Glass International Dec/Jan 2016

December/January 2016 | Vol. 38 No.11

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Contents

December/January 2016 Vol.39 No.1

December/January 2016 | Vol. 38 No.11

IRAN OVERVIEW PHOENIX INTERVIEW BATCH PLANT

10

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2 Editor’s Comment 3 International news 10 Iran overview Iran under the spotlight

Glass International December/January 2016

15 Phoenix Chairperson interview ‘A truly international award’ 18 Company profile: GPS GPS to reap benefits of independence 21E ASEAN conference: Nihon Yamamura Glass A NOx removal process from exhaust gas in a glass furnace Front cover image Sorg www.sorg.de

18

24 ASEAN conference: AGCC Energy saving concepts for container and tableware furnaces 26 ASEAN conference: PSR Design and specification for the forehearth and distributor 31 ASEAN conference: Eclipse Advances in regenerative gas burner technology

Plus find us on Linked-In and Twitter.

@Glass_Int

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36

Batch plant 36 Ensuring fuel gas quality in glass melting 40 Accurate dosing for bottle production 43 Batch plants: Turnkey project or just equipment?

45 The benefits of dry-batch in a float glass plant

43

Annealing 49 The annealing of cellular glass

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34 History

Environment 53 Saving energy with smart façades Events world 54 Glass Technology comes to the UK 55 Diary

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Editor’s comment

Greg Morris

www.glass-international.com Editor: Greg Morris Tel: +44 (0)1737 855132 Email: gregmorris@quartzltd.com Assistant Editor: Sally Love Tel: +44 (0)1737 855154 Email: sallylove@quartzltd.com Designer: Annie Baker Tel: +44 (0)1737 855130 Email: anniebaker@quartzltd.com

Consolidation continues apace in container sector

Sales Manager: Jeremy Fordrey Tel: +44 (0)1737 855133 Email: jeremyfordrey@quartzltd.com Production Executive: Martin Lawrence Managing Director: Steve Diprose Chief Executive Officer: Paul Michael

H

www.glass-international.com

Sales Director: Ken Clark Tel: +44 (0)1737 855117 Email: kenclark@quartzltd.com

appy new year to you all. Let’s hope the air of confidence that abounded in the industry last year continues into 2016.

2015 was generally a good year for the hollow glass industry with a number of contracts signed and installations commissioned. It was also a year of increased consolidation, with the $2.15 billion acquisition of Vitro by O-I one of the most notable. The trend has continued in 2016, with Germany’s Wiegand Glass acquiring its compatriot Glaswerk Ernstthal.

The glass industry remains a popular sector for investors. In the past month alone, US hedge fund J. Goldman & Company acquired just over $1 million of O-I’s shares, while US global asset manager The Carlyle Group announced its plan to buy a majority stake in French high-end glassmaker Saverglass.

In the middle of last year, Apollo Global private equity group spent nearly £3 billion acquiring the Verallia group from Saint-Gobain.

The best news for the industry would be if just some of this money is spent on new technology to reduce emissions in the glassmaking process.

The environmental theme has become prominent in recent years, and not only in the glass industry. Other rival sectors are as keenly aware of their environmental footprint in the manufacturing process, and have acted accordingly to

reduce it. The glass industry needs to continuously promote its environmental credentials to an outside audience and not rest on its laurels.

It has been said that the industry was an aloof, esoteric sector in the past and it must not return to its old ways if it wants to continue to attract investment and compete against rival industries.

A lot of impressive work has already taken place to improve the industry’s environmental footprint.

In Germany, the sector has reduced its CO2 emissions by 10% despite increasing production by 19% since 1990.

A meeting in Brussels recently saw industry representatives meet with EU policymakers to highlight the benefits of glass and the economic contribution it makes to the region.

Representatives from Glass Alliance Europe and British Glass outlined how the industry has produced solutions to optimise resource management and minimise its environmental impact.

It’s reassuring to know that decision makers in Europe are aware of the benefits of glass.

The next step is to make policymakers worldwide and the wider general public aware of the intrinsic value of glass.

Greg Morris Editor gregmorris@quartzltd.com

Quartz Glass Portfolio

Monthly journal for the industry worldwide

Directory 2015 Annual international reference source

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International News

Saverglass sold to finance group US investment firm The Carlyle Group has entered into exclusive discussions with Astorg to acquire a majority controlling stake in Saverglass.

Saverglass operates six glass and decoration facilities in France and one in United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is headquartered in Feuquières, France and employs 2600 people around the globe.

It was founded in France in 1897 and today sells 400,000 tons of glass per year in more than 80 countries.

Loïc Quentin de Gromard, Saverglass CEO, said: “The exciting and promising partnership envisaged with Carlyle would take place at the end of a challenging period in the wine and spirit industry.

“Saverglass has embraced

in recent years several sizable investments such as the construction of a 100,000 ton glassworks in the UAE as well as a decoration plant in Arques, Pas-de-Calais, France.

“Carlyle’s global footprint and expertise will help us to sustain the international development of Saverglass.”

Xavier Moreno, Astorg Chairman said: “Since 2011, we have led and financed a major step in Saverglass development, and investment in its production capacity, combined with export-driven growth in North America and Australia.

“We have benefited from the remarkable set of skills and dedication of all Saverglass employees and managers. We thank them for the perfor-

mance achieved.

“They deserve the credit for the 25 years of successes of this French world champion in high-end glass bottles for wines and spirits.”

Jonathan Zafrani, Managing Director, Carlyle Europe Partners, stated: “We are particularly impressed by Saverglass’ 25-year track-record and its unique position on the market, supported by its technological expertise, its creative abilities and its service.

“We are delighted to partner with its management team, support the group in its next phase of development and to help promote French luxury expertise globally.”

Saverglass reported an annual revenue of €382 million, ($419 million), in 2014.

BDF Industries’ Honorary President passes away BDF Industries has announced with extreme sadness the death of its Honorary President.

Emanuele Dalla Fontana, President and CEO of the BDF Group between 1953 and 2007, has passed away aged 86.

He played an important part in the group’s technological development for the global hollow glass sector.

Piramal orders Iris equipment India’s Piramal Glass has recently ordered Evolution camera-based inspection equipment for its Kosamba glassworks in Gujarat, India.

Manufactured by Iris Inspection machines, the order

comprises two Evolution 12 and two Evolution 5 machines for base and finish inspection, which will be used for the online inspection of pharmaceutical vials.

Installation is scheduled for

early 2016.

Piramal Glass has used Evolution equipment for sidewall inspection for three years and has been pleased with the operational results achieved, leading to the plant reinvesting in Iris equipment.

Iris Inspection Area Sales Manager, Sonia Podleiszekova, said that the Evolution inspection technology sold to Piramal Glass featured improved image resolution and display, as well as upgraded computers.

The Evolution range now has an upgraded PC, a larger HD touch screen (21.5in), and new HD cameras and software.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Hedge fund in O-I stake

Hedge fund J. Goldman & Company acquired a stake in Owens-Illinois (O-I) during the third quarter of 2015, according to its most recent disclosure with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The hedge fund acquired 52,375 shares of O-I’s stock, valued at $1,085,000.

O-I announced earnings results on October 27th. The company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% on a yearover-year basis.

Loadhog passes 20 million milestone

Loadhog has now cleaned more than 20 million Smartpads at its Sheffield, UK washplant, thanks to ongoing business from Encirc Glass.

The Smartpad is a component of Loadhog’s Smartstak glass containment system, which has been used

by Encirc to move its bottles more safely, cost-effectively and hygienically.

Loadhog’s washplant was the first not to use detergents and achieves its standards using ‘green’ methodology.

The reverse osmosis water treatment removes contamination and residue on the pad’s surface and the UV light chamber sanitises the Smartpads.

This ensures they conform to the industry’s hygiene requirements after every trip.

Mavsa Egyptian start up

Argentian group Mavsa has completed the start up of three press lines at Egypt’s Mansoura Glass plant in Ramadan City.

Mansoura’s new furnace has a capacity of 45 tons per day of soda lime glass.

Each of the three lines consists of equipment including loader conveyors, cross conveyors and stack with electronic drive and timing system and a firepolisher with a loader and unloader.

The press machines will produce In Block (Tumblers) and Split Mould (Mugs).

3 Glass International December/January 2016

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ENSURE THAT YOUR INVESTMENT PAYS OFF That is why our furnaces and conditioning systems are designed to reduce your total cost of ownership.

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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF Pictured: Dave Armitage

Ardagh’s light bottle

from Russell Hand, SGT President.

Beatson Clark employee honoured at SGT event Beatson Clark’s Production Director Dave Armitage was honoured at the recent SGT annual dinner and dance.

Mr Armitage was given the Society of Glass Technology’s (SGT) Yorkshire Section Award which is designed to acknowledge the exceptional contribution made by a person to any aspect of glass technology or glass art of the glass industry in the Yorkshire, UK area.

Mr Armitage has worked in the glass manufacturing industry for 48 years.

He started at Beatson Clark as an electrical apprentice and progressed as a single line engineer, single line foreman, electrical engineer, production manager and then pro-

duction director in 2006.

Marc Brew, Acting Chairman of the SGT’s Yorkshire Section, said: “Mr Armitage has a reputation for helping and encouraging younger people in their careers.”

The 154 people attending the event at Oulton Hall, Leeds, UK were from domestic glassworks including Beatson Clark and Stoelzle, members of the British Glass association, industry suppliers and Glass International.

Attendees had earlier toasted Margaret Flower, the Yorkshire Section Chairman, who passed away in August 2015 as a result of cancer.

She had been on the Society’s Analytical and Properties

Committee for 14 years and took over the chairmanship in May 2014.

Mr Brew said: “At her funeral one of the eulogies made reference to the fact that if you want somebody to join a committee make sure they are busy – they are the ones who will do a good job for you.

“Margaret was always busy with her work, the SGT, her family and her interests. She did a great job for us and will be sorely missed.”

The event was sponsored

by UK suppliers including Pennine Industrial, Parkinson-Spencer Refractories, Fives Stein, Graphoidal, Sheppee International, Pro-Sight, Groupe Rondot and Stoelzle.

Renata Gaffo retirement Renata Gaffo has retired from her role as Director of GIMAV and Vitrum, having dedicated 31 years to the glass industry.

Laura Biason, previously Deputy Director, has been promoted in her place.

Mrs Gaffo said: “I invested a lot of time and passion into the world I am leaving and I

will miss it.”

Mrs Gaffo started working with the glass industry in 1984 before ultimately becoming Director of both the GIMAV association and Vitrum event.

Her first Vitrum event occupied 7000m2, which expanded under her directorship to a record 31,560m2 net in 2007.

Mrs Gaffo said: “It made a formidable contribution to the worldwide image of ‘Made in Italy’.

“The result I am most proud of is the relationship inspired by mutual esteem and trust that developed over the years between GIMAV’s members and numerous collaborators.”

Indian federation industry meeting The Executive Committee of The All India Glass Manufacturers’ Federation (AIGMF) met with the Minister of Industry, Mr Gajendra Singh, to debate the use of glass con-

tainers as a responsible and safe packaging.

They also discussed the use of glass as an eco-friendly material for smart cities.

Mr Singh applauded the

advanced production techniques used by the industry to manufacture lightweight glass bottles and jars with no loss of quality.

Be first with the news! VISIT: www.glass-international.com for daily news updates

Ardagh Glass has produced a 1.5 litre Bordeaux wine bottle which weighs 670 grams.

Ardagh has manufactured the 1.5l bottle in anticipation of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s (LCBO) revised lightweight standards for glass, from April 1, 2016.

In 2014 the LCBO announced new national standards for the maximum weight of wine bottles, in an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of the bottles and for practical reasons relating to the weight of the overall cases.

Wines packaged in 1.0l bottles must not exceed the maximum glass bottle weight of 550g, while 1.5l must not exceed 700g.

FEVE welcomes EU’s Circular Economy plan

New European glass recycling targets have been announced as part of a wider Circular Economy package, which has been put forward by the European Commission.

The EU wide recycling targets for glass packaging have been set at 75% by 2025, and 85% by 2030.

The Circular Economy package was welcomed by FEVE, the European container glass manufacturers’ association. FEVE described the European Commission’s package as ‘long awaited’, noting that it paves the way for a real EU Circular Economy.

Ferro Corporation in Turkish delight

Ferro Corporation has bought Turkish company Ferer for $9 million in cash.

Ferer is a distributor in Turkey of Ferro colour and glass coating products and also provides customised, blended products and technical support for the glass industry.

Ferer’s primary focus is on servicing manufacturers of automotive, flat and container glasses. The acquisition of Ferer is the third step Ferro has taken in the past 18 months to strengthen its position in the Turkey market.

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(left) receives the award

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International News

BDF and GZI achieve record furnace rebuild time BDF and glass manufacturer GZI have constructed a new furnace at the Guinea plant in Agbara, Nigeria.

The furnace, complete with full modifications, new IS lines and automation control systems for melting and forming

equipment, took place in 34 days and glass to glass in 49 days – an African record.

Within 48 hours of opening, the plant operation had reached 90% pack efficiency in green glass, with lines also ready to run with light weight blow-

blow production.

The result was achieved thanks to the cooperation between the BDF team and the glass plant management team, and with the cooperation and assistance of GZI’s COO of glass operations, Mr Agarwal Jagdish.

Tiama name change ‘Tiama – msc & sgcc’, the international process and quality control expert, has changed its name to simply ‘Tiama’.

The change took place on December 1st.

Tiama is the combination of two major players of the hollow glass inspection market with similar paths and half a century of experience: SGCC and MSC. In 2008, both companies joined forces under the umbrella of the Tiama group.

In 2011, all the external communication and corporate branding started carrying the identity of ‘Tiama –

msc & sgcc’.

This new corporate name responds to a wish for identity simplification and brand strengthening.

The visual brand is now just ‘Tiama’, and consequently the company has changed its email addresses from ‘@msc-sgcc.com’ to ‘@ tiama.com’.

This is evolution rather than revolution though: Tiama’s legal status and identification numbers will not change, ‘neither will our vision and strategy, nor people,’ added Ursula Baudry, Tiama Marketing and Communication Manager.

EU glass policy discussions Glass industry representatives met with EU policy makers in Brussels recently to highlight the social, environmental and economic contribution of glass manufacturing in Europe.

The event was organised

by Glass Alliance Europe and chaired by British

Glass. The EU is the world’s largest glass manufacturing region, and according to a recent report by the European Economic and Social Committee, generates revenues of some €35 billion and contributes €40 billion to the EU’s GVA. The sector has reduced

its energy consumption by 7%. The figures show that in Germany, the sector has cut CO2 emissions by 10% while increasing production by 19% since 1990.

It demonstrates a major decoupling of production from energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

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International News

NEWS IN BRIEF

BV Glas appoints Schott CEO as its President

Germany’s BV Glas association has elected Schott CEO Dr. Frank Heinricht CEO as its president.

