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AssigneePilkington Glass Limited
InventorsRichard Quirk, David Alan Bird, Ian Nigel William Shulver, Robin Maxwell McIntosh
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A method of operating a cross-fired regenerative glass furnace for melting flat glass so as to minimize emission of NOx in waste gases leaving the furnace, the furnace having sealed regenerators which act as heat exchangers, the method including supplying fuel in excess of that required for stoichiometric combustion to ensure that glass of the required quality at the required production rate is obtained, and that the waste gases leaving the furnace through the regenerators contain combustible material, and reacting the combustible material with sufficient air to ensure that the waste gases exiting to atmosphere contain permissible levels of combustible material and permissible levels of NOx. Alternatively, the furnace may be operated at substantially stoichiometric conditions and fuel is supplied to the waste gases as they leave the melting chamber. The invention also relates to a cross-fired regenerator glass furnace for use in the method. The invention further provides a method of reducing the emissions of CO in waste gases leaving a cross-fired regenerative glass furnace for melting flat glass, the furnace having sealed regenerators which act as heat exchangers, the method including removing CO from the waste gases in the regenerator by combusting CO in around 8% excess air, based on the combustion air for the supplied fuel, at a temperature greater than 650.degree. C.
A method of operating a cross-fired regenerative glass furnace for melting flat glass so as to minimize emission of NOx in waste gases leaving the furnace, the furnace including a melting chamber and including sealed regenerators which act as heat exchangers, the method comprising melting glass in the melting chamber, to which fuel and combustion air are supplied, under substoichiometric conditions, such that waste gases leaving the melting chamber and entering the sealed regenerators contain combustible material available to react with NOx in the waste gases, and supplying additional fuel to the waste gases as the gases leave the melting chamber and enter the sealed regenerators, and thereafter reacting said combustible material with sufficient air to ensure that the waste gases leaving the furnace through the regenerators and exiting to atmosphere contain permissible levels of combustible material and contain permissible levels of NOx.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.