HEAT OXY-COMBUSTION: AN INNOVATIVE ENERGY SAVING SOLUTION FOR GLASS INDUSTRY

摘要

Oxy-combustion today is a mature technology and well known for higher efficiency and lower NO_x compared to air combustion even without recovering waste energy from the flue gas. Rising energy cost and more stringent environmental regulation make oxy-combustion technology more attractive. In order to take it one step further, HeatOx uses waste energy from the flue gas to preheat oxygen and natural gas to 650°C and 450°C, respectively. The technology employs air as an intermediate heat transfer fluid instead of direct heat exchange between flue gas and O_2/NG to guarantee a safe and maintenance free operation. HeatOx is a proven technology with two float glass furnace references, where 10％ fuel reduction is demonstrated compared to the traditional oxy-combustion and by up to 25％ compared to the typical regenerative air-fired furnaces. A collaborating team is implementing a new HeatOx system at an industrial scale. The main objective is to reduce CO_2 and NO_x by 23％ and 90％ compared to traditional air combustion for tableware glass production. The HeatOx technology described here is specifically adapted to container, fiber and technical glass furnaces. Special attention is given to a staged and compact burner and multi-channel oxygen and natural gas preheaters. The burner is operable without intervention with both hot and cold reactants maintaining constant flame coverage. The multi-channel preheaters feed oxygen and natural gas to multiple burners with independent control of flow rate and temperature for each burner.