Its new Vice-Presidents are Stefan Jaenecke, CEO of Verallia North Europe, and Dr. Christian Quenett, CEO of Pilkington Germany.

Dr. Hubertus MüllerStauch, managing partner of Müller + Müller-Joh and Dr. Dieter Simon, Managing Director of Auer Lighting will continue to work as VicePresident for two more years.

Heye’s US partner

Heye International has named Gen-In LLC as its exclusive service partner for cold end products in the USA. Based in Largo, Florida, Gen-In LLC offers Cold End inspection solutions and services for the container glass industry, specialising in upgrades and retrofits to existing inspection equipment.

With more than 60 years’ experience in the container glass, food and beverage industry, the company supports Heye with supervision, installation, commissioning and training for machines commissioned in North America.

It also visits customers to perform maintenance routines and repairs.

O-I Schiedam installs dust filter

O-I’s Schiedam plant in the Netherlands has begun construction of a dust filter.

The construction process consists of several stages. The first visible step was on Thursday, November 26th with the placement of a 60-metre high, slender chimney.

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“The new dust filter complies with all environmental and sustainability requirements and ensures that sulphur (di) oxide emissions are reduced by almost half and the dust emissions will be reduced by more than 90%.”

Call for research proposals The Usable Glass Strength Coalition (UGSC) is seeking Research Proposals focused on gaining a deeper understanding of the relationship between Surface Structure, Surface Chemistry and the Strength of Glass.

Specifically, the UGSC is seeking proposals to answer the fundamental question: Where and how do flaws nu-

cleate in glass?

Proposals will be considered to support graduate level research. Investment will be commensurate with project scope, but is anticipated to be in the range of $60,000$110,000/year.

The full Request for Proposal (RFP) is available for download. Please download and read the entire RFP before

submitting proposals. The response due date is March 1, 2016. Technical questions may be addressed to the UGSG Technical Director, Dr. Alastair N. Cormack by email: cormack@alfred.edu Proposal submissions should be sent by email to the UGSC Executive Assistant, Donna Banks, by email: dbanks@gmic.org

Top 10 stories in the news

Turner Award winner

The International Commission on Glass (ICG) has presented its Turner Award to Schott researcher Prof.

Volker Rupertus.

The organisation said it recognised his years of support to the ICG’s Technical Committees and his expertise on surface characteristics of glass.

Dr Rupertus has done pioneering work on developing a quick test for monitoring the propensity of glass delamination occurring in pharmaceutical vials.

His scientific work is a key element of Schott’s recent Vials Delamination Controlled pharmaceutical vial.

Since then construction has started on the dust filter, which will be fully operational in March 2016.

O-I Schiedam plant manager Jeroen Pol said: “This investment shows that the Schiedam site can look to the future with confidence.

December’s most popular news items, as determined by our website traffic r r r r r r r r r r

1 Arc International manufacturing equipment available to buy 2 BDF Industries’ Honorary President passes away 3 Stölzle in triple Worldstar award win 4 Indian glass federation meets with Minister of Industry 5 Carlyle Group to buy Saverglass 6 Glass strength coalition invites research proposals 7 Piramal Glass orders Iris inspection equipment 8 Gerresheimer eyes further acquisitions 9 Beatson Clark employee honoured at SGT event 10 Ardagh welcomes EU Circular Economy package

All full stories can be found on our website, www.glass-international.com/news Be first with the news! VISIT: www.glass-international.com for daily news updates

8 Glass International December/January 2016

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Country focus: Iran

The nuclear deal that Iran’s President Rouhani recently agreed to has opened up the possibility of trade with the west as well as foreign investment opportunities.

Ahead of Glassman Middle East in Abu Dhabi, Sally Love investigates the situation facing the glass manufacturing industry in Iran.

Iran under the spotlight

W

ith a population of roughly 80 million (around 60% of which are under the age of 30), and an estimated $400 billion economy, the second largest in the MENA region, the future looks bright for industry in Iran.

According to the International Monetary Fund, Iran’s economy rebounded from recession in 2014 with a 1.45% growth rate, which was expected to rise to 2.5% for 2015.

Having negotiated a nuclear deal with the UK, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US, which will hopefully result in the lifting of trade sanctions currently imposed on the country, Iran has been able to enter into dialogue with a host of US and European businesses and politicians who are once again looking to engage with the emerging power.

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Trade and politics The increased political stability in the country, coupled with the recent agreement to lift $110 billion worth of sanctions, means that Iran’s industry should be able to make a return to the global market. The current sanctions could be lifted as soon as February, which will benefit both Iran’s expanding middle class and its manufacturers.

Lifting the sanctions will not only make it easier for manufacturers to access all the necessary equipment and supplies they need to produce their products, it will also allow for a more affluent, end-user market to consume them.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, recently visited the country to reopen the British embassy following four years of its closure. The

first British Foreign Secretary to visit Iran since 2003, the event marked the UK’s renewed interest in trading with Iran.

Accompanying Hammond was a trade delegation visiting the country to discuss business opportunities. They follow in the footsteps of German, Italian, and French delegations that have also been to visit the country following the announcement of the nuclear deal in July last year.

The head of the Iranian Glass and Crystal Producers association, Ahmad Amir-Ahmadi, has since called attention to interest expressed specifically in the country’s glass manufacturing industry: “During visits by foreign delegations to Tehran recently in the wake of [July’s] conclusion of nuclear negotiations, we have received various investment offers – but everybody is looking for the western-led economic sanctions to be terminated,” local media quoted.

The logic is clear: Iran’s silica reserves are among the world’s largest, and it also boasts the world’s second largest supply of natural gas.

This, combined with the country’s low labour costs, gives it the potential to be a dominant force in the glass manufacturing world.

Continued>>

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Country focus: Iran

Container glass Iran has 21 hollow glass plants that produce container and tableware, with 33 furnaces and an overall manufacturing capacity of 7,179 tons per day (TPD), or 2,620,335 tons per annum (TPA) (Source: Glass Global report - ‘Global Hollow Glass Market Study 2015’).

Below is an overview of five of the country’s most prominent hollow glass companies.

Mofid Glass

z Fig 1. The Sahand float plant in Tabriz, the country’s largest glass manufacturing plant.

has a daily capacity of 150 tons. The factory has seven IS machines for the production of its bottles and jars and seven press machines for its tableware, for which it has a capacity of 90 TPD.

Razi Glass Group

Hamadan Glass

The Razi Glass Group started in 1993 with the Razi Pharmaceutical Glass Company. The factory originally had a capacity of 50 TPD, although it recently underwent renovation and now has an increased output of 90 TPD, or one million bottles per day. The company rebuilt the furnace and updated its production equipment and quality control lines using equipment from Horn, Bucher Emhart Glass, Antonini, Zecchetti and Tiama, among other European suppliers.

The refurbishment was achieved in 270 days, an incredibly quick turnaround from demolition to completion.

In 1998 the company founded Takestan Packaging Glass, also in Iran, to expand its reach from the pharmaceutical sector into the food and beverage industry. The furnace has a capacity of 120 TPD, which translates to 35,000 tons per year.

Razi Glass Group is now one of Iran’s largest manufacturers of packaging and pharmaceutical glass, serving the domestic and international food and pharmaceutical markets with its beer, beverage, food and pharmaceutical bottles.

The company’s manufacturing plant and headquarters are in Tehran and it has offices in nine other countries including in the CIS countries, the Middle East and Turkey.

The Hamadan Glass Company was founded in 1975 and manufactures glass bottles and jars for the food and beverage industry. The company has two plants, one with an annual production capacity of 40,000 tons manufactured across four production lines and the second with a daily output capacity of 130 TPD over three production lines. It also has a decorating line which can print onto glass.

Shoga (Shishe & Gaz Glass) Based in Tehran, Shoga is the oldest container glass producer in Iran with production dating to 1960 when it had one furnace with a capacity of 40 TPD. The company is owned by the state and produces container glass for the food and beverage, pharmaceutical and beauty sectors.

In 2013 the company began production at its new site, which was built to accommodate the increased demand for lightweight containers and

“

Iran’s silica

reserves are among the world’s largest, and it also boasts the world’s second largest supply of

”

natural gas.

Crystal Iran Crystal Iran was founded in 1983 and produces container items for the pharmaceutical and food sectors as well as tableware glass items. Owned since its inception by the Tehrani family, the company sells its products to the domestic and neighbouring Middle East markets.

Over the past three decades, Crystal Iran has expanded to encompass more than 300 suppliers and a workforce of 2500 direct and indirect employees across the Middle East region and has also branched into decoration.

Tableware With more than 20 large and small scale manufacturers, the glass tableware industry has a healthy presence in Iran – despite a fall in demand in recent years that has caused several producers to operate at reduced capacity.

The two largest tableware producers in Iran are Kaveh Industrial Group and Noritazeh, both of which have a healthy export rate that has helped them to withstand the domestic drop in demand.

Both have expanded their production output dramatically over the past 10 years.

The Kaveh Glass Group is an umbrella company established in 1985. The company is also credited Continued>>

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Based in Tehran, Mofid Pharmaceutical Glass began operations in 1994 in a 70,000m2 factory, producing vials and pharmaceutical bottles in flint and amber.

The company now has an annual capacity of 66,000 tons of glass produced on six lines and has branched into producing items for the food sector as well.

The company has one decorating line and supplies its products to domestic and international markets, including Europe and the Middle East.

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Country focus: Iran

President Rouhani attended its inauguration and praised it as a project that will help Iran’s private sector to compete with western nations in terms of price and quality.

Iran’s President is placing a lot of emphasis on the country’s need to ‘raise production and manufacture goods’ that can compete on the international markets, which can only mean good things for the country’s glass manufacturing industry.

Sahand Float Company is owned by Sahand Industrial Group, which, among other companies, owns Azar Glass, another float glass manufacturer; Sahand Silica Tabriz, which mines and processes silica sand; Semman Soda Ash, a leading soda ash prodcuer; and three glass processing plants, all based in Iran. as being the largest manufacturer of flat glass in Iran. Its tableware division consists of three plants split across subsidiary companies such as Bolour Shisheh Kaveh, which began production in 2010.

Kaveh Glass is also in the process of expanding its tableware manufacturing operations at its Shisheh Mazrouf Yazd subsidiary.

The aim is to more than double its capacity to 52,000 tons per year. The expansion is due to be completed later this year.

The Noritazeh glass company was established in 1997 and commenced operations with a 30 metric ton furnace.

Soon after its inception, Noritazeh formed a licensing agreement with Japan’s Soga Glass to produce its designs in Iran for export abroad.

It now says it exports 30% of its products to more than 25 countries throughout the world.

In 2004 the company expanded its operations with a logistics and distribution centre, decoration facilities and packaging units and a 150 ton furnace. The company employs around 1000 people directly.

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Flat glass Kaveh Glass Group has been in business for 30 years and is Iran’s largest flat glass manufacturer.

As well as the tableware subsidiaries mentioned above, Kaveh Glass Group also owns Iran Float Glass, Taban Glass, Asa Float Glass & Mirror, and First Glass (the only one based outside of Iran).

The company was established in 1985 by Ebrahim Asgarian and was the first float glass manufacturer in Iran when it began operations as the Iran Float Glass Company in 2000.

The Kaveh Glass factory produces 600 mt/d in different colours and thicknesses. The company said its production of float and tableware glass last year exceeded expectations and that it serves customers in every major market in the world.

Meanwhile, Sahand Float Company has recently built the largest glass manufacturing plant in Iran (Fig. 1). It is situated in Tabriz, in the northwest of the country, and has a capacity of 220,000 tons of flat glass per year.

zx Razi Glass, above and below, recently completed an expansion and now produces 1 million botles a day.

“Iran’s President is placing a lot of emphasis on the country’s need to raise production and manufacture goods.

”

Future industry The flat glass market in Iran is expected to boom in the coming years, with a major spike in the construction and automotive sectors fuelling the country’s demand for the product.

Iran’s Industry Minister, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, confirmed a rise in Iran’s manufacturing sector last year, noting that the country’s industry grew by 6.7% and that it is looking to triple its car manufacturing output in particular to 3 million cars per year by 2025.

The country’s growing middle class and predominantly youthful population also offers obvious advantages to the container glass manufacturing community in terms of end users for food, beverage, tableware and cosmetic containers. r

Glassman Middle East takes place in Abu Dhabi, 10th & 11th May 2016. www.glassmanevents.com/mid-east/ www.kavehglass.com www.raziglass.com www.mofidglass.com www.crystaliran.com/en/ www.sig.co.ir/index.php/en/

12 Glass International December/January 2016

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Phoenix Award

“A truly international award” Dr. Bernd Holger Zippe, co-owner of the family run company Zippe Industrieanlagen, has been named as Chairperson of the Phoenix committee. As the second European to hold this position, Sally Love visited him at Zippe’s headquarters in Wertheim, Germany, to get his views on the evolution of the award and its standing within the industry.

T

How does it feel to be only the second European chosen to be Chairperson of the Phoenix committee?

It feels fantastic, but also with a certain sense of responsibility. I am only the second European in 44 years to be chosen as the Chairperson, and I think it will bring a more worldwide perspective to this role in terms of not being focused on North America alone.

If you look at the past recipients of the Phoenix Award, you will see that in the first 20 years 19 of the recipients came from North America, among them 18 from the US and one from Mexico. Only one, Sir Alistair Pilkington, who invented the float glass process, was not from there. So, it shows that the Phoenix committee was quite orientated towards North America.

When I joined the committee in 1999, I was the first continental European in this distinguished group. It has changed a lot since then: out of the past 15 recipients, 10 are non US, from different countries and different continents, and that is a sign of the truly worldwide status of the Phoenix committee. It has definitely become more open, more international and more globally orientated.

and recently appointed Chairperson of the Phoenix committee.

Do you think this has anything to do with the change in prominent markets as well?

I think it has to do with perspective: If you don’t just look at a certain country alone such as the US, but at the world as a whole.

The award started in 1971. What do you attribute its success to?

“It’s a sense of honouring individuals who have made major contributions to the glass

”

industry

I think it’s a sense of honouring individuals who have made major contributions to the glass industry. Every industry has a way of honouring the people who have contributed much to its success, and this is the most highly regarded award for the glass industry. That may be scientific or in terms of development, as with Mr Shay last year who developed the process of making thin glass which is used in all mobile devices, or Mr Pilkington who invented the float glass process. It could be as an artist, or a professor of glass science, or an industrialist developing from small, humble beginnings in places such as India or Thailand and building very respectable glass companies.

How are members of the committee selected?

You cannot apply. There will be recommendations made, and we have a sub-committee that reviews these and makes a recommendation to the chairperson. The incoming Chairperson and the existing Chairperson then make a selection.

Usually, it’s quite hard to become a member. You are a member for four years, and then you have to leave the committee – that’s mandatory, but afterwards you can be re-elected.

What will your role entail?

