‘Impact award’ celebrates glass innovation amongst up-and-coming researchers

We partnered with the Society of Glass Technology to create the ‘Impact award’ –  a prize that encourages impactful research and innovation within glass, and to help researchers develop and commercialise their findings.

About the Impact award

This award was open to late-stage PhD researchers, research associates and equivalent researchers from academia and industry.

The judging panel – consisting of representatives from the Society of Glass Technology, Glass Technology Services and academia – assessed entrants’ presentations based on:

• the innovation’s potential for social and or environmental impact
• its potential economic impact
• the quality of the research

This year’s winner received £250 cash, a certificate, and 30 hours’ free mentoring and support from Glass Technology Services to help progress their innovation (equivalent to £10,200 in cash).

2024’s winning proposal by Giulia Tameni

This year’s winner was Giulia Tameni – a PhD candidate in Industrial Engineering based at the University of Padova, Italy. The technology Giulia described will convert otherwise unrecyclable glass materials from pharmaceutical boro-aluminosilicate glasses into sustainable insulating glass foam products through a scalable process.

Giulia said, “Pharmaceutical glass is among those types that cannot be recycled with the standard soda lime. Its melting temperature is significantly higher, which requires precise thermal management, and mixing it with other glass types should be avoided to ensure the purity and integrity of final products, such as vials. However, an alternative to disposing this glass is ‘open-loop recycling’, with a focus on upcycling.”

Giulia’s research proposal was to obtain both dense and porous construction products from pharmaceutical glass using the technique of alkaline activation.

She went on to say, “Along with geopolymers, these classes of materials are developed as sustainable alternatives to Ordinary Portland cement. Compared to the complexity of the molecular mechanism underlying these materials, the production itself is quite simple. In fact, aluminosilicate sources (such as glass powder) can be dissolved into alkaline medium and subsequently undergo hardening through condensation reactions between glass particles.”

“Our innovative research uses a dilute alkaline solution, with concentrations not exceeding 3 mol/l. The curing process is conducted at 40°C, which is close to ambient concentrations and minimises energy consumption. And the production of the foams involves incorporating an inexpensive and available oxidising agent in the alkali activated slurries, which is commonly used in washing powder.

“A significant advantage of these glass foams – particularly suitable for thermal and acoustic insulating materials – is that they are non-flammable, which is crucial when considering their safe use within construction.”

Giulia’s thoughts on winning the award

Giulia was delighted to receive the award, telling us, “It was a privilege for me to present my research findings at SG15-NCM15 at Churchill College in Cambridge. In fact, having the opportunity to attend presentations and lectures by mentors in the field of glass was already a reward for me. Receiving notification of winning the award was as unexpected as it was exciting.

“Establishing an award that focuses on highlighting the significance of social and environmental innovation is becoming ever more essential in a world increasingly affected by climate change.

“This prize represents not only a personal achievement – this is the result of cooperation with Funglass Centre (Trencin, Slovakia) and the University of St Andrews (UK).”

The judge’s comments

Dr Owen McGann, principal technologist from Glass Technology Services and judge of the Impact Award said, “The work presented by Giulia Tameni on glass based alkali activated materials ticked a good number of boxes for us when considering it for the Glass Technology Services Impact Award.  

“It was agreed by all of the panel that the work presented by Giulia was both technically excellent and certainly possesses the potential for significant impact for both industry and the environment. 

“Giulia is a very worthy winner of the inaugural Glass Technology Services Impact award, and we look forward to seeing her work progress in the future.”

Find out more and contact us

For more information about the award, please contact us at:

Glass Technology Services
9 Churchill Way, Chapeltown, Sheffield, S35 2PY
Email: salesleads@glass-ts.com
Phone: +44 (0) 114 290 1801

About Glass Technology Services:

Glass Technology Services is a leading consultancy in the glass industry, offering services in testing and analysis, R&D, training, and sustainability. With a focus on innovation and quality, Glass Technology Services is dedicated to advancing the field of glass packaging and materials.