Decarbonization by reducing energy consumption using Forglass Mixing Electrodes technology in standard and hybrid furnaces

Forglass Mixing Electrode® (FME) is a tool that turns a glass furnace into a chemical reactor, in which the operator can influence the course of reactions and phenomena that make up the melting process and thus significantly accelerate it. FME systems enable the adaptation of increased shares of electrical power in fossil operated furnaces up to 50% without changing the rules of their operation, but with a significant improvement in their efficiency. The wide range of available operating parameters of FME systems (distribution of power and gas flow rates) provide previously unknown possibilities of quick and precise impact on the melting process.

This is primarily expected during pull change, composition of glass or batch change, or troubleshooting. The synergistic interaction of vertically directed convection currents forced by FME systems with natural currents generated by density gradients significantly accelerates the processes of batch-to-glass conversion, sand dissolution and gas bubble removal, resulting in a product with higher chemical and thermal homogeneity at each of these stages. FME is not simply the sum of the functionality and advantages and disadvantages of standard electrodes and bubblers operating separately. The delivery of hot glass activated by FME systems accelerates the slowest reactions controlled by diffusion. The convective energy dissipation from vicinity of electrodes prevents refractory materials from overheating and directs the energy to the regions where it is needed, which is important in hybrid furnace. Placing gas release points at a height of 500 – 700 mm above the bottom also definitively removes the risk of erosive impact on the bottom often observed in the case of bubblers mounted in the bottom.

Keywords

mixing electrode; melting process; glass furnace