Gas consumption in photovoltaic glass production

Natural gas will continue to be the main fuel for glass production until 2050 (Griffin et al. 2021). But in the future, countries are planning to use renewable energy sources such as hydrogen, nitrogen, biomass, solar energy and wind energy instead of carbon-based fossil fuels.

In the glass industry, support processes account for less than 10 % of energy use, making production processes the focus of energy efficiency. Table 2 depicts the typical energy profile of glass products by process.

The Chinese glass industry meets its energy needs with fuel oil (13.1%), natural gas (15.5%), coal (44.3%), electricity, and other sources (27.1%). On the other hand, the USA and Europe use natural gas as an energy source in the glass industries with a share of 80% and 90%, respectively (Zier et al. 2021).

Historically, wood, coal, natural gas, and electricity have been used as energy sources in glass production (Griffin et al. 2021). Since the outbreak of the oil crisis in the last century, the need to reduce energy consumption per unit product has become one of the key factors in industrial furnace designs (Weber et al. 2020).

The electricity consumption increases up to 3026.38 kWh e /t glass, which implies an energy penalty (KPI 11) of 35.83 MJ e /kg CO2. This result is double to that encountered by Perpiñán et al. (Perpiñán et al., 2022) in a similar integration of Power to Gas with the steel industry.

Status and prospects of energy efficiency in the glass industry are presented. The investigation of energy performance is based on energy data and modelling. Alignment with best practice suggests a sectoral improvement potential of 10 %. Renewable penetration plays a key role for electrification and hydrogen viability.