Glass Melting Technology: A Technical and Economic ... - OSTI

damper. The most stringent regulations for particulate emissions are met with the E-Batch
design.
So that less energy is needed by the furnace, raw material batch plus cullet can be preheated up
to 932˚F (500˚C) prior to charging into a glass melt. Preheating humid batch or cullet provides
additional savings in energy because water evaporates outside the furnace. Additional savings in
cost of electricity per ton of molten glass can be obtained by using preheated batch and cullet
because the pull of the furnace is increased and the amount of electric boosting needed to pull
glass out of a furnace is decreased.
The greatest savings can be obtained by increasing the pull at the same thermal load of the
furnace. Loss of wall heat per ton of molten glass will decrease because more glass will be
melted in the same tank volume. Without increasing the pull or lowering the boosting capability,
lower furnace temperatures can be realized while increasing the lifetime of the furnace.
Reducing temperatures can often be prohibited when the quality of the glass product does not
meet required specifications.
Figure IV.3. BOC E-Batch Design.
Batch is delivered by conventional material handling methods to the E-Batch module, which
includes a reserve capacity above the active section. This allows for continued operation of the
furnace during a failure or maintenance of the material handling mechanism. The module, a
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