VICAL partners with Fives on the world’s largest all-electric furnace for container glass
The investment will support VICAL’s strategy of reducing its environmental footprint while expanding its glass packaging production for food and beverages across Central America, the Caribbean, the United States and Canada. VICESA plant currently produces over 500 million glass containers annually.
The project includes an all-electric furnace - Prium® E-Melt cold-top vertical melter, designed to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions compared with conventional melting technologies. The furnace will have a production capacity of 200 metric tonnes per day, both for flint and green glass.
“The VICESA furnace will be the largest all-electric furnace in the world for container glass production and will represent a major milestone for industrial decarbonization in Costa Rica, where 99% of electricity comes from renewable sources, giving the country one of the cleanest electricity mixes in the world,” says Don Rolando Charpentier, CEO of VICAL.
Fives will also supply the equipment for the complete hot end, including a working-end and forehearth system in addition to the furnace.
The equipment design draws on Fives significant experience in electric glass melting for food and beverages, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and specialty glass applications.
With this project, VICAL and Fives are setting a new benchmark for electric melting and the decarbonization of container glass production.