Glass Manufacturing & its applications

Janifha Evangeline

Glass – a solid & transparent material, which is used in multiple applications is manufactured by using raw materials such as soda ash, limestone & sand. While these 3 raw materials are combined and melted at very high temperatures in order to evolve into new material, at high temperatures, glass is structurally similar to liquid and at ambient temperatures acts like solids, hence, glass could be blown, poured, pressed, and formed into different shapes.

Believed to have been 1st artificially manufactured in places like Mesopotamia as well as Egyptian civilization in the manufacturing of jewelry & vessels, glass manufacturing has an age-old tradition that dates back to around 3500 BC. The material has not only shaped the cultural heritage, but it has also helped industries, technological deployments, regions, and living conditions of many countries. And today, for high-tech applications, glass is mixed and used in combination with various other materials.

Talking about the glass-lined equipment market growth in India, Tarak Patel, Managing Director of GMM Pfaudler explains, “Today, Indian companies are not only building world-class facilities but are also using high-quality & world-class equipment as they do not want to compromise on the quality of their products. We have observed a lot of investments over the last couple of years in the chemical & pharmaceutical industries.”

“Over the last 2-3 years, our growth has been primarily driven by the agrochemical and specialty chemical industries. Moreover, what we have seen during the pandemic is that there is a resurgence in pharma, and with the PLI schemes launched by the Indian government, we believe that the pharmaceutical industry will see good investments over the next few years,” he adds.

Sustainability & the environment

Since glass is a sustainable material that can be completely recycled it offers numerous environmental benefits that include contributing to mitigating climate change as well as saving precious natural resources and is also appreciated in most of the applications for its inert nature.

Glass is massively utilized in process of generating renewable energy by means of solar-thermal, photovoltaic applications & wind turbines. These greatly profit from lightweight reinforcement glass fibers.

Saving natural resources

Glass as a resource-efficient material is manufactured using abundant natural raw materials that include sand along with glass waste called cullets. Glass is one of the most well-known materials known for its reusable property and hence can be recycled again and again for its property.

This holds specifically true for glass bottles. On average glass bottles have a recycling rate that may vary from fifty to eighty percent. Owing to this recycling property, a great number of raw materials are being saved which results in saving and preserving the natural resources.

The recycling of glass also facilitates in saving energy. This is because the cullets melt at a lower temperature than the other raw materials. Therefore, it results in the consumption of very little energy for the process of melting.

In various other glass sectors, huge efforts are being made for glass recycling after use although every industry has its own and unique specifications & quality requirements. Also, the amount of solid waste left over by the glass manufacturing companies during the process of manufacturing is low as most of the glass waste/cullets are recycled immediately & placed inside the furnaces to be utilized as raw materials again.

Safeguard people’s health

Glass is not only one of the preferred materials in most applications due to its aesthetics but it is also used mainly for its own characteristics as it mainly facilitates in preserving vitamins and taste of the food, therefore, used in various food manufacturing companies and categories. Since it is an inert material, glass guarantees that any food or beverages kept inside a glass container is not stained by the packaging. Glass is also most commonly utilized in the pharmaceutical industry. This is mainly because glass helps in preserving the properties of medicines. Furthermore, on the other hand, optical glass is used to improve the vision of millions of people across the globe.

“Quality is one of the most significant factors when it comes to glass-lined equipment since quality directly relates to the life of the equipment. While glass-lined equipment is very critical to chemical plants, small damage or failure to the glass lining means the entire plant shuts down. Therefore, companies are focussed on building quality-conscious factories as they are not ready to take risks or compromise on the quality of the glass-lined equipment,” says Tarak Patel.

Construction & skyscrapers

In the construction space, glass is used by architects as large glazed areas for their energy-saving properties. Glass is also used for getting natural light into homes & offices for enhancing the working conditions of people. Studies depict that glass contributes to the well-being of people and improved health conditions.