The start of a new competence centre for climate-friendly glass production: On Thursday (16 April), the Rector of TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Professor Jutta Emes, together with Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer and North Saxony's District Administrator Kai Emanuel, performed the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the Torgau Glass Competence Centre. The 5,300 square metre hall complex will become a centre of excellence for glass production thanks to a pilot furnace from the TU Bergakademie Freiberg - in close cooperation with craftsmen, industry and regional partners. Students will be able to carry out their own tests on the pilot plant and benefit from the cooperation while they are still studying.
The TU Bergakademie Freiberg's innovative technical centre in Torgau covers around 330 square metres of the new campus and will be used for basic research and teaching. The centrepiece of the technical centre is a special melting furnace: new technologies for energy-intensive glass melting can be researched here - with the aim of gaining fundamental knowledge and developing towards a sustainable, climate-neutral basic materials industry. At the new furnace, the scientists are testing alternatives to the natural gas fuel used to date: hydrogen and plasma burners or even electric heating.
Interdisciplinary beacon
In addition, the pilot plant can be used by researchers from other departments, as it is equipped with very modern measurement technologies such as a high-temperature camera system for measurements in the hot environment, sophisticated exhaust gas measurement technology and state-of-the-art glass analysis systems. Several TUBAF departments are involved in this research work, such as the Institutes of Glass Science and Technology, Thermal Engineering and Thermodynamics and Energy Process Engineering. Further collaborations are being sought, for example with Analytical Chemistry, Additive Manufacturing and Environmental Management. The interdisciplinary exchange will thus become a real beacon that is unparalleled in Europe.
University teaching soon also in Torgau
The Torgau Glass Competence Centre should be completed by the end of 2027. The TU Bergakademie Freiberg, the Berufliches Schulzentrum Nordsachsen (BSZ) vocational school centre, the glaziers' guild and companies from the glass industry in northern Saxony have been working together since 2019 in the GlasCampus skilled labour initiative. The GlasCampus has developed training and further education programmes for the industry. The unique selling point of the new glass competence centre is the close integration of vocational and craft training and further education with university research. The new technical centre with its special melting furnace opens up the site to university teaching. In future, students from the TU Bergakademie Freiberg will be able to write their projects and theses here. A module on the topic of "glass production" will be included in the curriculum of some degree programmes.
The total cost of the construction is estimated at around 35 million euros of the total budget for the glass competence centre. Of this, 34 million euros comes from the Just Transition Fund, which is intended to help cope with the structural change resulting from the lignite phase-out.
Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer:
"The glass competence centre will create a strong location that brings together industry, trade and science, secures added value and creates new perspectives. This ground-breaking ceremony symbolises a joint departure and a beacon that will shine far beyond the region. With innovation, research and training for the future, the established glass tradition will continue into the future."
Kai Emanuel, District Administrator of North Saxony:
"The glass competence centre will inspire the glass industry with innovations and solutions and at the same time provide it with highly qualified specialists. This investment shows what is possible when people believe in an idea, drive it forward together and don't give up at the first headwind, but dare to be optimistic."
Prof. Dr Jutta Emes, Rector of TU Bergakademie Freiberg:
"For TU Bergakademie Freiberg, with our more than 260-year tradition in the geosciences, materials science and engineering, it is a particular pleasure and responsibility to be involved in the development of this new glass competence centre. The GlasLAB will be a place where new ideas are created that will make the material glass even more efficient, sustainable and versatile. It will also develop technologies that enable the use of renewable and clean energy sources in glass production in an economical way. Glass is a material with enormous future potential: whether in energy and environmental technology, in digitalisation or in modern construction and material solutions - glass plays a central role in many key technologies of our time. This is precisely why it is crucial to combine research, development and industrial application here at the Torgau Glass Competence Centre."
