Researchers have presented a new material called LionGlass that promises to halve the carbon footprint of standard soda lime silicate glass. In addition, this glass is at least 10 times more shatter-resistant than regular glass. The new material could be revolutionary.
The new glass reduces its carbon footprint in two ways. Normal glass is made by melting three components: quartz sand, soda ash and limestone. Soda ash is sodium carbonate, while limestone is calcium carbonate. When they melt, the carbonates break down and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In LionGlass, these components have been eliminated.
But the real greenhouse gas emission comes from actual melting. It takes a lot of energy to reach temperatures that melt sand, ash and limestone. LionGlass can be produced at lower temperatures, and lowering the temperature by 300 to 400 °C reduces energy consumption by 30 percent.
Normal soda lime silicate glass begins to form cracks under a load of 0.1 kilograms. That’s when microcracks form on the surface and eventually everything breaks with weak spots appearing. But the machine they used to test this didn’t impress LionGlass at all.
The team is currently testing different configurations and making LionGlass products thinner, as they are much stronger than regular glass. This is another way to make glass cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Glass production worldwide produces at least 86 million tons of carbon dioxide each year. The team applied for a patent as a first step to commercialize the product.
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