Chemical Engineering @ChemengFiles.Com

As the sand and soda ash are received, are ground and stored in warehouses in height, awaiting the moment to be transferred through a gravity feed system for weighers and mixers. In mixing the raw materials are dosed and mixed with recycled glass to form a homogeneous mixture, which is moved by conveyor to a storage system load (batch) where it is contained before being placed in the oven drawer casting.

Upon entering the furnace load through the feeders, it floats on the surface of the molten glass mass. Once melted, moves to the front of the bathroom and eventually flows through the throat of the refiner load, where it is thermally conditioned to download the forming process.

At this stage, are used both as a crucible furnace tank or continuous, depending mainly on the amount of glass produced. In general for small-scale production of crucible furnaces are used, while in most continuous furnaces are commonly used.

a. Crucible Furnaces:
Crucible furnaces are structures built of refractory material, resistant to attack by the glass at any temperature.

During the process of melt in the crucible, no direct contact between the oven and the glass and generally in the oven can be used several pots at once.

Crucible furnaces are used where glassware are formed by hand or blown.

A melting pot has a shelf life of about 30 cycles and can produce between 18 and 21 tons of glass.

b. Tank furnaces or Continuous:
This type of oven is used where you need a continuous flow of power glass forming machines, for the most efficient use of fuel is used mainly for the large-scale production.

A tank furnace consists of a tub (with a capacity of 2000 tons, made of a refractory material) and a structure where the combustion takes place.

To achieve high melting temperatures with fuel economy, are used regenerative and recuperative systems, which use exhaust gas to heat the incoming combustion air.

While the system recuperative heat exchange between air and exhaust gases is continuous in regenerative exhaust gases are passed through a great camera with refractory blocks arranged so as to allow the free flow gas being heated brick work by them.

After about 20 minutes, the gas direction is reversed, then passing the combustion air by the mass of hot bricks, taking advantage of this form previously collected heat to preheat the combustion air.