Abstract
Glass industries contribute approximately 22 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in Europe annually. The European Clean Hydrogen Alliance has developed an investment agenda to support the strategic investment of hydrogen amounting to 9.3 billion €. Hydrogen is a potential fuel source but is not readily available in nature for direct combustion. Pure hydrogen can be synthesised by electrolyser to produce hydrogen. To ensure the success of transitioning the glass industry to using hydrogen, there are several factors to consider apart from the cost of electrolyser. Most of the publication focuses mainly on the efficiency, cost and the direct application of the electrolyser in Europe. However, there is a gap in empirical studies that provide challenges and needs with the use of hydrogen in glass manufacturers. In this work, we aim to key factors to provide new insights regarding the adoption of hydrogen in the manufacturing sector. The case study was carried out with 4 European glass manufacturers that plan to use hydrogen as a fuel or have tested it on small scales. Workshops were organized with experts from different fields for solution development. All 4 glass manufacturers have an objective to reduce GHG emissions and explore the use of H2 to replace natural gas but lack the knowledge in the management, particularly the safety aspects, of H2 in furnaces. Factors such as the safety of hydrogen, required furnace modifications and the development of smart production management should be focused on integrating hydrogen into the glass manufacturing industry. One challenge is that the available data are mostly on the combustion of natural gas and not from hydrogen making development prediction using digital twins challenging. This insight could also contribute to the replicability of the developed solutions for other industries like aluminium and cement.