Basically it’s about holding the group together, and organising the events. We have two events: one is Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

he Phoenix Award is presented every year to a person who has been active in and has made significant and major contributions to the glass industry. When we sat down with Holger Zippe to discuss his role in this year’s event, he was upbeat about the award and what it means for the glass industry: “I find it fantastic that it’s a group of suppliers to the glass industry that have performed this, and created this award to recognise persons who have so done much for glass.”

The prestige of the award is reflected in its past recipients, which include Sir Alastair Pilkington; John Gallo of Gallo Glass; G. Clinton Shay of Corning; and last year’s winner Surasak Decharin, for his instrumental role in developing Bangkok Glass from a one-furnace operation into Thailand’s largest container glass manufacturer.

 Dr. Holger Zippe, co-owner of Zippe Industrieanlagen,

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Phoenix Award

in springtime for the nomination of next year’s recipient – nobody knows who it will be yet. Then there is also the main ceremony and presenting the award to the recipient, as well as looking to the Chairperson in the following year. You need to keep the Phoenix committee going strong and make it even stronger for the future, and make sure this award achieves the recognition it deserves.

What benefits has being a member of the Phoenix committee brought to Zippe Industrieanlagen?

No direct commercial advantage, but the advantage is that you get to know many professional people working for the glass industry worldwide; you can build up a real network and get to know them personally, and you can help each other. It is a fantastic group of people. You are, in many cases, their competitor, but you still work towards the same goal.

You also get the chance to meet the recipients, who are always very extraordinary people, personally, face to face. After the award is presented the recipients usually give a speech explaining their goals for the glass industry, and this can be really fantastic. You get to see their vision and what they look for in the future, and it can be very rewarding. It broadens your horizon and it can be moving, listening to these people explaining their visions to you.

Surasak Decharin of Bang-

When do you expect to announce the next recipient of the Phoenix Award?

kok Glass, accepts his award

It will probably be in April this year.

 Last year’s winner,

from Tim Park, a former Phoenix Chairperson.

In future years, how would you like to see the Phoenix committee evolve?

I think we are on a very good path. It gets the recognition it deserves, not least from publications such as Glass International. For the first time ever there is a majority of members from outside of the US: Out of 24 members, we have 14 international and 10 from the US. We also have, again for the first time ever, new members coming from India, China, and Japan, so it is now a truly international group, and a truly international award. r

The Phoenix Award Committee meets in February to select its 2016 winner of the award. www.phoenixawardcommittee.org

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16 Glass International December/January 2016

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Glass is our Passion

Company profile: GPS

 The GPS site in Essen, circled in red, next to the Saint-Gobain Oberland plant.

GPS to reap benefits of independence Following the sale of Verallia to Apollo, GPS announced it was to become independent from its owner Saint-Gobain Oberland as of January 2016. Sally Love spoke to its new Managing Director, Rolf Themann about the benefits of being an independent company.

When did GPS decide to become independent from Saint-Gobain Oberland?

This decision developed over the last two years while implementing the internal ‘Speed’ project to increase the focus on customer needs and requirements, flexibility and services.

With effect from 1 January 2016, I will acquire the company in a management buyout. As an experienced Managing Director, I will steer GPS into an innovative future, with the possibility of making rapid decisions and reacting quickly to market demands.

What benefits do you expect once you are an independent company?

www.glass-international.com

As a medium-sized German engineering company, GPS will be more successful with increased business flexibility and its own decision-making, compared to being part of a large group with a complex and comparatively slow decision process due to a different focus/core business.

The move will bring rejuvenation and stability.

How will becoming an independent company affect GPS in terms of dayto-day operations?

For the workforce it means saying goodbye to a certain level of security that the Saint-Gobain group provided.

However, this also means more business freedom with fresh opportunities and the opportunity to react much faster in day-to-day operations.

How will it affect the company in terms of long-term strategy?

GPS believes it will drive even more innovation

 GPS Managing Director Rolf Themann acquired the company in a management buyout.

and we are convinced it will lead to more interesting projects to upgrade IS-machines. GPS is developing a better and more precise control system as well as designing new user-friendly and stable IS machines, so that operators should not need a degree in rocket science. Practical things such as rapid job-changes are another focus, alongside other topics.

GPS is proud to be a German company and to use the Made in Germany mark of quality. This won’t change! Final assembly will definitely take place in Essen. The same applies for commissioning, cold testing and customer show rooms. Some components could become ‘Made in Europe’ depending on where the best quality can be sourced in Europe.

Continued>>

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 Rolf Themann (left) and Klaus Rudolph, former Executive Chairman of GPS. Components from China are not an option for GPS. Made in Germany or Made in Europe are hallmarks that are still worth a lot in mechanical engineering. GPS will continue to build on its reputation, experience and expertise to be a reliable and trustful partner for customers who are looking for a sustainable partnership.

Will your partnership with Verallia/Saint-Gobain Oberland continue?

As a former subsidiary of Saint-Gobain Oberland, the German entity of Verallia, cooperation will remain. Verallia uses GPS technology in several plants and GPS will continue to support it with service, spare parts and IS-machines, as well as the long term experience in terms of innovation, research and development.

This has created a win-win situation for all parties.

Opal - Borosilicate - Soda-lime glass

TABLEWARE Toughening Lines on spindles

How will the structure of the company be affected, in terms of staff or management?

GPS will adapt its departments according to customer needs to react efficiently and effectively to market demands. This means more service and innovation with experience in IS Machines and spare parts – this will drive the whole team. GPS gets its motivation from customer demands and challenging projects to be solved.

The geographical proximity of the Saint-Gobain Oberland Essen and GPS Essen plants, as well as the close contact between IS-machine operators and technical engineers, has brought GPS further advantages regarding experience in all-round glass production, such as customer friendly machines.

Will you diversify into new sectors, products or geographical markets?

Because of its former company affiliation, GPS already has a presence in several geographical markets such as Asia, Russia, Latin America and Europe. This is just a small selection of markets where GPS is represented.

All existing customers won’t feel any change except in terms of more intensive proactive support and even further increased innovative portfolio. Besides this, GPS will explore new regions as there is still a lot of potential on the world market. GPS will strive for more innovation and aim to expand its overall product portfolio in the long term.

What future plans do you have for GPS? Our major future project is to continue our contribution to glass production. Glass is such a valuable packaging material; irreplaceable even. It’s important to make sure it remains attractive all round for the food and beverage industry. 

GPS, Essen, Germany Email vertrieb@gps-essen.de www.gps-essen.de Glass International December/January 2016

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ASEAN Conference: Furnaces

The 39th ASEAN Glass Conference took place in the Philippines in October.

A review of the event was published in the complimentary December 2015 digital issue of Glass International. Over the next few pages we present abridged versions of some of the technical papers presented at the conference. The papers are available via the conference website, www.aseanglass.org.

A NOx removal process from exhaust gas in a glass furnace Ryota Tsuji* outlines how an investigation by Nihon Yamamura Glass has increased the reaction efficiency of the plasma process and in de-NOxing thanks to the use of a plasma and chemical hybrid process.

Dissolved at approximtely 1500°C by combustion of LNG or heavy oil

Material

Glass bottle forming

Exhaust gas treatment system - de-SOx equipment semi-dry wet - Remove dust electrostatic precipitator bag filter

Furnace

Packing Exhaust gas contains - NOx - SOx - Dust

Annealing Inspection

Wet type

Semi-dry type Mist eliminator NaOH Electrostatic precipitator

Exhaust gas heat boiler Fan

Reactor

Fan

Bag filter

Stack

Scrubber

NaOH Electrostatic precipitator

Stack

After treatment

Production process In glass manufacturing plants (fig. 1), materials are dissolved at approximately 1500°C by liquefied natural gas combustion or heavy oil in the melting furnace. The exhaust gas of the melting process contains environmental pollutants such as NOx, SOx and dust.

 Fig 1: Production equipment at a glass bottle plant.

Before treatment Temperature

Semi-dry type

Wet type

300~450°C

200°C

60°C

SOx

100~1000ppm

50~500ppm or below

Under 10ppm

Dust

100~500/Nm3

Under 10mg/Nm3

Under 10mg/Nm3

NOx

200~400ppm

200~400ppm

200~400ppm

z Fig 2: Semi-dry type and wet type exhaust gas treatment systems.

Continued>>

www.glass-international.com

N

ihon Yamamura Glass (NYG) has four major business fields: glass bottle, plastics, new glass, and engineering, with extensive domestic and overseas networks throughout these fields. In its glass bottle business, NYG has the largest market share in Japan with three glass bottle plants, nine furnaces and 28 production lines, totaling a production capacity of approximately 450,000 tons/year.

NYG’s Environment Affairs Department is one of the main departments in its headquarters, and has environmental ‘defence’ and ‘offence’ as its core mission.

‘Defence’ refers to environmental management, such as ISO-14001, waste management and upholding government regulations. ‘Offence’ refers to the development of the environmental business, such as exhaust heat utilisation and the improvement of rare metal handlings. This paper is about de-NOx technology, which is a part of ‘offence’.

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the use of catalysts that cause clogging problems when SOx and dust are included in the exhaust. PCHP technology is the preferred system in gas boilers and ship exhausts. NYG has been involved in an investigation with Osaka Prefecture University since 2011 for the practical use of PCHP in glass melting furnaces.

Harima plant’s wet type system

3.1kW x 3

PCHP outline

z Fig 3: Placement of the O3

Oxygen gas

Ozoniser (O3 = 276g/h, 3.8g/m3N)

In general, SOx is removed by semi-dry or wet de-SOx equipment to be used as a desulphurising agent such as caustic soda. Dust is removed by an electrostatic precipitator and/or bag filter.

A semi-dry type exhaust gas treatment system consists of a semi-dry de-SOx reactor, an electrostatic precipitator and a bag filter. In a de-SOx reactor, SOx is reacted with ‘wet’ NaOH spray to form ‘dry’ Na2SO4, therefore this system is called a ‘semi-dry’ system.

A wet type exhaust gas treatment system consists of an exhaust gas heat boiler, a wet de-SOx scrubber, a mist eliminator, and an electrostatic precipitator. SOx is transformed into a Na2SO4 water solution by a wet NaOH shower. Therefore this system is called a ‘wet’ system. Both systems do not include de-NOx equipment (fig. 2).

www.glass-international.com

Background The NOx emission regulation (450ppm at O2 =15% conversion) defined in the Air Pollution Control Law of Japan is lax compared to other countries.

As global environmental problems increase, NOx emission regulation is also expected to become more stringent for exhaust gas from glass melting furnaces.

In fact, local regulation levels are more stringent than the law.

As for de-NOx, the Selective Catalytic Reduction method (SCR), generally used for exhaust gas treatment in coal-fired power plants, and the Low Air Ratio Combustion method, are famous.

Using the SCR method, NOx is reduced by NH3 through a catalyst.

The main reaction to remove NOx can be sustained if the temperature is held between 250°C and 450°C. However, when SOx is included in an exhaust gas, (NH4)2SO4 or NH4HSO4 is generated by a different side reaction. This side reaction,

the wet type system.

Ozoniser (with PSA) (O3 = 90g/h, 100g/m3N, O2=90%)

including dust, develops catalyst poison and clogging problems. SCR is therefore difficult to use in glass melting furnaces because the exhaust gas includes the adhesive dust derived from raw materials and high-concentration SOx. For the Low Air Ratio Combustion method, the generation mechanism of thermal NOx is explained by the reaction: N2 + O ↔_NO + N, O2 + N ↔_NO + O, and N + OH ↔_NO + H. The NOx generated by combustion is mainly NO. While N2 and O2 in the air and retention time increase, the NOx generation also increases.

NOx can therefore be decreased by lowering the air ratio of the combustion.

But low air ratio combustion causes an incomplete combustion, consequently losing heat energy.

For these reasons, NYG investigated de-NOx systems available for use in glass furnaces. Suitable systems could not be found however, so NYG developed a new technology called the Plasma and Chemical Hybrid Process (PCHP) which simultaneously removes NOx and SOx glass furnace exhaust gas.

PCHP is a de-NOx technology without 500

400

50 Reactor inlet 45 Reactor outlet removal efficiency 40

350

35

450 NOx concentration [O2=15%] (ppm)

O2

PCHP combines the plasma, de-SOx and chemical processes and can achieve simultaneous de-SOx and de-NOx. When PCHP is applied to the exhaust gas treatment system of a glass melting furnace, the NOx removal process is explained below.

NO in the exhaust gas is first oxidised to water-soluble NO2 by a plasma process, using ozone (O3) generated from non-equilibrium plasma at atmospheric pressure (Reaction O2+O→O3, NO+O3→NO2+O2). Sodium Sulphite (Na2SO3) is then produced as a by-product of a de-SOx process (Reaction SO2+2NaOH→Na2SO3+H2O), after which NO2 is reduced to N2 gas by a chemical process involving Sodium Sulphite (Reaction 2NO2+4Na2SO3→N2+4Na2SO4).

NOx is thus removed.

The Na2SO4 generated by the reduction of NO2 can be reused as a raw material for glass manufacturing.

Unlike SCR, a high concentration of SOx and the existence of adhesive dust does not affect the PCHP. This process requires low maintenance and can also be applied easily into existing exhaust gas treatment equipment for deSOx, consequently reducing the initial and running costs compared to installing an SCR. The issue with installing PCHP in a glass furnace is the high temperature of the exhaust gas which is between 300°C and 450°C at the entrance of the

demonstration equipment at

300

30

250

25

200

20

150

15

100

10

50

5 0

0 0

20

40

60

80

100 120 140

Exhaust gas volume: 8,030m3N/h Injected ozone volume: 1,443g/h Removal efficiency (%)

3.6kW x 4

NOx removal efficiency 34% from 322ppm to 211ppm

Reaction efficiency 86% from 120ppm to more than NO2 30ppm

SOx>99%

NO2 31ppm NO 291ppm

NOx 322ppm

Elapsed time (min) The conc. and removal efficiency of NOx by PCHP

z Fig 4: Wet type system demonstration results.

Before processing

NO 180ppm

NOx 211ppm

After processing

Continued>>

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system. The O3 is broken down to O2 in temperatures of more than 150°C, losing effectiveness in NO oxidation.

The temperature of exhaust gas should be cooled to less than 100°C for effective NO oxidation by O3.

The focus of this development is to form a localised low-temperature area by spraying water before introducing the O3.

This low-temperature area is necessary for the Plasma and Chemical reaction process, both of which are required to remove NOx from the exhaust gas.

Demonstration For a pilot scale test of the PCHP, NYG had a demonstration in 2013 for the wet type system in Harima plant (fig. 3).

O3 is produced by seven ozonisers connected with four machines supplying oxygen (3.6kW) and three machines with PSA (3.1kW) to supply O2.

The resulting O3 is then injected into a cooling zone with the water spray at the entrance of the de-SOx scrubber.

