The market for modernisation measures at EU glass factories will increase considerably in the near future, according to this article. By 2020, around 14BN/Euros will be invested in the EU glass industry - an annual increase of up to 45% in comparison to the past years' average. The main reason for this growth is the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), which defines EU-wide limit values for air and water emissions for different industrial sectors. The Directive comes into force in 2016. The specific limit values are determined in the BAT reference documents (Best Available Techniques) and the BAT conclusions. The glass industry is one of the first industries BAT conclusions have already been published for. The content of these, and the way the affected glass factories will handle them gives a signal to other industries. Over 420 European glass factories have to comply with the limit values from 2016 onwards. The limit values for nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides will be particularly challenging for many glass factory operators, both in technical and financial terms - and especially in countries with far less strict legal frameworks, as in the case in many Eastern EU states. However, there are also many glass factories lacking state-of-the-art technology in countries such as France and Spain. This means that most glass manufacturers have to invest in modernisation. Funds will go to optimising individual production processes or to new technical components for flue gas cleaning, furnace technology or sealing the melter.
