For as long as anyone can remember, container glass batch has been ostensibly unchanged in composition. Apart from minor "tweaks" for improvement in durability the same formulae have been the constant by which the industry is measured, however, has the time now come to re-assess the landscape? With ever-increasing energy costs, emissions abatement & reduced margins, maybe it is time to re-evaluate in light of present climes. One such concept that has recently been revisited by Glass Technology Services & supported by the Carbon Trust & major UK container glass firms is the use of Spodumene. Lithium is expensive, & as such you really cannot afford to add very much, but this recent work suggests that you may not have to. Even at small fractions of a percent, the presence of lithium has some remarkable effects on glass melting, mixing & flow.