In this demonstration, the exhaust gas volume was 8030Nm3/h, and the injected O3 volume was 1443g/h. During the demonstration’s elapsed time, O3 was injected from the 20 minute to the 120 minute mark, consequently reducing

NOx emission from 322ppm to 211ppm during that time frame. Due to the small pilot scale of this demonstration, NYG had a limited supply of ozone, but a high reaction efficiency was achieved. The reaction efficiency of injected O3 was 86%, which indicated that more ozone injected into the system results in the removal of more NOx. The de-SOx process was unaffected because SOx emissions decreased more than 99% at the exit. With the wet type exhaust gas treatment system demonstration, it was concluded that PCHP application to an actual exhaust gas of a glass furnace was effective for a wet type exhaust gas treatment system (fig. 4).

The semi-dry type system is more popular than the wet-type variation due to lower cost and simple operation.

NYG is currently developing a semi-dry type of de-NOx system. For effective NO oxidation by O3, an area with a temperature lower than 100°C is necessary. The temperature of the exhaust gas at the outlet of the system should be 200°C to protect the duct andbag filter.

For a successful demonstration of the semi-dry type system, NYG has to achieve two items concurrently: One is the formation of a localised low-

temperature area for oxidation by O3 and NO2 reduction by Na2SO3, another is to maintain the temperature of the outlet exhaust gas at 200°C.

Conclusion NYG began a collaborative investigation with Osaka Prefecture University in 2011, and a laboratory experiment was performed in 2012.

Demonstration of the wet type system succeeded in 2013, with the first trial of the semi-dry type system in 2014. The second trial was done in August 2015.

Comparing both results, it showed that there was progress in increasing the reaction efficiency of the Plasma process and total de-NOx, yet NYG was able to identify more room for improvement, thus a third trial is being planned for the end of 2015.

After a successful demonstration, NYG will push forward with the commercialisation of the de-NOx equipment for a semi-dry type exhaust gas treatment system. r

*Assistant Manager, Environmental Affairs Office, Nihon Yamamura Glass, Hyogo, Japan www.yamamura.co.jp

www.glass-international.com

Batch plants and cullet systems for all glass types and capacity needs

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23 Glass International December/January 2016

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Energy saving concepts for container and tableware furnaces AGC Ceramics Co (AGCC) has been a refractory specialist since 1916 and an engineering services company since 1976. Here, Masami Kitano outlines some energy saving concepts that have recently been certified by the Japanese government for their environmental credentials.

T

o meet the cost reduction needs of the glass industry today, the performance improvement of the melting furnace has inevitably been put on the agenda.

It is difficult to find the right answer due to the many factors involved in a high temperature operation.

Two topics are discussed in this paper. First, an energy saving concept is first introduced. AGCC’s concept, which consists of a hyper-regenerator and a thermotect-wall, has attained 10 to 15% energy savings compared to a conventional design. A milestone in 2015 was AGCC’s technology being certified by the Japanese Environment Ministry, while one Japanese customer received a government subsidy for its forthcoming project.

Second, refractory corrosion and glass defects are also discussed. For example, to

improve glass quality, high temperature melting is an effective method but an excessively high temperature damages the refractory. A large amount of corrosion affects intractable quality issues, the socalled ‘cat scratch’. AGCC has analysed the defects and has proposed a counter measure to minimise cat scratch.

Energy saving concept The main concept of the hyperregenerator is the double-pass chamber for the checker package. A longer passage is logically better for the heat exchange but maintaining the flow route, adjusting gas velocity and optimum utilisation of the checker package are tougher subjects.

The double pass concept was introduced in the past in Europe but is not widely used today due to checker troubles and insufficient energy performance. One of the important issues of the double pass is

to prevent the gas/air flow separation and make it a synchronised route (fig 1).

The other issue is checker clogging. This is improved by setting up the temperature area of Na2SO4 condensation near the rider arch to easily drop it off to below the rider arch.

Improvements such as this over the 40 years of AGCC’s engineering services lifetime have produced efficienct products with a lifetime of more than 10 years. AGCC now confidently presents its fourth generation of hyper-regenerator.

Thermotect-wall The thermotect-wall consists of an insulation material by the trade name of Thermotect (TMT). TMT is a high thermal insulating monolithic material, which has the same performance as ceramic fibre. Therefore, this monolithic Continued>>

Double pass regenerator

Single pass regenerator

www.glass-international.com

Port

Fire clay checker

Basic checker

Port

Basic checker

Unit requirement (Litter/TG)

2nd chamber 1st chamber

10-15% lower

Fire clay checker

0

50 Pull rate [ton/day]

100

150

200

250

300

z Fig 1. The flow of secondary air and waste gas in a double pass and

z Fig 2. Fuel consumption of the furnaces supplied by AGCC. The red dots are fur-

single pass regenerator.

naces which are furnished with the 4G Hyper Regenerator and Thermotect-Wall.

24 Glass International December/January 2016

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8 250 Soda lime glass 48hrs test

ZB-1691 35%-AZS MB-G Aß- Alumina

ZB-1711 41%-AZS

2

0 1250

200

150

100

50

0 1300

1400

1450 1500 Temperature [°C]

0

1600

1550

1500

3

6

9

12

15

18

21

24 27 30 33

36

Time [Month]

z Fig 3. The relation between the temperature and the corrosion speed of a

z Fig 4. The corrosion speed of sidewall, calculated by one dimensional refrac-

fused-cast refractory.

tory corrosion model.

0.5

15

10

0.3 0.2

5

Others (wt%)

0.4 Zr)2 (wt%)

is usable at a temperature up to 1600°C with excellent volume stability. The advantages of TMT compared to ceramic fibre are durability for long-term operation and joint-free configuration.

It is also safer for operators, as it does not contain Refractory Ceramic Fiber (RCF), which is identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a possible human carcinogen. AGCC developed TMT using internal raw material technologies.

AGCC also integrated other improvements such as an oil/gas burner to the concept furnace. It has attained 10 to 15% energy savings compared with a conventional design (fig 2).

0.1 0

0 8.25

8.3

8.35

8.4

8.45

8.5

8.55

Distance (m) Zr02 Al203 Na20 CaO

Cat scratch The pull rate for the melting area, indicated by ton/day/m2, is one of the most important factors for furnace performance. The pursuit of it (the so called ‘Glass Load Olympic’) often causes over-heating because it requires higher temperature melting in a small furnace.

It may damage the refractory and shorten the furnace life.

A well-known case is the sagging of the silica crown due to a high melting temperature of more than 1600°C. Fig. 3 shows the corrosion speed of a fused cast refractory at the laboratory. If the temperature increases by 50°C, the corrosion speed roughly becomes more than double.

Fig 4 shows the change in thickness of the sidewall refractory at the furnace with both a simulation result and an actual measured result. The corrosion progress is rapid at the initial stage and the progress becomes slower due to the cooling effect from outside, if the residual thickness becomes thinner.

For instance, if the operation

z Fig 5: Cat scratch, mixed with ZrO2 and Al2O3. temperature is 1600°C, more than 200mm of fused cast AZS is corroded within 12 months. It means that many sources of the refractory defects, such as cat scratch, flow into the molten glass at the initial stage.

The Glass Load Olympic obviously requires melting at a higher temperature in a small furnace.

This is feasible in the short term period, but a damaged refractory negatively impacts the rate of energy consumption, glass quality and furnace life in the long term. As a result, it may not be a good cost performance overall.

Multiple factors should be considered when aiming for a well-balanced furnace, as well as selection and application of refractory.

Cat scratch Many cat scratches have been analysed,

and they are classified into three types.

The first is ZrO2. This predominantly generates from the AZS refractory type in the melter. The mark is not ordinarily very strong, has multiple knots, and has slow diffusion speed.

The second is Al2O3. It normally generates from the alumina refractory in the working-end and the forehearth.

Generally, the mark is strong with a single knot, and has fast diffusion speed.

The third is the mixed type, as shown in fig 5. Al2O3 is hidden behind the ZrO2 .

Unfortunately, cat scratch is an unavoidable problem but can be reduced by solutions such as optimum operation, and a reduction of the stagnant glass by design and refractory selection.

As a supportive care, a stirrer is recommend to mix the condensation.

Conclusion A fundamental knowledge of glass furnaces is essential for good performance.

A solid concept, for structure, material selection and innovative application, contributes to increased energy savings and glass quality.

AGCC has produced refractory materials for 100 years and engineering service for 40 years. The hyperregenerators and thermotect-walls are an excellent example of the culmination of the company’s activities. r Reference: Nishikawa, et al., Reports Res Lab. Asahi Glass Co., 55, 21-25(2005)

* AGC Ceramics Co., Ltd. Glass Engineering Division, Osaka, Japan www.agcc.jp

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Corrosion depth [mm]

Refactory corrosion [mm]

33%-AZS

6

4

1300 [°C] 1350 [°C] 1400 [°C] 1450 [°C] 1500 [°C] 1550 [°C] 1580 [°C] 1600 [°C] Higher curve measured Lower curve measured

ZB-1681

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ASEAN Conference: Forehearths

Design and specification for the forehearth and distributor David Parkinson* outlines four essential criteria to consider when deciding on a forehearth installation.

I

n our capacity as designers and manufacturers of forehearths and distributors, we come across many installations that are clearly not fit for purpose, either because the set-up information provided by the end-user was wrong or has changed, or because the supplier failed to specify the correct equipment for the client for reasons of incompetence or cost.

The purpose of this article is, therefore, to examine four specific design elements that have a substantial effect on the operation of forehearths and distributors.

Three of them are design calculations that PSR performs to establish the correct specification of any forehearth or distributor system at the quotation stage.

The fourth is a design feature that has an impact on the efficient operation of a forehearth or distributor system.

These design elements are as follows: r Residence time r Headloss r Cooling capacity r Automation

conditioned for the required pullrate, whereas too much residence time means energy will be unnecessarily wasted maintaining suitably conditioned glass.

Headloss Headloss is the loss of glass level along the forehearth from the entrance to the spout. It is a function of the following: r Forehearth length, width and depth, in particular forehearth entrance depth; r Pullrate; and r Glass temperature and hence glass viscosity.

Glassmakers should not ignore this important design element. It may only be more noticeable at higher pullrates, but excessive glass headloss can result in gob weight instability and an inability to obtain the required gob weight.

PSR includes headloss calculations for every forehearth quoted and as a company we recommend that headloss should not exceed 25mm.

Headloss can be partially alleviated by sloping the forehearth, and we recommend a maximum incline of 19mm. Excessive incline should be avoided however, as it can result in the glass flowing over the top of the channels when the pullrate is reduced. Frequent changes to forehearth incline should also be avoided so as not to damage the joint at the forehearth entrance.

However, headloss can also be alleviated by correct specification of the forehearth at the design stage. This involves correctly specifying forehearth length, width and depth so as to achieve the best combination for the required temperatures and pullrates.

Continued>>

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Residence Time Residence time is a simple tool but is one that is useful to obtain an overview of the suitability of a forehearth or distributor to satisfy the operating data provided.

It is based on a simple calculation of how long the glass is in the forehearth for it to be properly conditioned in terms of its temperature and thermal homogeneity.

For flint glass, typical residence times should be between 40–120 minutes. For coloured glass typical residence times should be between 50–120 minutes.

Too little residence time means that the glass cannot be properly cooled and

zFig 2. PSR System 500 forehearth at high zFig 1. PSR System 500 forehearth.

cooling rate.

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ASEAN Conference: Forehearths

Manual damper postions

Manual damper postions

z Fig 3. PSR System 500 forehearth at high

z Fig 5. Manually controlled damper fore-

heating rate.

hearth with dampers set too low.

Some glassmakers operate with reduced glass level on coloured glasses, and although this may aid thermal homogeneity it is also likely to increase headloss and reduce spout capacity. In such cases, the forehearth may have to be designed wider so as to overcome the increased headloss. A larger capacity spout may also have to be installed.

z Fig 4. Typical forehearth with manual damper control.

Automation

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Cooling capacity Cooling capacity is the ability of the forehearth or distributor to remove heat from the glass taking into account the following: r The glass entry temperature range; The required gob (or exit) r temperature range; r The required tonnage range; r The glass colour(s).

When evaluating cooling capacity it should be calculated under the maximum load condition.

This is the situation where: r The entry temperature is highest; r The gob (or exit) temperature is lowest; r The pullrate is at maximum.

This is then evaluated for all required glass colours taking into account (in general terms) that: r Heat transfer within amber glass is approximately 16% less than white flint glass; r Heat transfer within green glass is approximately 28% less than white flint glass; r Heat transfer within dark green glass is approximately 34% less than white flint glass.

In the distributor, the key parameter is the throat riser temperature and each individual forehearth entrance temperature must be calculated

the capacity to achieve the maximum gob (or exit) temperature at minimum pullrate. The system must also be capable of maintaining temperature during periods of ‘no load’ at times such as shutdown.

z Fig. 6: Manually controlled damper forehearth with dampers set too high.

separately based upon the maximum combined load between it and the throat riser. Once the minimum achievable entrance temperature has been calculated under the maximum load condition for each forehearth, then the cooling capacity of each forehearth must be calculated so that the minimum required gob temperature can be achieved at the maximum forehearth entrance temperature and with the maximum forehearth pullrate.

The resultant cooling capacity calculations must also ensure that the gob temperature can be held steady with an appropriate degree of glass thermal homogeneity.

Heating capacity must also be taken into account and calculations should be carried out to ensure that the system has

Automation of the cooling system and damper movement has a massive influence on the operation of the forehearth and distributor.

We can take for granted that most modern forehearth systems have automatically controlled combustion systems, but a surprising number of new and existing installations still rely on manual operation of the damper movement and cooling system.

In recent years a number of clients have reported that they have achieved fuel savings as high as 50%, and sometimes more, following conversion from a manually controlled damper and cooling system to the PSR automatic System 500 cooling system, and these savings have been achieved without any significant modifications to the combustion system.

The explanation for this is as follows: The PSR System 500 forehearth (Fig. 1) incorporates longitudinal forced air-cooling passed under the central area beneath the roof blocks. The glass is cooled by radiation to the cooler refractory surface.

The flow of the cooling air is controlled automatically by a butterfly valve in the cooling air ducting and is exhausted through the central cooling flue at the end of each zone or sub zone.

The combustion, meanwhile, takes place at the sides of the forehearth, Continued>>

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ASEAN Conference: Forehearths

the ingress of cold air and to compensate for the unwanted cooling effect.

Because the firing will modulate automatically to achieve the required temperature, manually controlled dampers will in reality never be set at the right position and will always be set higher than necessary.

Therefore, the internal pressure inside the forehearth will be too low, the firing rate will be be set higher to compensate for the ingress of cold air, and energy consumption will suffer.

Clients have reported savings of as much as 50% following conversion to our automated cooling system, and that is without modification to the firing system.

Ignoring the cost of the refractories, which need to be replaced periodically regardless of the type of system installed, the payback period for conversion from a manually controlled cooling and damper system to PSR’s automatic cooling and damper system is typically less than two years.

Conclusion I have identified four important design criteria. r Residence time r Head loss r Cooling capacity r Automation Failure to satisfy the first three may not make the forehearth or distributor inoperable, but at certain times and under certain conditions production efficiency will suffer.

