Furnace Innovations

Oxy-Fuel Glass Melting Technology
Advanced oxy-fuel glass melting technology have been evolved which has its own advantages. The technology is aimed to reduce silica refractory corrosion, NOx formation, and SOx and particulate emissions while maintaining the high heat transfer and energy efficiency of oxy-fuel glass melting.

The new designs also intend to reduce the concentration of alkali vapors that can corrode silica refractory. Volatilazation of the alkali vapor is the main cause of particulate emission. The tall crown design also reduces particulate emissions. The bulk concentration of alkali vapors are reduced by 50% through the use of a tall crown. It also improves temperature uniformity on the glass melt and refractory surfaces. The furnace heat transfer of the furnace and the energy efficiencies remain the same by better radiative heat transfer in the Tall Crown Furnace.

More Oxygen Use in Electric Arc Furnace
In past few years there has been rising trend in the use of oxygen in an electric arc furnace. Electrical energy is complimented by chemical energy which reduces power-on time and enables increased productivity and cost reduction. In the recent years the average oxygen input per ton of steel has been increasing across a variety of electric arc furnace.

However the amount of oxygen that can be utilized in the EAF process is limited by how much oxygen the process is capable of accepting. The steel makers are making considerable profit by the use of a more efficient method of oxygen introduction.

Mantle Research Makes Retort Furnace More Productive
In Retort furnaces there is a mantle jacket which surrounds a retort vessel which are widely used to generate high temperatures for the metal-processing, chemical-processing, and heat-treating industries. However the heat transfer rates in this type of furnace is low with poor energy efficiency which have limited the number of successful commercial applications.

A breakthrough in this furnace has been achieved with the introduction of a new porous wall radiation barrier (PWRB) heating mantle. This has significantly increased the heat-transfer rates over both the existing gas-fired heating mantle and the electrically heated mantle.

In this latest design, combustion gas flows via porous wall which surrounds the retort, thereby transferring heat by conduction and convection to the porous wall, which then radiates heat back to the retort. This innovation has increased the heat transfer rate and hence the productivity.