Burner systems for glass melting furnaces with recuperative air preheating

Abstract

Five different burners on an industrial scale were investigated, a standard burner and a staged burner being in industrial operation, as well as a new staged burner, a new flameless oxidation burner and an oxy-fuel burner. A comparison of heat transfer from airfuel flames with intensified heat transfer and oxy-fuel flames was carried out. The results clearly indicate that with the new burner technology it is possible to reduce the ΝΟx emission drastically, so that the 500 mg/m3 ΝΟx limit can be achieved at glass melting furnaces. With the new burners one can obtain the same size of flames as with conventional burners. The results obtained with different heat flux measurement techniques indicate that the heat flux of the new burners is in the same range as that of the conventional burner. The project yielded extensive data for characterizing the flames and the suitability of the burners for different types of glass and glass furnaces. In addition, the experimental results serve as comparison data for mathematical modeling validation.