27th November 2018
What effect does Emisshield’s high emissivity coatings have on the glass industry? The simple answer is, a large increase in glass production efficiency. Whether this efficiency is capitalized upon by the reduction of energy consumption for the same process or the increase in production capability while maintaining current energy usage. This efficiency is gained by the application of Emisshield’s coating on the furnace crown and breastwalls above the molten glass level inside of the melter.
This coating does not act as a thermal insulator but instead, absorbs and re-radiates the thermal energy back into the cooler glass load, with respect to the refractory wall temperature. An increase to the radiation component of this process comes at the expense of the convective component of heating. More generally speaking, the coating absorbs the convective energy from the gas and re-radiates it to the batch. This results in lower thermal shock to the furnace refractory, fewer losses through the sidewalls, and less energy carried through the flue by exhaust gases.
With all this previously wasted energy being returned to the system, adjustments must be made to the manufacturing process to safeguard continuity with the surrounding systems. Typically, this involves cutting back on the total energy supplied to the furnace to ensure the viscosity of the glass is not higher than expected for the forming stages, while maintaining the current feed rate. A good metric for success is monitoring the location where the glass batch and cullet were 100% melted before the coating was applied. The burners or heating elements must be turned down for this point to move further away from the doghouse and towards its previous location.
Fuel savings from this application range from 4 – 10% depending on the size and operation of the furnace. Glass organizations are pushing their furnace campaigns further to reach production demands; by doing this they put extra stress on the melters lining and increase their overall yearly maintenance budget. Emisshield provides innovative coating solutions that assist in decreasing production costs and protecting an organizations bottom line.
