Heading for eco-friendly batch & cullet production

For more than 100 years ZIPPE Industrieanlagen GmbH has supplied high-performance machinery and batch and cullet systems to the international glass industry. With a team of committed engineers and experts, ZIPPE can offer its customers the best economic and ecologic solutions to suit their needs.

Environmental protection is becoming increasingly important and has always been a top priority at ZIPPE. Here are a few examples of how ZIPPE contributes to environmental protection in several areas.

Energy saving by waste-heat recovery

Batch and cullet preheating systems have been known to the industry for more than 40 years. In 1984 ZIPPE filed their first patents regarding this technology, and the first preheater was installed in the same year. Initially the original preheaters were mainly so-called plate-heat exchangers and were designed for preheating cullet. Later these systems were designed to handle higher volumes of raw materials (sand, soda, etc.), and their technology became more advanced. Over decades a lot of effort has been put into coping with this challenge. Today second generation preheating systems can run safely without material flow problems and with lower cullet ratios than in the past.

ZIPPE has built a significant percentage of the batch preheaters in operation today. It is known throughout the industry that applying this technology can save up to 15% of the total melting energy. These systems can be implemented at greenfield sites, but also be retrofitting. Due to the increased focus on green technologies, ZIPPE is continuously improving this technology.

ZIPPE batch preheater

As many of our customers aim at reducing CO2 emissions, batch preheating is increasingly in demand, especially during the last 18 months. In 2021 an advanced mechanism was developed by ZIPPE engineers, theoretical models have been applied, and the technology is currently being tested. Our objective is to develop a system that maintains the same high preheating efficiency but ensures a highly reduced dust carry-over. We aim to achieve this by complex modelling, testing, and improving the air and pressure flow within the system. During the pandemic two orders were placed for large scale preheaters for European container glass producers which are currently in the realisation phase.

Glass recycling – saving precious raw materials and reducing CO2 emission

Aside from decreasing costs, saving raw materials is an important aspect of environmental protection. Therefore, ZIPPE specialises not only in internal, but also in external cullet (post-consumer glass) recycling. 35 years ago ZIPPE already installed recycling plants with Ceramic Stone Porcelain (CSP) sorting devices. Numerous new developments and innovations followed. As part of our efforts to reduce energy consumption and emissions, the focus was on developing high-performing glass recycling plants for our customers, together with specialised partners for CSP sorting technology. As a result, several plants have been successfully realised in the past and give confidence for a future with a higher utilisation of recycled cullet. While recycling is a standard practice in many regions of the world, there are still countries with a high potential of using more cullet by applying recycling technologies. In the long run it pays off, not only for the environment, but also for glass producers. Therefore, several glass producers contracted ZIPPE to realise post-consumer glass recycling plants.

In its aim to decrease its carbon footprint, Orora Limited, an Australian sustainable packaging solutions provider, awarded ZIPPE the contract to design and deliver a new glass beneficiation facility.

The new plant will enable Orora to increase the amount of recycled content in its glass packaging, which will deliver sustainability benefits, including a reduction in energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and in virgin raw materials used to manufacture glass, as well as diverting waste away from landfills.

Higher recycling rate at Siam Glass in Thailand

“Recycle for the world” is the slogan of Siam Glass. By installing a high-standard recycling facility with a current capacity of 45t per hour, ZIPPE is now a part of this cycle and helps to avoid wasting precious raw materials.

Another recycling plant has been developed by ZIPPE for Sotuver in Tunisia, which is now in the realisation phase.

ZIPPE is not only able to design and plan individual glass recycling factories, but also supplies all the necessary equipment and control systems. Furthermore, ZIPPE’s scope of services also comprises the installation as well as the commissioning of these plants.

Further green contributions at the ZIPPE headquarters in Wertheim

As early as the late 1980s and early 1990s, we greened the roofs of some of our buildings, thereby making a valuable contribution to environmental protection and CO2 reduction. These green oases offer ideal conditions for birds and insects, just as the large green areas around our premises offer a retreat for all company members.
Early in 1999 we installed solar collectors to enable the in-house utilisation of valuable solar energy.

Furthermore, our latest building, the new Engineering Centre at the ZIPPE headquarters in Wertheim, was equipped with geothermal heating for environmental reasons.
In addition, we are in the process of partly converting our company car fleet to e-cars. Last but not least, we are digitising our business activities whereby the use of printers and paper is continuously reduced.

It feels good to make a contribution to environmental protection and to further explore this path together with our associates and customers around the world.