Glass: walking in the waste head of recycling glass bottles

On the production line of Laoshan Glass Co., Ltd., the glass bottles that have just come out of the oven gradually cool down, showing a crystal-clear green. Who would have thought that most of the glass bottles produced here are taken from various glass bottles such as beer bottles that are discarded in our lives... In the past two years, through the continuous innovation of the use of waste glass, the company "eats" for a year. The waste glass under it has reached more than 80,000 tons, accounting for about 3.5% of the national annual output of waste glass.

Finding useful waste from waste

Most of the waste glass used in Bengbu comes from social purchases. Since the recycling capacity is insufficient relative to the production capacity, the company also invests the technical waste recovered from the waste into the secondary utilization of the waste.
In this regard, they currently have two typical approaches: one is to reuse the waste glass slag produced during the cleaning process of waste glass. When technicians studied the waste glass slag, they found that in addition to 60% of the soil, there was 40% of usable cullet slag, which was sent to landfill. So, they started a wasteful research project in this area. At the beginning of this year, a new process for recycling waste glass slag by roller mill was developed. Through this new process, 12 tons of waste glass produced from the company's 30 tons of broken glass sludge can be effectively recycled by using the reclaimed water from the company's sewage treatment plant. This was rediscovered from the waste recycling process. While reducing solid waste discharge, improve the comprehensive utilization efficiency of resources. According to the company's calculations, excluding workers' wages and electricity bills, the company can save 3,600 yuan a day, or nearly 1.3 million yuan a year. Another method is to use the waste glass produced in the company's production process as a return material.

Technological innovation makes more waste glass "rebirth"

Walking into the company's hospital, the reporter did not see the common glass products stacked with raw silica sand, industrial alkali, etc., but saw mountains of waste glass bottles and broken glass slag in the backyard of the factory. The relevant person in charge of the company told reporters that most of the company's production raw materials are taken from here, the used glass is classified and cleaned, a unique formula is added, and it is melted and reconstructed in the furnace to produce new wine bottles with excellent texture.
The reporter walked along the waste bottle recycling production line. The waste bottles are first crushed and washed before being sent to a slow-moving conveyor belt. Here, the sorting process is carried out by dedicated personnel. Bottle caps, self-adhesive labels, etc. are picked out and discarded one by one. The broken glass that has been sorted for many times is further washed and then pulverized, and then mixed with other raw materials and sent to the glass production furnace.
It is understood that with the continuous development of the economy and society, a lot of glass waste will inevitably be produced. Relevant experts estimate that about 2% of the domestic waste generated in my country is waste glass, with a total amount of about 2.6 million tons. A large amount of discarded glass is discarded, which not only covers the land, but also pollutes the environment. It will also cause a lot of waste of resources and energy. In addition, 700-800 kilograms of quartz sand and 100-200 kilograms of soda ash and other chemical raw materials are consumed per ton of glass products. In total, 1.1-1.3 tons of raw materials are used per 1 ton of glass products, and some are also used. Plenty of coal, oil and electricity. Therefore, the use of waste glass as a resource to "return" to produce the products people need is attracting people's attention. It is under this circumstance that Lushan Glass Co., Ltd. has continuously increased its technical research and development efforts, continuously adjusted the process formula scientifically, increased the proportion of broken glass, and increased the amount of broken glass without affecting product quality. product. This will reduce the use of raw materials such as soda ash and silica sand that are easily polluted and difficult to recycle.
According to the person in charge of the company, in order to increase the utilization of waste glass, Bengbu has established a municipal technology research and development center composed of various professionals and hired the China Light Industry Design and Research Institute, the Provincial Light Industry Research Institute and the famous light industry in Malaysia. Experts are consultants, and they are invited to the company for on-site guidance. Through unremitting research and development and testing, the utilization rate of waste glass in the brewery has gradually increased from the initial 30% to 40%, 45%, and 60%. Currently, it is technically possible to reach 80%. This utilization rate is comparable to that of advanced countries. Compared to the shoulder, it falls short only in the amount of waste glass recycled. At present, it still cannot reach this utilization level.
According to statistics, together with the utilization of waste glass slag produced in the production process, the glass utilization rate of the brewery will reach 65% this year, and the amount of waste glass is expected to increase from 50,000 tons to 90,000 tons.

A model work of circular economy

The typical significance of the continuous improvement of the utilization rate of waste glass in Bengbu is to make full use of waste resources and save valuable energy resources, which is one of the realms pursued by circular economy.
As a large-scale glass production enterprise with an annual output value of over 100-million-yuan, energy consumption costs such as electricity, alkali, oil and coal have accounted for more than 40% of the company's total cost. Under the fierce competition in the glass production market, the implementation of energy saving, and consumption reduction and the realization of "low consumption and high production" have always been the focus of the company's management. Improving the utilization rate of waste glass is an ideal way to achieve this goal.
In addition to reducing the use of mineral raw materials such as soda ash and silica sand, the improvement of the utilization rate of waste glass is also conducive to smelting and reduces the consumption of oil, coal and electricity. It is understood that Bent Glass has achieved an annual saving of 4,200 tons of soda ash and 2,108 tons of coal by continuously adjusting the process formula and increasing the use of waste glass in the past two years. Production (about 30 million bottles per year). 380,000 kWh of electricity was saved, with a cumulative saving of 4.3 million yuan.
At the same time, the economic utilization of waste glass is not only one of the ways to improve the economic benefits of enterprises, but also plays a certain role in promoting the environment. According to the statistics of professional departments in the world, when the amount of waste glass used in the production of new glass accounts for 60% of the total ingredients, it can reduce air pollution by 6%-22% and save energy by 6%. At present, the actual utilization rate of waste glass in Bengbu has exceeded 60%. Its environmental impact is about the same. Although the percentage of pollution reduction is not large, if it is multiplied by the total amount, the environmental protection effect is very impressive. In addition, since glass is a non-degradable waste, the improvement in recycling efficiency also reduces its pollution to the environment. According to the calculation of nearly 90,000 tons of recyclable waste glass and slag in 2009, the annual landfill volume will be reduced by about 60,000 cubic meters.
It should be noted that all new attempts made by Bent Glass are based on the premise of not only not affecting product quality, but also continuously improving product quality. In fact, in tests, beer bottles with more scrap glass are harder and look better. At present, its products are mainly supplied to Tsingtao Brewery No.1 and No.2. The bottles of Tsingtao Beer are also produced in Bolivia, which shows its high quality.