Over the past few years Stölzle Glass Group has made major investments in order to improve environmental sustainability.
Furnace technology
By changing over the white flint furnace from recuperative to regenerative preheating of combustion air, energy efficiency has been improved considerably and also NOx has been reduced by 40%.
Electric filter
By using a new electric filter for the purification of waste gases, the emission of dust from the furnaces has been reduced by 90 per cent and is thus far below the legal limits.
Waste heat utilisation of furnaces
The installation of a waste heat utilisation system after the furnaces allows to recover approximately 10,000 MWh p.a. for heating purposes which are mainly fed into the local community heating network. As a result the consumption of natural gas has diminished by 910.000 m3 and the emission of CO2 by 1.800 tons per year.
Waste heat utilisation of compressors
Four compressors have been equipped with a heat recovery system. The waste heat which is generated is used for the hot water supply as well as partly for heating the various headquarters’ facilities.
Reduction of water consumption
In order to reduce water consumption, closed water cooling circuits have been installed which allow a reduction of up to 10 l/s.
Cullet recycling
Re-use of cullet leads to considerable protection of energy and environment. Provided that quality requirements permit cullet, an average of 70 – 80 tons of cullet is used per day. This reduces the use of natural gas of around 1,000 m3 and thus reduces emission of CO2 by 2,000 kg/day.
Projects in process
After the current increase of production capacity, the next planned projects are conversion of the heating at the cold end from gas to exhaust air from compressors. Furthermore, we are working on a possibility to transfer heat via absorption into refrigeration capacity and use for cooling rooms. We are also working on improving waste separation and treatment.
