The glass producer Saint-Gobain wants to use hydrogen and industrial waste heat for its production. A declaration of intent was signed for this purpose.
In the presence of the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Economic Affairs, Mona Neubaur, Dr Benjamin Fadavian, Mayor of Herzogenrath, and Pascal Decker, Managing Director of Saint-Gobain Glass Germany, together with Christoph Schütte, Managing Director of Siemens-Energy Germany, a representative of the energy supplier enwor and Christian Güthert, CEO of EDF Germany, signed the declaration of intent.
Saint-Gobain operates energy-intensive glass production at the site in Herzogenrath. Until now, it has been operated with fossil fuels. During the upcoming conversion, natural gas is to be replaced by a larger share of electricity and green hydrogen.
According to the company, in addition to process modifications to the glass tank, the construction of an electrolyser is also planned. The electrolyser is to be operated with renewable electricity, if possible from local sources.
Waste heat from industry and electrolyser for local heating network
The industrial waste heat generated by the glass production processes and the waste heat from the electrolyser are to be made available as a source for a local heating network. The new heating network could extend from the plant site in Herzogenrath to Merkstein, Kohlscheid and the Dutch town of Kerkrade.
The industrial waste heat will replace the existing gas and oil heating systems in commercial enterprises and households with cheap and climate-neutral district heating.
Climate-neutral glass products thanks to hydrogen
By converting glass production from natural gas to hydrogen and using a larger share of electricity, a climate-neutral glass product will be produced in Herzogenrath for the first time. Furthermore, in order to achieve the decoupling of hydrogen production from the supra-regional electricity supply, additional regional electricity generation capacities would have to be built and the link between the industrial site in Herzogenrath and the future Dutch and German hydrogen networks would have to be established.
Mona Neubaur, Minister for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, on the occasion of the signing:
"In future, glass will be produced here in a climate-neutral way with the help of hydrogen and the resulting waste heat will at the same time be used locally as green heating energy. This is exemplary for the sustainable conversion of industry in the Rhenish mining area and in North Rhine-Westphalia."
Raimund Heinl, CEO Saint-Gobain Germany & Austria:
"Hydrogen replaces fossil fuels when an electrical heating process is not sufficient, as in this case with the float glass melt. This includes sophisticated waste heat utilisation concepts from which partners outside the company site will also benefit."
(Source: Saint-Gobain/2023)
