A promising option to reduce the specific energy consumption and CO2
emissions at a conventional natural gas fired container glass furnace deals
with the advanced utilization of the exhaust gases downstream the air
regenerators by means of batch and cullet preheating. A 3-dimensional
computational model that simulates this process using mass and heat transfer
equations inside a preheater has been developed. A case study for an
efficient small-sized container glass furnace is presented dealing with the
investigation of the impact of different operating and design configurations
on specific energy consumption, CO2 emissions, flue gas energy recovery,
batch temperature and preheater efficiency. In specific, the effect of
various parameters is studied, including the preheater?s dimensions, flue
gas temperature, batch moisture content, glass pull, combustion air excess
and cullet fraction. Expected energy savings margin is estimated to 12-15%.
Waste heat recovery at the glass industry with the intervention of batch and cullet preheating