A drinks giant behind a number of major alcohol brands has partnered up with a UK bottle-maker to produce glass bottles made in a hydrogen furnace — using blue H2 made from fossil gas and carbon capture and storage (CCS) from the HyNet project.

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Diageo — which owns the Smirnoff, Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray and Baileys brands among others — and glassmaker/bottler Encirc plan to build the H2 furnace at the latter’s bottling plant in Elton, northwest England, with a view to having the equipment fully operational by 2027.

The pair want to use the H2 furnace to produce around 200 million glass bottles by 2030 — and will seek public funding to underpin the project.

The HyNet project plans to build a blue hydrogen production and carbon capture plant at the Stanlow refinery, adjacent to Encirc’s bottling factory.

By switching Elton’s 800GWh annual fossil gas demand to blue hydrogen and green power, Encirc and Diageo hope to reduce its emissions by 90%, with some emissions resulting from melting some of the raw materials needed to make glass, Encirc told Hydrogen Insight. The pair intend to reduce this further by capturing the remaining 10% with integrated CCS technology by 2030.

HyNet, which is being developed by local firm Progressive Energy and Indian oil refiner Essar, has spent the past few years running an industrial fuel-switching trial for major energy users in the area — inviting them to switch from natural gas to hydrogen for short periods of time. Among the trial participants was glass manufacturer Pilkington.

The project is targeting 4GW of blue H2 production by 2030, and says it has identified more than that figure in industrial demand in northwest England, signing 28 tentative agreements for hydrogen supply, including one with Encirc.

Final investment decisions (FIDs) on both the hydrogen plant and carbon capture and storage elements are due next year, with the first H2 produced by 2026. However, the project has been stymied by local objections to its proposed hydrogen pipeline, high fossil gas prices, and a major backlash to plans to trial hydrogen heating — supplied with blue H2 from HyNet — in nearby Whitby.

Delays to HyNet’s FID could impact Diageo and Encirc’s ambitious plans to bring the H2 furnace to realisation by 2027. However, the UK government has pledged firm support for HyNet, despite gas prices quadrupling in 2022, and has granted it access to the £240m ($297.5m) Net Zero Hydrogen Fund.

“Glass is an incredible material being infinitely recyclable and chemically inert,” said Adrian Curry, managing director of Encirc. “It has been around since 3500 BC and has never been produced in this way. This is about protecting glass as a material by addressing the carbon challenge. The work we undertake will be shared with the UK glass industry to ensure glass remains as the packing of choice for many thousands more years.”

Updated: to include Encirc's clarification about operational emissions and public funding