Major savings for Malaysia

17 November 2008
Malaysia's Johor Bahru (JB) float plant is on target to save nearly RM 17m per year - about Euros 3.4m - by converting its two float glass furnaces to natural gas firing.The conversion will also reduce the factory's CO2 emissions by 11,000 tonnes per year.

Whilst oil prices have risen as high as $140 US recently, natural gas prices have been protected in Malaysia by the Government. The JB furnaces fire more than 85 MW of fuel per hour and the proposed conversion project involved changing 56 burners without interrupting the glass making.
The JB team began increasing the amount of natural gas used on the furnaces from 50 to 75 per cent in late 2007, but the increase to 100 per cent gas firing required a re-design of the gas piping and a new burner technology. Julian Inskip, Phil Blackledge and Mike Haden from the BP technical team assisted the JB plant in designing the gas systems and commissioning the burners.
The project began in February 2008, with the first firing trials completed in May. The JB1F furnace successfully switched over to 100 per cent natural gas firing in August and the second furnace in mid-September, two months ahead of the original deadline.
"The tremendous efforts of the team in JB meant that the factory could benefit from the huge cost savings much earlier than anticipated," said Julian.
The Malaysia plant is the first NSG designed furnace to convert completely to natural gas firing and the technology could now be transferred to other NSG plants.