Verallia is moving forward innovation: At Essen-Karnap, Verallia Deutschland AG is testing one of the largest hydrogen-powered melting capacities in the glass industry, thanks to its partnership with ArcelorMittal and Uniper.
With this project, Verallia will operate, on daily basis, the largest hydrogen powered melting capacity (6MW) in glass industry. This marks a significant step towards a low-carbon glass industry, with the project aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by 8 to 10 percent per year.
Before starting this project with ArcelorMittal in Essen, Verallia conducted an initial test campaign at the Verallia Zaragoza plant in Spain. For several days, the furnaces operated with a mixture containing up to 60 percent hydrogen, delivered by truck. This experiment, carried out with the support of Air Liquide, allowed Verallia’s R&D teams to characterise the implementation, equipment, safety, monitoring issues and above all, to characterise all elements related to combustion, performance, furnace control and emission impacts.
In Essen, the company is moving up a gear. ArcelorMittal supplies its hydrogen-rich energy gas from the Bottrop coking plant, a by-product of coke production. Uniper, provides the pipeline for gas transportation between our two industrial plants, about 3.5 kilometres apart. The five-year contract for gas deliveries allows Verallia to test the long-term effects of hydrogen use in the two furnaces at the Verallia plant in Essen Karnap.