Nippon Electric Glass has demonstrated that glass can be melted using just hydrogen fuel from a hydrogen-oxygen combustion burner developed in collaboration with Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation.
The newly constructed hydrogen-oxygen combustion burner allows for precise adjustment of the natural gas-hydrogen mixture ratio. It was confirmed in the demonstration experiment that regardless of the combustion method used, pure hydrogen or a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas, a melting capacity equivalent to that obtained from pure natural gas combustion could be obtained by adjusting the fuel flow rate in accordance with the mixing ratio. This permits the combination of oxygen combustion technology* with hydrogen combustion technology, resulting in zero CO2 emissions during burning.
The Company promoted the move from heavy oil to LPG and natural gas for glass melting, which emit less CO2, and completed the conversion to natural gas in 2010. The Company has prioritized “promotion of carbon neutrality” in its medium-term business plan “EGP2026,” and is working on the technological development of CO2-free fuels such as hydrogen in order to attain carbon neutrality by 2050.
Hydrogen-oxygen combustion technology is expected to make a substantial contribution to achieving carbon neutrality when paired with the Company’s long-term effort to improve the power ratio of melting energy. The Company will continue to advance the technology toward mass production use.
