Tests have begun on the use of green hydrogen in an industrial furnace at bottle-making factory in Sweden — and the preliminary results suggest that using green H2 will have no impact on the quality of glass produced, or on the furnace, the company behind the programme said yesterday (Tuesday).
Luxembourg-based Ardagh Group is replacing some of the fossil gas it uses in the furnace at its facility in Limmared, Sweden with green hydrogen produced from a 5MW proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser on-site.
The heat from Ardagh’s Limmered furnace is used to melt together raw cullet (ground up recycled glass), sand, soda ash, limestone and dolomite into new glass that can be made into bottles for the drinks industry.
So far, Ardagh has burned 109,000 cubic metres of green hydrogen from the electrolyser since the testing programme began at the start of October.
However, it has not revealed what proportion of fossil gas this replaces in the fuel mix, although it states that the aim of the programme is to replace 20% of its gas burn with renewable H2.
“The testing phase using the hydrogen energy mix is progressing well, with no impact on the quality of the glass or the furnace, said Daniel Johansson, Ardagh’s project manager for the scheme.
Hydrogen has been touted as a possible means of decarbonising high-temperature heat for industry, where electrical solutions may not be feasible.
However, reaching a 20% hydrogen-gas blend would require around three times as much renewable H2 by volume as the gas it is replacing, as hydrogen has a third of the energy density.
And the benefits of blending hydrogen with gas, which will push up costs, are believed to have limited climate benefits. A study by the Fraunhofer Institute in 2022 found that incorporating a 20% blend into the gas network would yield emissions reductions of just 6-7%.
And Ardagh has already successfully tested an electric solution, at its facility in Obernkirchen, Germany, where it has achieved a 64% reduction in carbon emissions by using heat that is 60% powered by electricity.
“The future combination of hydrogen and other sustainable technologies such as hybrid melting, will help Ardagh Group and our customers to achieve their emissions reduction targets, as well as advancing the decarbonisation of the glass industry,” said Ardagh’s European CEO Martin Petersson.