Failure to satisfy the fourth can be an expensive and ongoing mistake for the life of the forehearth and distributor.

It seems that many glassmakers are prepared to tolerate the inadequacies of excessive headloss or lack of cooling capacity, possibly because the effects are only encountered at high tonnages or under certain extreme operating conditions. It is also a fact that capital costs between different suppliers can be instantly compared, whereas long term production efficiencies cannot, and projects are therefore often driven by short term cost considerations rather than longer term production efficiencies.

However, in today’s competitive manufacturing environment it is often the last incremental percentage of production efficiency that is the difference between profit and loss.

Fixing such problems at the design stage is relatively easy, and although there may be a cost penalty at the time of installation the benefits will continue for subsequent campaigns as well as the current one. r

*Owner, Parkinson Spencer Refractories, Halifax, UK www.parkinson-spencer.co.uk This is an abridged version of a paper presented at the 39th ASEAN Glass Conference in the Philippines.

The full paper is available to download via the conference website www.aseanglass.org

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heating up the sides of the glass flow, and is exhausted through dedicated side combustion exhaust dampers.

The position of all three dampers is controlled automatically by an electric motor. The movement of the motor simultaneously moves the position of the butterfly valve to control the flow of cooling air.

Fig. 2 represents the PSR System 500 forehearth at high cooling rate.

Combustion will be at minimum and the cooling air will modulate automatically to achieve the required glass temperature.

Fuel consumption will therefore be low during this cycle. The presence of the cooling air ensures that the internal forehearth pressure is maintained.

Fig. 3 represents the forehearth at high heating rate with minimum cooling air. The side dampers have closed automatically, the cooling air has reduced to minimum (purge) and the central damper has closed to its minimum position, just sufficient for exhaust of the combustion gases.

Fuel usage will still be efficient because the closing of the dampers maintains a positive pressure inside the forehearth and ensures that the products of combustion are retained within the forehearth, heating up the entire forehearth width.

Compare this to a typical forehearth with manual damper control, (represented by Fig. 4) where the dampers are opened and closed manually.

The flues are also used for cooling the glass by radiation from the glass surface to the cooler damper block or factory atmosphere depending upon the position of the damper.

If the dampers are set too low (represented by Fig. 5) the pressure inside the forehearth will be too high and combustion products will be forced out through gaps and peepholes in the forehearth superstructure. In extreme circumstances the pressure inside the forehearth could exceed the pressure in the firing system, leading to back-firing down the combustion pipework.

If the dampers are set too high (represented by Fig. 6) then there will be a loss of internal pressure inside the forehearth and cold air will be sucked in through the forehearth brickwork and peepholes.

This will cause the side temperatures to fall with a consequent loss of temperature control. The firing rate will therefore need to be set higher to compensate for

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Conveying glass around the world for over 30 years

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ASEAN Conference: Melting

Advances in regenerative gas burner technology

Dave Fontes* describes how an upgraded natural gas regenerative burner has been installed in several container, float and tableware furnaces in Europe, Asia and the Americas. the industry, with thousands of burners installed globally in every type of glass furnace. The glass industry continues to push for advancements in regenerative gas burner technology, including: improved heat transfer for lower energy use; reduced NOx emissions; easy to use, setup, and adjust; and enhanced flexibility in flame adjustment and performance.

Eclipse developed the BrightFire 200 burner to address these needs (Fig 1). The burner includes the following features: r Completely separate inner and outer gas jets; r Simple controls for each gas jet located on the burner; r Single gas inlet; r Continued use of the Eclipse sealedin burner design; r A nozzle design update using a successful design-base.

Fig 2 shows the area adjustment and flow adjustment. The area adjustment allows the area between the inner and outer nozzles to be increased or decreased,

refractory block.

which alters the overall length of the flame and the flame velocity. The second adjustment is the flow adjustment. This changes the distribution of gas between the inner and outer nozzles.

Flow adjustments are typically made to move the heat transfer from the flame closer to or further from the burner/port.

The flow adjustment also provides the operator with a tool to lower NOx for a given flame length setting.

Altered The area and flow variables can be altered independently. This provides various settings to tailor the flame shape and performance to the exact situation at hand, including furnace design, glass chemistry and production rate.

The BrightFire 200 is easy to setup and tune. Both mechanisms employ an easy to read scale to allow a precise and repeatable setting of the adjustments.

Continued>>

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E

clipse, Inc., now part of Elster Thermal Solutions, has introduced its upgraded natural gas regenerative burner, BrightFire 200.

Eclipse has a successful history with regenerative natural gas burners with the 03R then the 03V developed in the late 1970s and 1980s. These were the first ‘sealed-in’ burners that improved flame control and reduced energy. They were also the first adjustable burners in the industry, allowing flame length to be adjusted on the fly, without removing the burners from the port and changing tips.

During this time, the classic ‘Gas Burner Firing Practices’ was published by the company and is still referenced today.

The company improved the burner further in the mid-1990s with the development of Dual Gas Injection Technology in the original BrightFire burner. This allowed two separate streams of gas to be injected through a single burner, inhibiting the formation of NOx and improving flame control. The BrightFire burner was widely accepted in

z Fig 1. The Eclipse BrightFire 200 Burner with Gimbal Bracket and

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Area adjustment

Flow adjustment

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The combination of these two adjustments has shown an improvement in flame control.

In one case with an underport firing arrangement on a large float furnace, the flame length could be adjusted from 30% to more than 80% of the furnace width without altering the gas flow.

Additionally, NOx was demonstrated to be 15% to 25% less compared to other burners on end port and side port furnaces. NOx was reduced substantially on an end port furnace in Europe where a typical burner supplied by a furnace designer was replaced. A NOx reduction greater than 20% was realised, achieving the goal of less than 550 mg/Nm3. Fig 3 shows a BrightFire 200 burner installed in an under port arrangement.

The ability to alter the heat release position within the flame and thus within the melter has shown promising gains in energy efficiency. In one case involving a container furnace, the under glass electric boost was reduced by more than 10% with a small reduction in natural gas use and no effects on production.

In this case, the burner includes an optional Gas Swirler for the outer gas jet, which increases the flame surface area and further improves the heat release to the glass melt.

Fig 4 shows the BrightFire 200 operating in a small cross-fired furnace.

Thermal imagery was used to better

z Fig 2.

î ś Fig 3. Eclipse

BrightFire 200

BrightFire 200

adjustments.

installation.

assess the flame characteristics and to understand other interactions occurring inside the melter.

Improved heat transfer Improved batch line control was observed due to the improved heat transfer of the BrightFire 200.

This resulted in the batch line pulling back and subsequently a reduced seed count was reported by the customer.

An additional benefit of the BrightFire 200 was improved flame stability, which kept the flame off of the batch piles and reduced carryover into the regenerators.

Better heat transfer from the flame also put more heat into the glass melt, reducing crown temperatures and increasing bottom temperatures.

These improvements can help increase the life of the furnace while simultaneously reducing the overall energy costs associated with production.

Another feature of the BrightFire 200 is the single gas inlet. This allows the burner controls for the inner and outer gas jets to be located on the burner.

In many other dual injection burners there are separate inlets for each gas jet,

î Ł Fig 4. Thermal image from inside a furnace with BrightFire 200 burners.

complicating the gas piping to the burner and increasing the associated costs. Other burners today have the inner and outer gas jet controls on the burner, but they have no means of adjusting the inner nozzle relative to the outer nozzle.

Only the BrightFire 200 combines all these features into one burner, using updated burner tip technology based on 40 years of experience with regenerative burner systems.

The BrightFire 200 has been installed in several container, float, and tableware furnaces in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

All firing arrangements are in use: side of port and under port firing on both side and end port furnaces.

In many locations, customers have added the BrightFire 200 to multiple furnaces based on the improvements realised on an initial furnace installation.

Along with the adjustment features and design elements described above, the burner can be provided with an oil lance for easy change to oil firing.

The nozzles can also be designed for firing both oil and natural gas simultaneously. Finally, with Elster Thermal Solutions’ global service and sales network, the company is able to support the glass producer anywhere in the world. r

*Dave Fontes, Glass Industry Manager, Elster Thermal Solutions (now part of Honeywell). www.elster-thermal-solutions.com This is an abridged version of a paper presented at the 39th ASEAN Glass Conference in the Philippines.

The full paper is available to download via the conference website www.aseanglass.org

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53035 MONTERIGGIONI (SI) ITALY - Strada di Gabbricce, 6 Tel +39 0577 304730 ifv@fonderievaldelsane.com

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History

Prof. John Parker Turner Museum of Glass and ICG

Let’s drink to that Prof. John Parker* investigates the development of the wine bottle, from Roman times to modern automatic production techniques that give tightly controlled dimensions.

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W

hat links the words: piccolo, tenth, quarter, Jennie and Solomon? Well, they all describe wine bottles, being 0.1875, 0.2, 0.378, 0.5 and 18.0 litres respectively.

Robyn writes passionately on the subject: ‘You have to love a glass wine bottle. Always perfectly shaped, sized, and handled.’ Of course the content helps too.

Wine has been around for millennia but not the bottle. Storage in Roman times was often in clay amphorae. Some held hundreds of litres. They could be buried in hot conditions to control their temperature and keep the wine fresh.

Longer necks reduced oxidation of their contents. But distributing wine to the Roman legions around their extended empire required something lighter and more durable. Wooden barrels were introduced, the more flexible and less permeable timber from temperate climes being preferred for construction. No doubt the enhanced taste experience of wine oak-aged during transport was appreciated and duly noted.

The Romans did use their hand-blown glassware to hold small quantities of wine, it being non-contaminating, but it was too fragile for transport: wood, leather or metal were preferred.

In the 17th century the development of coal-fired glass furnaces, driven by dwindling wood supplies, made higher furnace temperatures achievable and enabled the production of thicker, stronger bottles.

Cork stoppers, introduced initially in the early 1500s and extensively from 1650, gave an excellent seal and the corkscrew (1686) made an even tighter fit possible. The sealed bottle could now be used for fermentation, as in the making of champagnes, and was an effective barrier against oxidation, allowing wines to be kept for longer.

Flavour was found to improve with age. At first wine bottles, 3 million of them made

in 1695, were probably largely owned by the rich, being filled, stored and re-used on site; barrels remained in use into the 20th century.

These changes allowed wine production to expand and storage became more critical, influencing the bottle shape.

Roman bottles had long necks and an onion design, which was easy to blow but was certainly not stockpiled efficiently.

Woven baskets e.g. of straw, or metal stands were needed for support. Developments in hand blowing and parison shaping between 1650 and 1750, meant taller, narrower and straighter bottles could be made; these could be stored in quantity, horizontally in racks. Embossing to mark ownership and date of manufacture became common. Over centuries these styles evolved into a variety of forms, allowing product differentiation.

A flat base to ensure mechanical stability was more critical for taller bottles, a problem that remained until machine making was introduced in the late 19th century. An early way to enhance stability (and prevent scratches!) was to indent the base, so avoiding the destabilising effect of a rough pontil mark at its centre where originally the blowing iron had been attached. Such a kick-up assisted champagne makers who had to rotate their racked bottles periodically during the second fermentation step and promoted easier separation of sediments.

These bottles were also more resistant to the high internal pressures created by CO2 formation. Kick-ups allegedly confer many other advantages, although using more glass, and still suggest quality.

Handmade bottles had a variable volume, depending on the lung power of the blower. Blowing into a mould improved control, but the amount of glass gathered is still a factor, the mould only defining the container’s external volume.

Interestingly the kick-up with its apparent

advantages for high end products, also meant a container with a given internal volume appeared larger. Consequently, until 1860 when production methods became sufficiently controlled, selling wine by the bottle in the UK was illegal.

Wine was purchased in barrels or in containers provided by the customer. The standard 750ml wine bottle was finally introduced in the USA in 1979 and at about the same time in Europe.

Early thick-walled wine bottles made in coal-fired furnaces were dark because of impurities in the raw materials used (Fe, other). Their green or amber tints are also typically associated with UV absorption. The significance of this is the susceptibility of the flavour of wine to degradation by strong sunlight, particularly at shorter wavelengths. Our ancestors understood the value of dark, cool cellars for storage. Light degradation is particularly important with red wines which are more strongly absorbing.

Consequently red wines are usually sold in coloured glass, e.g. the dead leaf shade intermediate between amber and green.

Modern automatic production techniques give tightly controlled dimensions.

While this improves stability, strength and volume control, it also allows an improved seal to be made with a metal cap. Cork, at the cheaper end of the market, has been displaced by the screw cap. And so we have the perfectly shaped bottle! Let’s drink to that! r Bibliography 1. Robyn, http://www.wallafaces.com/a-historyof-the-glass-wine-bottle/ (2013) 2.

Douglas and Frank, A History of Glass Making,

Foulis (1972)

*Curator of the Turner Museum of Glass, Sheffield University, UK www.turnermuseum.group.shef.ac.uk j.m.parker@sheffield.ac.uk

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Batch plant

Gas to glass: Ensuring fuel gas quality in glass melting

Stephen Harrison* and Kim Chapman** discuss the impact fuel gas quality during the melting process has on the quality of glass, and how to automatically measure and control gas calibration.

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T

he glass industry consumes high quantities of fuel gas from natural gas distribution grids for melting glass batches.

The quality of this fuel gas can fluctuate quickly, often within a day.

It also shifts with seasonal cycles, depending on the blended composition of regionally generated biogas, the propane vaporisation to enrich the biogas and piped natural gas from the North Sea, which has a high calorific value, or Russian natural gas. In some countries, such as The Netherlands and Germany, the biogas contribution to the grid has grown recently and the mix of natural gas sources continues to diversify.

Accurate temperature control during the glass melting process is critical for production quality. Failures to control the temperature within a tight range can result in batch wastage.

It is beneficial to make feed-forward adjustments to the burner operation to mitigate for changing fuel gas quality.

Burner efficiency, waste gas emissions pollution control and the life of a furnace refractory lining are also important issues that can be influenced by changes in natural gas composition.

To enable such adjustments, an automated method of feed-forward process control using a fast response micro GC-TCD arrangement can be employed. This system analyses the fuel

gas quality and computes its probable thermal characteristics using methods similar to those in ISO6976 to allow the required adjustments in burner operation to be made. The analytical matrix and the overall system control loop parameters can vary from site to site and over time within the same site.

So, it is vital that the most suitable carrier gas for this application is used as well as the most appropriate calibration gas mixtures.

Natural gas composition The composition and calorific value (similar to the Wobbe index) of piped natural gas can change rapidly, even within minutes.

It can also change throughout the course of a day and has longer term macro shifts with seasonal cycles.

A reason for this change is that various sources are mixed to create natural gas.

In various countries and regions there are standards within which the natural gas composition and calorific value must remain, but these are not standardised across the world and are not even standardised across Europe where natural gas pipelines criss-cross the continent in a diversified energy supply network.

