(Cheshire / Great Britain) – The British glass manufacturer Encirc Glass Ltd. and US alcoholic beverage manufacturer and bottler Diageo plc. want to produce what they call “the world’s first emission-free glass bottles on a large scale” by 2030. To achieve this goal, Encirc plans to build a new smelting furnace at its headquarters in Elton near Ellesmere Port, in the county of Cheshire in northwest England.
The oven will be powered by an energy mix of green electricity and low-carbon hydrogen, which will reduce carbon emissions by 90 percent compared to the previous method, according to the company. The system will be fully operational by 2027. The remaining carbon emissions will be captured by carbon capture technology by 2030. By 2030, Diageo plans to fill up to 200 million bottles of the “Smirnoff”, “Captain Morgan”, “Gordon's” and “Tanqueray” brands annually into the new containers.
County of Cheshire with Elton, Ellesmere Port and Liverpool. © Wikipedia
Electricity and hydrogen are supplied by Vertex's “HyNet” project in Cheshire, a joint venture between Essar Oil UK and Progressive Energy. In July 2021, the British petrochemical group Ineos explains that he will also participate in the “HyNet North West” hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS) cluster.
From 2025, according to plans announced last year, HyNet North West would begin converting natural gas into low-carbon hydrogen at the Stanlow refinery, with carbon dioxide captured and stored offshore in the Liverpool Bay gas fields. A new pipeline network will then supply the blue hydrogen to industry, supply buses, trains and trucks with fuel and be used to generate electricity and heat for North West England and North Wales.
Hydrogen village in Cheshire
The region has become known for another project. Cadent Gas Ltd. was founded in June 2022. commissioned by the British government to investigate the extent to which the Whitby district with 2.000 residents is a "Hydrogen village“suitable. If the studies are positive and the area is selected, the stoves and heating systems in every house in the new “Hydrogen Village” will be converted free of charge. The residents would then no longer heat and cook with natural gas, but with hydrogen.
Vertex Hydrogen is currently developing a large-scale low-carbon hydrogen production center. In the initial phase, a capacity of one gigawatt is planned, which would be enough to supply a city like Liverpool with electricity. Vertex wants to expand capacity to four gigawatts by 2030. The company estimates the investments to be “probably one billion pounds” (1,15 billion euros).
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Encirc wants to soon produce beverage bottles without CO2 emissions. © Encirc
