A good neighbour, by design.

VitriReinforce

Used to enhance reservoirs in oil & gas. Beyond production and monetary advantages, the environmental and sustainability benefits are:

• Reducing skin (wellbore damage) and the risk of uncontrolled spills from fractures to surface — a more even, uniform stress regime means fewer induced fractures as oil is drained, addressing a major industry concern around mature fields leaking to surface
• Reducing chemical usage by reducing the need for workover, intervention and re-drill operations associated with erosion, formation influx and wellbore collapse
• Prolonging wellbore lifetime — potentially lowering the number of wells needed in a field

VitriSeal — in development

Intended to create impermeable solutions. The potential benefits:

• Saving energy and chemicals in oil processing by lowering the water cut
• Reducing drilling fluid — and possibly the number of casing strings — by curing losses and stabilising challenging overburden formations
• Reducing cement and mud pills caused by failed leak-off tests

Corglaes

A calcium-sodium-phosphate glass with strong environmental credentials:

• Biodegradable, leaving no residue after dissolution
• All components — typically sodium, calcium and phosphates — are 100% biocompatible and environmentally benign
• Antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties help reduce infection risk and the need for antibiotics
• Subjected to full toxicological assessment and regulatory review
• Quantities of ions released during application are considerably below EPA limits

Toward a low-carbon glass

VitriTech uses processes in line with the British Glass decarbonisation roadmap — the UK glass manufacturing sector roadmap to 2050. We believe glass is a solution for a low-carbon economy, and our specialist compositions make a significant contribution to this.

We continually examine each step of manufacturing to identify where we can implement the most sustainable practices. Ongoing projects include:

• Closed-loop processing of materials
• Researching options to use process by-products in other industries
• Investigating electric melting technologies to increase efficiency
• Trialling new raw materials to reduce losses
• Trialling renewable and recycled fuels for melting
• Exploring the use of secondary raw materials
• Cleaning waste water for recycling and reuse
• Capturing furnace emissions to be scrubbed or reused in the process or by other manufacturers
• Reusing packaging materials wherever possible