For example, in Germany, the blended composition of natural gas arriving at the user, such as a glass manufacturer, may be a mix of regionally generated biogas

(methane lean, low calorific value); intermittent slugs of high calorific value vaporised propane to enrich the biogas; piped North Sea natural gas (high calorific value); or Russian natural gas (lower calorific value).

Across continental Europe, the use of Russian natural gas increased in recent decades and in some countries the biogas contribution to the grid has grown extensively. The mix of natural gas sources, therefore, continues to diversify, and the need for automated smart process control reactions to these variations is important to industrial consumers of natural gas.

Since these composition changes can take place within minutes, the furnace must be able to react to these changes within a similar time frame to ensure stable and optimum operation.

The measurement of natural gas calorific value can be performed using flame techniques and calorimetry. This is the traditional approach, but it is slow in comparison to the speed in which natural gas composition and calorific value can change. For a fast process control loop which is able to direct process responses Continued>>

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at the same rate that the natural gas composition can change, a faster method of measurment is requried.

Analysis of the fuel gas chemical composition and computation of the implied calorific value using methods similar to those in ISO6976 has, in practical application, been shown to be a good proxy for flame methods of calorific value measurement.

It does rely on a fast and accurate method of chemical species measurement. A rapid response Micro GC-TCD is suitable for the task as it can enable a process loop response time in one to three minutes.

 Accurate temperature control during the glass melting process is critical for production quality and for high-quality glass, such as that pictured.

Process control system The best way to ensure optimal operation of the burner is to measure and control the amount of oxygen in the burner flue gas using a feedback control loop. This ensures there is a small residual amount of oxygen emerging in the escaping flue gases. Although this is the most economically and environmentally efficient way to run the process, plant operators should guard against having a large excess of oxygen which could impact production costs.

To achieve the right balance, oxygen should be measured in the furnace, or in the regenerator heat exchangers where the flue gases leave the furnace and preheat the gases coming into the furnace.

This measurment is fed into a feedback process control loop and the measurement is typically achieved using instrumentation such as a Zirconia oxygen analyser, which is reliable and robust in this hot operating environment.

The instrument’s sensor requires periodic calibration, either with ambient air or with a speciality gases calibration mixture (consisting of an even percent of oxygen in nitrogen), to ensure accuracy of measurement. While a feedback control loop is essential to measure oxygen

levels in the melting furnace and make adjustments to the oxygen or natural gas being fed in, the more sophisticated process control strategy is to use a feedforward control loop in combination with the feedback control loop.

The feed-forward loop measures the chemcial composition of the natural gas (as a proxy for calorific value) coming into the furnace. It enables the automated predictive and proactive feed-forward adjustment of natural gas flow rate and associated stoichiometric oxygen flow rate. The process control loop ensures that the thermal input to the furnace remains under control, so that the temperature profile of the glass batch melt is controlled according to the optimum process requirements.

These feed-forward control loops usually incorporate gas chromatography instrumentation with a thermal conductivity detector (GC-TCD) to measure the quality of the natural gas flowing into the furnace.

This allows for feed-forward adjustments in either oxygen or the natural gas flow rates, based on the calorific or heating value of the natural gases coming in. This is a critical factor, as natural gas is fundamentally a mixture of gases whose composition changes over time, impacting on the total calorific value and furnace temperature profile.

The use of a Micro GC, in contrast to a larger general purpose conventional laboratory GC, is convenient for two reasons. Firstly, the compact design allows the instrument to be used in-situ, close to the process, to minimise sample line length and therefore achieve rapid response times.

Secondly, the purpose-built design incorporates a short GC column optimised for the natural gas composition measurement application, which also enables rapid response times for this process control loop.

5.0 grade helium (99.999%) is the most typical carrier gas for gas chromatography and is the standard choice for this application. The benefits are both ease and safety of product handling; good speed of separation, essential for this feedforward process control loop application; and broad range of applicability. The disadvantage of using helium in this application is that the natural gas being analysed can sometimes contain helium, and so the use of helium as the carrier gas prevents the measurement of helium as a component of the natural gas.

5.0 grade hydrogen is an alternative carrier gas with a faster column velocity and separation speed than helium.

However, hydrogen is highly flammable and there are safety concerns to be considered. The separation resolution is also not as good as helium for some species and matrices. However, use of hydrogen may be suitable in helium-rich natural gas streams.

5.0 grade nitrogen and argon are also potential GC carrier gases. Both are inert, easy to handle and are abundantly available at 5.0 grade chromatography purities on many industrial sites.

However, their speed of separation is not ideal for rapid response applications and they give poor sensitivity to the TCD. The recommendations from analytical instrument manufacturers should always be taken into consideration.

As with most gas chromatography applications, the carrier gas doubles up as the zero gas. Additional zero gas selection is not usually required.

The most suitable calibration gas mixture is a multi-component mixture of hydrocarbons with a similar composition to the natural gas stream. Clearly, one of the reasons for this application being important is that the composition of the natural gas stream changes. Selecting a suitable calibration gas mixture that is representative of the general fuel gas composition is recommended.

In some cases, it might be suitable to use a suite of two or three calibration gas cylinders with different ‘synthetic natural gas’ mixture compositions to give a breadth of calibration points across the spectrum of operation.

Since this is a process control application, not a legislatively controlled emissions monitoring application or a natural gas custody transfer application, regular certification of the synthetic natural gas mixture is highly suitable.

ISO17025 or ISO Guide 34 Accredited certification for these synthetic natural gas mixtures is, of course, technically feasible and commercially available, but these accredited products are more complex to manufacture and therefore add cost, which is not generally required for this process control application.r

* Global Head of Speciality Gases and Speciality Equipment, Linde Gases ** Global Product Manager, Speciality Gases and Speciality Equipment, Linde Gases www.linde-gas.com/en/index.html

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Batch plant

37 Glass International December/January 2016

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Glassman conference

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P

apers are now being accepted for the Glassman Middle East technical conference.

This year the free-to-attend conference has the theme Technical Solutions for the Hollow Glass Industry.

The conference takes place within the Glassman Middle East exhibition and confirmed speakers so far include GZI/Frigoglass, Pneumofore, Ilis, BDF and IRF Europa.

The Glassman exhibition is dedicated to the hollow glass industry. Previous visitors to the event have included container, tableware, pharmaceutical and speciality glass manufacturers.

The Middle East region’s hollow glass sector has seen enormous expansion in recent years thanks to a combination of cheap energy prices, a youthful population and a demograph with a high disposable income.

In addition, the recent agreement between Iran and the West has seen the opening of trade borders and foreign investment opportunities.

Leading technology suppliers have been keen to forge lasting partnerships within the flourishing Iranian glass market. The Glassman event provides an ideal opportunity to meet with glassmakers from this exciting region.

Attendees at previous Glassman conferences have been diverse and include Managing Directors, Purchasing Directors, Country Managers, R&D executives and Plant Managers.

They have represented companies such as O-I, Ardagh, Gerresheimer, Grupo Modelo, Stoelzle as well as a number of glass associations and technology suppliers.

The previous Glassman exhibition and conference, held in Guadalajara, Mexico was declared a success by exhibitors, with feedback available to view on its home page http://www.glassmanevents.com/latin-america/ Conference topics are likely to include new environmental solutions, energy efficiency in the industry, health and safety in the industry, extending furnace life and innovative inspection solutions.

By registering to attend the exhibition you will be able to attend the conference sessions throughout the two-day event.

If you are interested in speaking at this event please contact Greg Morris now at gregmorris@quartzltd.com

38 Glass International December/January 2016

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Don‘t you want to get the most out of your batch and cullet plant?

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Batch plant

Accurate dosing for lightweight bottle production Jarmo Näppi* describes the vital elements of the dosing, weighing and mixing processes, all of which are necessary to achieve a high quality, lightweight glass bottle.

L

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ahti Precision is an expert on glass batch plants and raw material handling systems for all sectors of the glass industry.

Lahti (formerly Raute) Precision has manufactured scales for more then 100 years for various industries. Lahti is also known as a drymix plant supplier so thus has a vast experience in the dosing of powder and bulk materials.

It is generally recognised that the batch plant is a critical component when aiming for high quality glass production. In the container glass sector more attention is also placed on the dosing, weighing and mixing process, particularly by those who

produce lightweight bottles (LWB).

It’s important that all elements of the batch plant are carefully chosen, since without accurate dosing, weighing and mixing of raw materials it is impossible to consistently achieve a homogenous batch. Fine tuning of the IS-machine will not help if the error is made in the beginning by accepting poor quality batch. It is important to first understand the definitions related to weighing.

Definitions Weighing accuracy refers to the accuracy of the scale under static conditions. r Dosing accuracy: includes weighing

z Compression stain gage load cells used in hopper scales.

accuracy, but is also affected by other factors, such as the properties of the load cell assembly, the weighing indicator, the process control system, the dosing feeder and its speed regulation, and the characteristics of the raw material itself. r Scale interval (resolution, step value): is the smallest increment of weight shown on the scale indicator. Is referred to as ‘d’. r Internal resolution: is the scale’s internal measuring resolution, which should always be at least four times that of the incremental resolution shown on the Continued>>

z Typical dosing set-up parameters of a modern batch controller.

40 Glass International December/January 2016

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Batch plant

Determining weighing accuracy The Organisation lnternationale de Metrologie Legale (OIML) developed a weighing accuracy system which is accepted in almost every country.

For industrial scales, OIML R76 class Ill R76 is normally used. It covers scale intervals from 1000 up to 10,000.

For industrial applications, the number of scale intervals is typically n=5000 (scale intervals L), which give the maximum error of 0.01-0.03. Due to ambient conditions it is difficult to improve upon these degrees of accuracy.

The accuracy of a scale is determined by having the minimum deviation between the indication of the scale and the true value of the load.

A high resolution provides the most accurate measuring result. Although the internal resolution of a scale is in smaller increments than the resolution shown on the scale interval, the scale interval indicates the ability of the scale to measure accurately.

The smaller the scale interval (d) is, the greater the corresponding number of intervals (n). The accuracy of the scale is expressed by the scale load as the number of scale intervals.

Dosing accuracy Dosing accuracy describes how well the feeder, working in combination with the scale instrument, is able to feed the amount of material into or out of the scale. Furthermore, the whole sequence of measurement must be taken into consideration. The elements are : r Load cells; class and quality. r Load cell mounting; vertical force. r Other mechanical components of the scale; flexible joints, dust filter. r Weighing instrument. r Process control system. r Dosing feeder. r Raw material; flow properties. r Effects of ambient disturbances, such as vibration, magnetic fields and air movement.

The final dosing accuracy is therefore as good as the sum of the whole chain.

Typically in the glass industry, the dosing accuracy is from 2 to 5 scale

intervals. Expressed in another way, if the scale has 5000 scale intervals and the stated accuracy is five intervals, then dosing accuracy is 0.1% of the full scale display (FSD).

The aforementioned relates to dosing accuracy only. The relative error will vary relative to the quantity being measured.

Weigh in or weigh out?

PIONEERS

in Pressure Testing

As previously mentioned, measuring the weight of the material can be done either when it is fed into the scale or as it is discharged from the scale.

The latter method, weigh-out, is traditionally used in the glass industry because it provides good accuracy due to the fact that the material being measured is always close to the scale’s maximum capacity. On the other hand, the weighout-feeder is in the tare weight of the scale, which unfortunately reduces the useful signal.

The first method, weigh-in, has become possible because every element in the measurement chain has been improved over recent decades which has improved dosing accuracy.

Despite the relative error increases for each material dosed, it nevertheless remains within acceptable limits.

The weigh-in method offers various advantages: r Number of scales is smaller; r Fewer scale discharge devices are required – the dosed material can be discharged into the mixer in many cases; r It is possible to eliminate a belt conveyor between the scale and the mixer in many cases; r Cost savings due to less equipment and compact design.

On the other hand, the dosing feeders are longer and the capacities are higher.

Delivered over 2,000 pressure testers since 1940

Feeder - scale - controls The combination of feeder, scale and controls defines the final dosing result.

The correct choice of dosing devices for each raw material and application is essential. It is also important to remember that dosing accuracy is inversely proportional to dosing speed.

The most commonly used devices for dosing materials into or out of the scale are belt conveyors, vibrating feeders and screw conveyors.

Belt conveyors provide the option of being able to adjust the dosing speed, however, dust accumulation and spillage are problems associated with this type of

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scale indicator. Modern scales, however, may have an internal resolution of up to two million times scale interval. r Max: is the maximum weighing capacity. r Number of scale intervals: n=Max/d

41 Glass International December/January 2016

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Batch plant

z Lahti double dosing screws and hopper scale with automatic calibration

z Lahti weigh-out scale with vibrating feeder as a dosing device and WA

weights.

instrument.

materials conveying format.

Belt conveying is generally used where the conveying distance from the silo to the scale is relatively long, e.g. over five metres. It is also used when conveying very abrasive materials.

Vibratory feeders are commonly used, but vibration must be filtered in the weighing instrument. They are not suitable for lightweight raw materials.

Vibratory feeders can be sealed to control dust.

Screw feeders are commonly used for dosing. Dual speed drives and variable speed drives can be used to adjust the speed of the feeder. The screw conveyor provides a high degree of accuracy.

That can be further improved with the addition of a second ‘fine feed screw’. This ‘double dosing screw’ has been proven to give the best dosing accuracy, compared to other alternatives.

It is sometimes claimed that screw conveyors wear too fast. With proper consideration given to the screw diameter, wear resistant screw flight, screw speed and the clearance between the screw and frame, the lifetime of the screw feeder will equal that of alternative dosing devices.

The control system The primary function of the control system in the dosing process is to read

the signals from the load cells, process these signals accurately, and control the charging/discharging of the scale accordingly.

The first task, reading the signal, is relatively simple. The analogue/digital (A/D) converter technology used is so well proven that the conversion of the analogue signal from the load cell to its digital equivalent is highly accurate.

The internal resolution can typically be 2,000,000 and the analogue signal is measured and converted every 2 milliseconds.

The next step is to process the signal in order to produce valid weighing information. This requires sophisticated filtering techniques. Even when the scale is designed correctly, there are always disturbances present in the system.

For example, the mechanical structure may vibrate, which can cause an inaccurate load cell signal. The instrument must be capable to filter the signal without losing the actual value.

The control system must be able to respond rapidly to changes in the load cell signal. For example, the material flow properties may change due to humidity.

This changes the required pre-act setting. That parameter controls the material ‘in flight’ amount. The controls need to self adjust to cut the feeding

according to the previous dosing result, to follow the change in the raw material.

It would be best to combine the weight indicator and the controller into a single unit, a dosing controller. This will eliminate any communication errors or delays in the control loop.

In many cases the equipment must be able to control the material flow between 100% and 5% of the nominal rate. This is necessary to reach both the desired cycle time (=fast flow rate) and the accuracy (=slow flow rate).

When all the described elements are present, it is possible to reach the target values precisely.

For a glass producer, it would be best not to accept dosing errors more than 0.05% from the FSD in LWB production.

Consistent accuracy is the first step towards high yield of bottle production.

