K., and reducing these emissions is critical if the country is to reach “net zero.
However, energy-intensive industries are one of the more difficult challenges to tackle. Industrial emissions, such as glass manufacturing, are particularly difficult to reduce – with this trial, we are one step closer to overcoming this barrier. The groundbreaking “HyNet Industrial Fuel Conversion” project, led by Progressive Energy, with hydrogen supplied by BOC, will provide confidence that HyNet’s low-carbon hydrogen will replace natural gas.
This is believed to be the world’s first large-scale demonstration of 10 percent hydrogen combustion in a live float (sheet) glass production environment. The Pilkington, UK trial is one of several projects underway in the Northwest of England to test how hydrogen can replace fossil fuels in manufacturing. Further HyNet trials will be held at Unilever’s Port Sunlight later this year.
Together, these demonstration projects will support industries such as glass, food, beverage, power and waste in converting to the use of low-carbon hydrogen to replace their use of fossil fuels. Both trials use hydrogen supplied by the BOC. in February 2020, BEIS provided £5.3 million in funding to the HyNet industrial fuel switching project through its Energy Innovation Programme.
HyNet will begin decarbonisation in the North West of England from 2025. By 2030, it will be able to reduce carbon emissions by up to 10 million tonnes per year in North West England and North East Wales – the equivalent of taking 4 million cars off the road each year.
HyNet is also developing the UK’s first low-carbon hydrogen production plant in Essar, at the Manufacturing Complex in Stanlow, with plans to start producing fuel hydrogen from 2025.
HyNet North West project director David Parkin said, “Industry is vital to the economy, but decarbonisation is difficult to achieve. hyNet is committed to removing carbon from industry through a range of technologies, including capturing and locking up carbon, and producing and using hydrogen as a low carbon fuel.”
“HyNet will bring jobs and economic growth to the Northwest and jumpstart a low-carbon hydrogen economy. We are focused on reducing emissions, protecting 340,000 existing manufacturing jobs in the Northwest and creating more than 6,000 new permanent jobs, putting the region on a path to become a world leader in clean energy innovation.”
“Pilkington UK and St Helens are once again at the forefront of industrial innovation with the world’s first hydrogen trial on a float glass line,” said Matt Buckley, UK managing director of NSG Group’s Pilkington UK Ltd.
“HyNet will be a major step forward in supporting our decarbonization activities. After weeks of full-scale production trials, it has been successfully demonstrated that it is feasible to safely and effectively operate a float glass plant using hydrogen. We now look forward to the HyNet concept becoming a reality.”
Post time: Nov-15-2021