UK Biomass Resource Availability for the Glass Sector
Supergen researchers from the University of Manchester worked with Glass Futures to analyse the feasibility of biofuels providing low carbon alternative energy for the UK glass sector and have now published this report from their research “UK Biomass Resource Availability for the Glass Sector: Exploring the Feasibility of Decarbonising the UK Glass Sector through Bioenergy”.
The UK glass sector has high energy demands, as manufacturing processes operate continually 24 hours a day all year round. Biofuels may provide alternative drop-in fuel options to decarbonise energy demands.
This research identifies the key categories of UK biomass resource that may provide opportunities for the future glass sector based on the regional distribution of glass manufacturing and available biomass.
Key highlights from the research include:
- Animal wastes represent significant resource opportunity in each region analysed, particularly cattle manure. Agricultural crop residues are a further leading resource opportunity available across the UK.
- Residues from forestry sector activities such as mills are identified as a consistent biomass opportunity across each of the regions analysed, particularly Scotland and the North West of England.
- Waste materials that would otherwise be sent to landfill are found to be a potentially significant resource opportunity for the bioenergy sector where they can be mobilised.