In that respect, the batching performance should be similar to float glass production.

The next process step is mixing, but how to get homogenous mixing result is another topic. r

*Vice President, Glass Industry, Lahti Precision, Lahti, Finland. www.lahtiprecision.com

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Batch plant

Batch plants: Turnkey project or just equipment?

Egbert Wenninger* discusses the benefits of a turnkey approach to the installation of a batch plant as opposed to ‘equipment only’. He explains why smaller glassmakers are more likely to consider a turnkey supply approach.

T

here is a range of definitions of turnkey solutions and expectations differ in various industries.

When building a glass factory with a batch plant as one of the major subsections, a full turnkey approach is uncommon. The glass producer has to develop the land, manage the infrastructure and apply for permits to build and operate the facility.

However, to split the full project into sub-projects and have one expert partner dedicated to each sub-project makes sense in some cases. Within clear limits, the project partner will take care of all necessary engineering, supplies and installation services and hand over to the customer a ready to operate piece of the glass factory. However, the interfaces to the adjacent sub-projects need to be defined and be clear between the different players onsite. For the end user it reduces the amount of suppliers he needs to deal with. The responsibility within a subproject is with the project partner.

Turnkey scope A standard batch plant consists of the foundations, building and silo steel structure with cladding, and the technological equipment with the control system (fig. 1). In the course of

developing the complete piece of land to set up a glass factory, the glass producer regularly engages a general contractor who deals with all the geological aspects and civil engineering.

A typical batch plant supplier does not touch anything in the ground or perform the foundation works, but can handle everything above ground.

Construction Laying out the batch plant itself is a standard exercise, however the impact on the building and accessibility of the technical equipment is always one of the key elements when designing the batch house building. When it comes to structural engineering EME uses the global network of the Sorg Group, and cooperates with domestic engineering companies that are aware of local regulations as well as the site conditions where the plant will be constructed.

Seismic activities, wind, fire protection, environmental issues and all other relevant parameters are respected. Due to the heavy weight of building structures, in almost all cases this part is sourced locally. EME takes care of the cost of steel, concrete and labour upfront and offers a cost effective concept to build the batch plant. For example, lower costs of

concrete sometimes lead to concrete silos rather than steel.

After that the batch plant supplier slips into the role of general contractor and starts to contract and manage the supplies for the building as well as the construction work. Domestic entities and partners can help to avoid local taxes such as VAT by splitting the contract into onand offshore portions in some locations.

This includes quality control of all related suppliers until the building parts arrive on site. EME has onsite project managers at hand who manage the progress at the construction site day by day and track and report to the end user (fig. 2).

As the building nears completion the technical equipment will also be installed (fig. 3). EME supervisors will coordinate a locally hired team of mechanical and electrical contractors to install the mechanical parts and the cabling of the components. All necessary handling and lifting devices such as fork lift trucks and cranes are within the scope of supply.

The responsibility for the job progress as well as the costs always remains with EME. At the end, the commissioning engineers check the installed hardware, put each piece into operation, and test Continued>>

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v Fig 1. A batch plant constructed by EME.

43 Glass International December/January 2016

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Batch plant

PROVEN SCIENCE

in Pressure Testing

î ş Fig 2. On-site management provided by EME. the complete batch plant prior to factory start-up.

This also includes the training of maintenance, operation and engineering staff. When the furnace is heated, EME also manages the delivery of raw materials and cullet to the furnace.

A fully operational batch plant is then handed to the glassmaker. The cullet return system is also an integral part of the scope.

Financing services

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Customers from the glass industry that are looking for turnkey batch plants in many cases are not just looking for a partner to deal with the batch plant portion, they often also appreciate help in financing the subproject.

EME has had several projects where it has offered financing services as well.

Together with our banks and the backup from Euler-Herms or Coface, a full financing package can be offered and the

customer does not have to deal with this part of the business.

It is obvious that a turnkey approach has a couple of advantages for the glassmaker, but in reality only a small percent of projects are handled in this manner. The first reason is the company structure of the glass producers. Many glass factories are medium or large size groups with a global footprint and their own engineering departments.

These customers are able to manage the building and installation work by themselves, because they have infrastructure in the region of the glass plant. Smaller glass producers are more likely to consider a turnkey batch plant supply, since they do not have the engineering power and are often not used to building new glass factories on a regular basis.

As long as it is not a cost plus contract for the services and supplies, the batch plant supplier takes the full financial and scheduling risk for a turnkey project. The engineering efforts throughout the stages of the project are included in the price to the customer and the batch plant supplier also needs to put a markup on all locally sourced supplies. This is mandatory in any business and also covers any future warranty issues as well as the general risk of a turnkey supply.

So, in the end,the customer has to make a decision as to whether it is willing to spend the extra money for the management and delegation of risk, or if it wants to avoid markups and handle the project directly.î ˛

*Managing Director, EME Maschinenfabrik Clasen, Erkelenz, Germany www.eme.de

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î ş Fig 3. Technological equipment at an EME supplied plant.

44 Glass International December/January 2016

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Batch plant

The benefits of dry-batch optimisation in a float glass plant Nalco’s Dry Batch Optimizer technology has been successfully used in the container glass industry to improve the operation of batch feed systems, reduce batch feed system maintenance and decrease batch moisture content without any effect on product quality. The technology was recently trialed at a US float glass plant and Thomas Hughes* outlines the findings. to more rudimentary cleaning activities related to the batch feed system.

Nalco has documented information showing that its Dry Batch Optimizer (DBO2013) technology can reduce the drawbacks caused by batch wetting, while also achieving additional benefits.

These include improved homogeneity of the batch mixture, reduction of excess moisture and associated energy benefits, improved batch pile shape and resulting melting efficiency that leads to additional energy savings.

Case study A North American float glass plant was operating a batch wetting programme at more than 6% moisture to reduce batch carryover in its furnace.

Past attempts to reduce the moisture added to the batch mixer resulted in increased defect rates and batch carryover. The plant also had issues with charger plugging, requiring preventive maintenance to keep surfaces depositfree, and to keep the batch moving freely through the system.

An experimental PTFE- lined coating was implemented on two of the chargers.

The float glass plant’s leadership team agreed to evaluate the potential benefits of the programme and its impact on their batch wetting process.

The plant has a routine monitoring system in place to track furnace operations, including batch melting, fuel usage and defects.

The plant’s furnace was rated at more than 700 tons per day and batch mixing in the furnace was carried out in a

mechanical mixer. Common practice was to add approximately 6% moisture for batch wetting and the mixed batch was transferred by a conveyor to a silo before being sent to the chargers. The silo holds 8-h supply of mixed batch for the furnace, and the daily average is 180 batches.

Two of the furnace’s eight separate chargers required weekly preventative maintenance and the metal grating over the collection hopper also required routine cleanup to prevent build-up of batch material.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were set up for baseline monitoring prior to the application of Nalco’s DBO2013 programme: r Water addition r Batch moisture r Thermal profile of melters r Stack output r Fuel usage r Defects Baseline data was collected for two months prior to the application and data collection continued as the DBO2013 programme started.

The data reported in this case study covers the four month period following the implementation of the programme, which is currently in continuous use.

Nalco’s DBO2013 feed was initiated to the batch mixer. To ensure an appropriate feed, a digital flow meter was installed to monitor product feed rate, with the signal sent to the control room for continuous monitoring. Batch moisture Continued>>

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T

he pre-wetting of batch material prior to its addition to the furnace is a common practice.

Most glass manufacturers agree that its benefits include improved log or pile formation, reduced dusting inside and outside the furnace, extension of furnace life, reduced fouling of regenerators and better control of particulate emissions from the furnace.

Most glass manufacturers add water via spray-nozzles at a wet screw, or in a large mixer, to achieve a target moisture level of the material as it enters the furnace at the charger. Batch wetting can, in the proper proportions, be used to control dusting and carryover, helping to mitigate the challenges mentioned above.

While the benefits of batch wetting are widely recognised, there are also potential drawbacks. For example, evaporating the added water represents a potential additional energy cost.

Although some addition of water may have a neutral energy effect due to the exothermic nature of the hydration of soda ash, excess water addition may represent an extra energy load.

Also, batch wetting sometimes results in ‘caking’ or ‘adhesion’ of the batch material to the chutes and hoppers in the batch feed system, potentially resulting in the plugging of mixers, wet-screws, chargers, and other parts of the batch transport and feed systems.

This adhesion can sometimes interrupt normal operation of the batch feed system, with the result that furnace operations personnel are diverted from proactive management of the furnace

45 Glass International December/January 2016

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Batch plant

Batch wetting (Gal/batch)

70

6.5

60

6.0

50

5.5

40

5.0

30

4.5

20

4.0

10

3.5

0 5/28/14

3.0 6/27/14

7/27/14

8/26/14

9/25/14

10/25/14

11/24/14

DBO startup

6

5 5/28/14

6/27/14

7/27/14

8/26/14

9/25/14

10/25/14

z Fig 3. Plant fuel usage before and after the Nalco DBO programme.

was measured each day by the operators, who also conducted a squeeze test from a sample collected at cross-over before reaching the chargers.

Moisture reduction

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Defects

Average

DBO startup

Average

Defects (per 100ft2)

Fuel usage (MMBTI/Ton)

Fuel usage

5/28/14 6/27/14 7/27/14 8/26/14 9/25/14 10/25/14 11/24/14 1/23/15 2/22/15

z Fig 2. Melter temperature profile.

z Fig 1. Trend in batch wetting and moisture content.

7

Bottom 1 Bottom 3 Bottom 5 |Crown 4 DBO startup

7.0

Meter Temp (째F)

Batch moisture

Batch moisture (%)

80

During the baseline collection stage, on average 70 gallons of water per batch were added to the mixer and furnace production was holding steady at 716 tons per day.

As a common practice, 7.4% moisture was added to the batch to reduce potential pluggage in system components, with 1% water loss before it reached the charger.

Fig. 1 shows the trend of daily batch moisture measurement and water added in each batch. Batch moisture was maintained around 6% at the chargers during the baseline stage.

During the trial stage, batch moisture was gradually reduced and maintained at 4%, which was a 37% reduction.

Production was stable at this level.

To test the low end of the programme, water addition was reduced to 30 gal/ batch, 3.8% batch moisture, in late November. At this point, carryover defects were evident. The charger and doghouse also showed increased build-up.

Water addition was subsequently

5/28/14

6/27/14

7/27/14

8/26/14

9/25/14 10/25/14

11/24/14 12/24/14

z Fig 4. Daily trend for glass production defects per 100 ft .

increased to 58 gal/batch to quickly restore the furnace operation.

The batch moisture level was dropped back towards the 4% range during the following weeks.

Reduced maintenance As the trial progressed, a substantial reduction in charger buildup was observed. As a result, operators spent less time and effort on weekly scheduled preventative maintenance (PM) to clean the chargers.

At one point during the trial period, a problem with the conveyor belt occurred, and the plant was forced to hold the wet batch in the mixer for five to six hours before operation resumed. In the past, such an interruption in operation would have caused the mixture to clump inside the mixer and plug up the outlet.

Surprisingly, when the conveyer belt resumed operation, the wet batch mixture that was held for this extended period of time came out of the mixer without clumping or pluggage.

A similar event in the past would have required the maintenance crew to spend hours manually cleaning the mixer and removing clumps of hardened material in order to resume production.

2

Increased stability As the DBO2013 programme became fully integrated into the furnace operation, a more homogenous flow in batch mixture resulted in improved stabilisation in furnace bottom temperature.

Previously there were fluctuations in the temperature profile of the molten glass as the dry batch entered the furnace, which meant additional charger adjustment was required.

The DBO2013 programme improved the batch wetting process and created a homogeneous flow in batch charging with stable furnace bottom temperature and no additional fuel consumption.

As a result, there was no need for the operators to adjust charger gate settings to compensate for uneven heating.

The three bottom sensors in the melter temperature profile showed a marked improvement with the DBO2013 programme. The crown temperature showed a downward trend, which implied an impact of lower moisture and less fuel usage inside the furnace (see Fig. 2).

The stack output showed no major change under the Nalco DBO programme.

Continued>>

46 Glass International December/January 2016

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Batch plant

Fuel savings

Summary

There was a downward trend in overall plant fuel usage durng the trial period.

Fig. 3 shows that fuel usage (in MMBTU/ton) was reduced by 3.4% on average when running the DBO2013 programme under stable conditions.

An average 0.21 MMBTU/ ton of saving was attributed to Nalco DBO programme implementation. Notably, this energy saving was well beyond the energy saving attributable to reduced moisture and vaporising that moisture (about 0.055 MMBTU/ton).

Additional savings are likely linked to improved batch homogeneity and improved log formation and angle of repose.

In relation to the KPIs that were outlined as a baseline for monitoring the programme, the following results were obtained: r 37% reduction in average moisture content of the dry batch mixture (Fig. 1). r Improvement in melter thermal profile clearly demonstrated (Fig. 2). r Fuel savings on average of 3.4% or 0.21 MMBTU/ton (Fig. 3). r Glass quality maintained; no quality control issues detected during the Nalco DBO programme based on defects per 100 ft2 (Fig. 4). r Reduced routine maintenance; chargers remained relatively clean without deposition. Only a slight pluggage occurred on the metal grating on top of the charge hopper. r No adverse impact in stack output detected after the startup of the batch wetting programme.

Nalco DBO2013 did not have any adverse impacts on the glass production quality.

Fig. 4 indicates a stable trend in quality defects. The occasional spikes recorded in the trend chart were caused by operational changes that had no correlation with the DBO programme.

Although there were signs of slight gain in glass quality, the batch wetting additive had no overall impact on edgelites, optical distortion and glass chemistry.

No substantial stone lines or carryover issue were observed during the deployment of the DBO programme.

When the batch moisture was reduced below the optimum to 3.8%, an increase in defects was detected.

As water was added back to batch wetting, the defects dropped to below 2 per 100 ft2.

in Pressure Testing

From an economic point of view, the Nalco DBO2013 programme is designed to improve the batch wetting process and reduce water use with a homogeneous dry batch mixture.

Based on optimal conditions within the trial period, the detailed calculations of total cost of operation reduction are listed in Table 1. r

*Sr. Industry Technical Consultant, Manufacturing Industry Support Team Nalco, an Ecolab company, Illinois, USA www.nalco.ecolab.com

Glass furnace production (tons/day)

718

Operator hours saved per week (cleaning feed system/uplugging chutes, etc.)

1.67

Reduced labour associated with system component cleaning/year @$13/hr.

