A bottled beverage might soon come with a lower carbon footprint thanks to a new partnership between one of the world's leading glass manufacturers and scientists at Penn State.
Verallia, the world's third largest producer of glass containers for food and beverages, has announced a partnership with Penn State to scale up the use of LionGlass, a new family of glass developed by researchers at the University. The company has entered into a research partnership with Penn State to test the new type of glass for use in consumer packaging.
"LionGlass offers a promising alternative to conventional soda lime silicate glass," said Corinne Payen, director of glass innovation for Verallia. "It melts at temperatures much lower than traditional glass, which saves energy and eliminates the use of carbon-based raw materials, potentially halving the carbon footprint of glass manufacturing."
LionGlass melts at temperatures up to 400 degrees Celsius lower than conventional glass and eliminates direct carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by removing carbonates from the glass formula. It also offers enhanced crack resistance and durability, in some cases up to 10 times stronger than conventional glass.
"Worldwide, glass manufacturing produces over 86 million tons of CO2 annually," said John Mauro, professor and department head of materials science and engineering at Penn State and co-inventor of LionGlass. "LionGlass not only reduces emissions during production but also offers superior mechanical performance - up to 10 times more crack-resistant than standard glass - which could allow for lighter packaging and further reduce transportation-related emissions."
Glass has long been prized for its ability to preserve food and beverages thanks to its impermeability, chemical stability and infinite recyclability, he explained, but traditional glass production is energy intensive.
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a corporate climate action organization, recently validated Verallia's long-term Net Zero 2040 trajectory according to its Net Zero Standard. The company, which operates 35 glass production facilities across 12 countries, has committed to reducing its CO2 emissions by 90% and offsetting the other 10%, making it the first global producer of glass packaging for food and beverages to commit to the Net Zero trajectory for 2040, Payen explained.
"This partnership opens exciting opportunities aligned with Verallia's mission: to reimagine glass for a sustainable future," she said.
