Biography

Elisa Biavardi is Chemical Laboratory Manager at Bormioli Luigi Group, where she supports production, quality, and innovation projects in glass manufacturing.
Her work focuses on raw material characterization, glass composition, analytical methods, and process optimization, combining scientific expertise with a practical industrial approach.

Presentation

Glass industry is one of the most energy-intensive manufacturing sector and is responsible for significant CO₂ emissions, mainly because of the high melting temperatures required and the use of carbonate-based raw materials. In this context, the development of low-carbon glass compositions offers a promising route to reduce the environmental impact of glass production.

This work focuses on LionGlass, a new family of glass compositions developed as an alternative to conventional soda-lime silicate glass. The study aims to assess its potential for industrial application, particularly in the production of high-quality glass, through a compositional redesign that eliminates carbon-containing batch materials and significantly lowers the melting temperature.

Developed by Penn State University, LionGlass is based on carbonate-free formulations that reduce CO₂ emissions at the source. In addition, the melting temperature can be lowered by approximately 300–400°C, enabling a substantial reduction in energy consumption and further decreasing CO₂ emissions associated with glass manufacturing.
Within this framework, Bormioli Luigi Group is involved as an industrial partner in collaboration with Penn State. Current activities focus on identifying, within the LionGlass family, the compositions best suited to industrial processing, with particular attention to processability and compatibility with existing production technologies, and final product quality. These efforts are intended to support the scale-up from laboratory research to industrial application.

The ongoing work demonstrates the potential of LionGlass as a breakthrough solution for reducing the carbon footprint of glass manufacturing. The final objective is to achieve industrial implementation and commercialization, with a specific focus on the premium beauty market.