WASTE HEAT RECOVERY AT THE GLASS INDUSTRY WITH THE INTERVENTION OF BATCH AND CULLET PREHEATING

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