$ 1,129

Reduced maintenance cost for mixer clean-up (not yet quantified)

TBD

Reduced maintenance cost for charger rebuilds (not yet quantified)

TBD

Reduced labour and maintenance subtotal

$1,129 +

Batch moisture prior to Nalco DBO programme - %

6.5%

Batch moisture with Nalco DBO Programme - %

4.0%

Water reduction with Nalco programme lbs/day

35,900

Cost of water - $/Kgal

$ 2.50

Annual water savings with Nalco DBO programme

$3,926

Fuel reduction related to reduced moisture with Nalco DBO programme-BTU/day

39,920,800

Cost of fuel - $/MBTU

5.16

Annual fuel savings due to reduced moisture with Nalco programme-$/year

$75,187

Actual measured fuel energy use reduction (0.21 MM BTU/Ton) -- MM BTU’s

55,035

Total fuel savings measure (per year)

$283,979

Calculated fuel savings due to factors other than moisture reduction

$208,792

Total annual fuel and water savings with DBO programme

$287,905

Total annual savings with Nalco programme - $/year

$289,034

Typical programme cost / year

$75,000

Net TCO reduction savings with Nalco DBO programme

$214,034

z Table 1: A summary of the total cost of operation reduction under optimal conditions with the Nalco DBO

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Annealing

The annealing of cellular glass Hans Strauven* discusses the annealing of cellular glass, a process which is integral to the design and operation of a foamed glass plant.

principle) possible with the float method.

In the case of moulds, the foamed blocks can be annealed vertically in the same way as hollow glass in a forced convection lehr. For continuous production a lehr is used (Fig. 1). This principle is also used for float and flat glass down to 400°C. In all cases, annealing is a critical issue, which takes a lot of time in the production cycle. In that way, long lehrs (annealing furnaces) are required for a large capacity production line, generating a lot of CAPEX. A typical cooling time is around 18 hours, compared with three hours foaming time. As a consequence, in the case of continuous production where annealing happens horizontally, it is clear that rather long lehrs are needed for a perfect annealing. A good understanding of the annealing of cellular glass is of major importance, so as to avoid overdimensioning of the lehr.

The good annealing of cellular glass has a different meaning than, for example, the good annealing of float glass. In the case of float glass, the ribbon has to reach the cold end unbroken and good cutting must be possible. In the case of cellular glass, good annealing is considered when the following conditions are all fulfilled:

T2 T3 T4

TEMPERATURE

∆t

T5

Calculating the annealing In order to eliminate extensive and expensive trial and error, there is a need to develop a calculation programme for annealing which involves the following: r Calculation of the temperature distribution in the foam during the cooling; r Calculation of the thermal strain relaxation during the glass transition; r Calculation of the temporary and residual strain; r Checking whether the maximum strain is not exceeded.

Fig. 2 shows a finite element algorithm for the above calculation.

For the calculation of the temperature distribution, a one-dimensional approximation was assumed, therefore it is assumed that the ribbon (block) has an endless width and length.

Continued>>

THICKNESS

T1

r The ware leaves the lehr unbroken and can be ground or cut to the requested dimensions without breakage; r It must be possible many months, even years, after production to saw and grind without generating breakage.

T6 LAYER

TIME

 Fig 1. Continuous foaming furnace and

z Fig 2. Linearisation of the plate and temperature

lehr for cellular glass.

curve.

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C

ellular glass (or foamed glass) is the oldest solid man-made foam. I.I. Kitaygorodskiy, a Soviet scientist, made the first public reports in 1932.

Two years later, a French scientist, B. Long, working at Saint-Gobain, reported about the foaming of glass after having filed a patent in 1933 with a priority date of 1932. Cellular glass can be used for thermal insulation, acoustic absorption and as a kinetic energy absorber.

It can be produced as a closed cell foam or open cell foam, depending on the recipe that is used. The most popular application is thermal insulation with closed cell foams. Pure waste glass can be foamed at 800°C with glycerin, while special glass compositions are usually foamed with carbon black.

Cellular glass can be produced in moulds or as an endless ribbon, which is generally called the continuous process.

Production started in moulds a long time ago, while today the continuous process becomes ever more popular due to the large dimensions that are possible.

In fact, the same evolution is seen as with window glass: in the past only small glass plates were available, while today up to 5m length and width glass panes are (in

49 Glass International December/January 2016

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Annealing

Annealing cellular glass net 15cm gross 18cm 600

0.0003

temperature surface temperature centre strain surface

500

0.0002

strain centre

0.0001

300

0

200

-0.0001

100

-0.0002

0

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Strain * (1 Poisson ration)

Temperature (°C)

strain LIMIT 400

-0.0003

Time (hours)

www.glass-international.com

z Fig 3. Calculation of the strain during cooling.

The block is assumed to be composed of many thin layers. We approximate the temperature curve with a staircase curve with finite time steps. For each step, let the heat flow during a finite small time step, as given by the temperature gradients over each layer.

After this step, calculate the temperature change with the transported heat to each layer and the heat capacity.

With the new temperatures after each step, the newly generated thermal strain with the thermal expansion coefficient of the glass. This newly generated strain is allowed to relax viscous during the finite time step. This numerical approach allows working with a temperature dependent thermal conductivity, specific heat (thermal diffusivity), thermal expansion coefficient and viscosity, without having to solve large mathematical problems.

In this way, the temporary strain during cooling and the residual strain born after cooling can be calculated.

The thermal expansion and viscosity depend strongly on the thermal history being responsible for the structural residual stress. Typical glass is annealed in several minutes while cellular glass takes several hours.

In the latter case, it is assumed that the glass is in equilibrium during cooling, and so an equilibrium viscosity and expansion coefficient can be used. In case soda lime glass is foamed, these parameters are extensively measured and published.

In case of normal glass, it is the habit to work with thermal stress instead

of thermal strain, although they are connected with the elasticity modulus and the Poisson ratio. In case of a cellular solid, the elasticity modulus depends on the density, while the Poisson ratio for foam can range between 0.1 and 0.5. In a first approximation, we can assume that the glass (on the level of the cell wall) breaks at a certain strain, independent of the density of the foam. This allows work with a limit strain (instead of stress) for all densities foamed from the same glass

Net thickness (cm)

After cooling, the internal temperature equilibration induces the residual stress, being at a maximum level after several hours.

As can be expected, the quadratic strain depends on the thickness. Table 1 gives the minimum annealing times required for different thicknesses based on Glapor ware. Glapor is a producer of cellular glass and builds cellular glass production plants around the world. These times have to be compared with a typical foaming time of about two hours. If a net width of 5m is asumed(in our opinion, this is around the limit for reasons of furnace and roller stability), the length of the lehr for a capacity of 100m³/day cellular glass in the case of continuous foaming for several thicknesses can be calculated.

Industrial cellular glass thermal insulation, such as pipe shells and elbows, are today cut or ground from well annealed foamed blocks, which induces a lot of waste.

For reasons of thermal stress, a pipe shell or elbow in cellular glass is never thicker than 5cm. Therefore, as has already been suggested by Demidovich, it is more logical to foam these particular shapes directly in a specially shaped mould. As an extra advantage, these pipe shells or elbows already have a skin, making them less sensitive to frost.

Because the annealing of thin objects is not critical, it should even be possible to foam and anneal these particular shapes

Gross thickness

Annealing time

ribbon (cm)

(hours)

Length lehrs (m)

4

7

2.3

47

10

13

7.8

65

12

15

10.4

72

14

17

13.4

80

15

18

15.0

83

16

19

16.7

87

18

21

20.4

95

20

23

24.5

102

Table 1. Estimation of annealing times and lehr lengths for a certain net thickness

composition. In the case of soda lime glass, we can work with a safe strain limit of about 300µ.

With the above programme, the strain for all temperature curves possible can be calculated. Fig. 3 is an example as based on an imaginary type of cellular glass.

The annealing curve for (cellular) glass starts with a homogeneous cooling to the annealing point of the glass.

Furthermore, we have a slow (but homogeneous) cooling to 480°C. Below that temperature, the cooling rate is increased to generate temporary strain.

in the same furnace directly at the job site, eliminating a large part of the cost, because only glass powder has to be transported.

A good understanding of the annealing of cellular glass is of major importance for the design and operation of a foamed glass plant. r

*R&D manager, Glapor Werk, Mitterteich, Germany www.glapor.com

50 Glass International December/January 2016

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C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Environment

Researchers and designers from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute have developed a façade element for glass fronts that will reduce energy consumption by harnessing solar thermal energy. z Fig 1. The façade element operates using integrated shape-memory alloys and so doesn’t require an external power source. © Bára Finnsdóttir | Weißensee School of Art Berlin.

Saving energy with smart façades I

Thermally reactive glass façades “We don’t need any power since we can rely solely on thermal energy to control the façade element,” stated André Bucht, Researcher and Department Head at Fraunhofer IWU. “The challenge in this project was how to bring together innovative technology and design,” added Prof. Christiane Sauer from the Weissensee School of Art. “Having designers and scientists work together is the key to pioneering concepts for smart building envelopes.”

The demonstrator is based on a concept by design student Bára Finnsdottir, and consists of a matrix of 72 individual fabric components shaped

like flowers. Each textile module has shape-memory actuators integrated into it; thin 80-millimetre-long wires of nickel-titanium alloy that remember their original shape when exposed to heat. Should the façade heat up due to the sunlight falling upon it, the wires are activated and noiselessly contract to open the textile components. The exposed surface of the façade is covered and sunlight can no longer penetrate into the room. As soon as the sun disappears behind a cloud, the components close again so that the façade is transparent once more.

The effect is thanks to a special lattice arrangement in the material. “When you bend the wire, it keeps that shape. Then when you expose it to heat, it remembers the shape it had originally and returns to that position. Picture the façade element as a sort of membrane that adapts to weather conditions throughout each day and during the various seasons of the year, providing the ideal amount of shade however strong the sun,” said Bucht.

Designed for large expanses of glass, the sun shield can be attached either on the outer layer of glass or in the space between in the case of multi-layer façades.

The structure is easy to retrofit and comes with different design options, allowing the pattern, shape and colour of the individual components to be chosen.

“For instance, you might want to replace the circular design with triangles or a honeycomb arrangement. You can also control the level of sun exposure for individual sections of the façade – just the

top left area, for instance. What’s more, the membrane even fits on curved areas of glass. We’ve reached the point where the design has become independent of the shape of the building,” says the researcher.

Collaboration In the next phase of the project, the researchers want to collaborate with industry partners to develop different prototypes for private and office buildings, with the intention of testing them long-term on a detached house and on buildings at the institute. “One priority will be to design fabric elements that are stable enough to withstand any weather,” said Bucht of the work ahead.

The plan is to have versions for new builds as well as variants suitable for retrofitting onto existing buildings. The goal is for the systems to be ready for market launch by mid-2017.

But the researchers’ ideas for the façade of the future do not end there. Future plans include climate functions for the façade element, for instance variable heat insulation. “It might be possible to store solar thermal energy and then release it when needed to heat the interior, for instance at night. Another idea is to coat the flower fabric components with malleable, organic solar cells in order to generate electricity that can be used within the building.”

*Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft research organisation, Munich, Germany. www.fraunhofer.de/

www.glass-international.com

n Germany, buildings account for almost 40% of all energy use. Heating, cooling and ventilating homes, offices and public spaces is expensive – and offices with huge glass façades are one of the worst offenders in terms of energy waste.

In the summer, these buildings begin to resemble giant greenhouses that take an enormous amount of effort to cool, while in winter heating requirements shoot up because of insufficient heat insulation for the glass surfaces.

In a bid to cut energy consumption, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU in Dresden have teamed up with the Department of Textile and Surface Design at Weissensee School of Art in Berlin to develop façade components that respond autonomously to sunlight and its thermal energy.

53 Glass International December/January 2016

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Events world

Glass Technology comes to the UK To celebrate the Society of Glass Technology’s (SGT) centenary, this year’s CelSian–NCNG International Glass Technology Course will take place in Sheffield, UK, from February 29th–March 4th 2016.

C

around the world. All presentations will be formatted in PowerPoint and will be in English. All participants will receive an 800-page text book (800 pages) and a PDF copy of the slides used during the course.

The course focuses on the following subjects: r Glass structure and glass (melt) properties; r Raw materials for glass; r Melting processes in glass furnaces r Glass furnace design, operation and control; r Energy efficiency of glass furnaces & emissions; r Recycling of glass; and r Glass defects and glass quality.

The course is intended for experienced

engineers in the glass industry to receive a more detailed understanding of glass production, entrants in the glass producing industry, and related suppliers and young glass technologists and scientists. It is of a high technical and academic level.

The five day training course costs £2850 per participant. This includes an introductory e-learning course, lunches and drinks during the breaks, two dinner invitations but excludes taxes/duties, hotel accommodation and travel costs. r

Registration is now open and participants are limited to 25. http://tinyurl.com/UKcourse2016-Registration

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elSian Glass & Solar has organised its glass technology training course alongside the National Committee Netherlands Glass industry (NCNG. This year it is also organised alongside Neil Simpson, of the SGT. The course focuses on industrial glass production and is open to employees of the glass manufacturing industry and related suppliers. The training course will take place at the British Glass/SGT building in Chapeltown, Sheffield.

The in-depth course covers many aspects of glass and glass production, from raw materials to formed product, including glass structure & properties and glass melting technology. Since 1990, the course has been attended by more than 1200 employees from glass sectors

54 Glass International December/January 2016

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Celsian-NCNG Glass Technology Course Five-day course held for the first time in the UK in celebration of the SGT’s centenary.

1st - 2nd March 2016 Chapeltown, Sheffield, UK CONTACT: christine@sgt.org www.sgt.org Baku Glass Catering to glass manufacturing and processing, based in the Caucasus region.

1st - 2nd March 2016 Baku, Azerbaijan CONTACT: www.glassonline.com/site/bakuglass/

INNOVATION

in Pressure Testing

International Congress on Glass conference 2016 A platform for the dissemination of glass science and technology information.

April 7th - 11th 2016 Shanghai, China.

CONTACT: icg2016@vip.sina.com www.icg2016shanghai.com China Glass 2016 Annual Chinese exhibition returns to Shanghai.

April 11th - 14th 2016 Shanghai New International Exhibition Centre, Shanghai, China.

CONTACT: ceramsoc@163.com www.chinaglass-expo.com Glassman Middle East 2016 The Glassman exhibition and conference returns to the Middle East for the first time since 2009.

May 10th - 11th 2016 Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, UAE. CONTACT: jeremyfordrey@quartzltd.com kenclark@quartzltd.com www.glassmanevents.com Glass Stress Summer School 2016 An intensive two-day course containing lectures,equipment demonstrations, practical stress measurements and informal discusions.

May 27th - 28th 2016 Nordic Hotel Forum, Tallinn, Estonia CONTACT: aben@glasstress.com www.glasstress.com

Introducing the SPT2 the most advanced volume and pressure measurement system available today.

Mir Stekla 2016 Annual Russian exhibition.

June 6th - 9th 2016 Moscow Expo Centre, Pavilion Number 2,Russia, .

CONTACT:re@expocentr.ru www.mirstekla-expo.ru/ ESG 2016/SGT 100 conference 2016 marks the SGT’s centenary year and it will celebrate with events including a return to the university for its annual conference.

September 5th - 9th 2016 University of Sheffield, UK. CONTACT: www.esg2016.eu

• 270 bottles per hour throughput • No job change • Lab-precision volume measurement at the line

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