Silica wrecking material as a substitute for glassmaking sand in a container ware batch

Abstract

Industrial high-temperature processes like steel making, glass melting, cement production etc. need sintered or fused-cast refractory materials. During the operating time the reactions of the fused product and the bricks of the furnaces lead to contaminated refractory materials, which should no longer be disposed of and, therefore, have to be recycled, that means converted to raw materials for different industrial processes. Regarding these conditions the authors have tried to introduce silica bricks from the crown of glass melting furnaces and from the walls of coke ovens into the batch, replacing the glassmaking sand. First in laboratory-scale tests the melting behaviour and the optimum grain size distribution of ground silica bricks were studied. After a successful termination of these laboratory tests the results were transferred to an industrial furnace for melting container ware, replacing step by step the glass making sand without observing any stones or cords in the melted glass.