In less than 15 seconds, glowing drops of molten glass are molded and then blown into translucent bottles of a prestigious spirits brand: the glass group Verallia is testing a new 100% electric furnace, a world first and a major step towards the decarbonization of the sector.
This new production unit, which was commissioned in the spring but inaugurated on Tuesday in its Châteaubernard factory, on the outskirts of Cognac, reduces CO2 emissions by 60% compared to a traditional oven. Because until now, the food glass packaging industry only consumed gas and fuel oil to produce bottles and other glass jars.
“There was the glass revolution when we moved from wood to fossil fuels. With this 100% electric furnace, we are bringing the glass industry into the 21st century,” assures Pierre-Henri Desportes, CEO of Verallia France.
Until now, only electric ovens of lower capacity existed, particularly for producing perfume bottles, assures the executive of the leading group in Europe and the third largest producer in the world in the sector.
Costing 57 million euros, twice as much as a traditional furnace, this investment with a capacity of 180,000 tonnes of glass per year allows the production of 300,000 bottles per day in white glass.
Unlike a traditional furnace where the glass melts horizontally, this pilot furnace uses a vertical process in which the raw materials – sand, limestone and cullet (recycled glass) – form a glass crust at 1,400 degrees before fusion takes place using submerged electrodes.
– Reduced energy losses –
This 100% electric oven also helps reduce energy losses from 25% to 5%, according to the group’s managers.
It was designed in collaboration with several Verallia clients – Rémy Cointreau, Hennessy and Martell&Co (Pernod Ricard) – who are also committed to a decarbonization strategy. Because the packaging of wine, beer and spirits accounts for 30 to 40% of the environmental footprint of a glass of alcohol, according to the Agency for Ecological Transition (Ademe).
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The plant’s second furnace, which was shut down at the end of December due to the drop in global cognac shipments (-22% in 2023), will be converted to gas-only production before a potential conversion to electric by 2028.
“We want to learn from the first oven to make another cheaper one now that we have mastered the technology and depending on the economic situation in Cognac,” says Pierre-Henri Desportes, “confident” about the future of the sector despite the rise in the price of energy.
Verallia will also install two hybrid furnaces (80% electricity and 20% gas) in Saint-Romain-le-Puy (Loire) and Zaragoza (Spain), as part of its strategy to convert all of its furnaces to low-carbon energy by 2040.
“The technology will be chosen according to the function of the furnace, the electric furnace cannot produce green or dead leaf glass, used by other vineyards,” adds Romain Barral, operations director at the Cognac factory.
The conversion of its furnaces is one of the main levers of Verallia’s decarbonization strategy, which aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 46% in 2030 compared to 2019 on its own operations, according to its 2023 CSR report.
The group also plans to rely on the development of glass recycling and the increasing use of renewable and low-carbon energies.
Established in 12 countries, Verallia has 34 glass production plants, five decoration plants and 19 cullet treatment centers.
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