Praxair, in collaboration with Heye Glas, has developed an advanced oxy-fuel glass melting technology, termed "Tall Crown Furnace" (TCF) technology, to reduce silica refractory corrosion, NO_X emissions, SO_X emissions and paniculate emissions while maintaining the high heat transfer and energy efficiency of oxy-fuel glass melting. The technology has been successfully implemented by Heye International into the engineering design of three commercial oxy-fuel fired container glass furnaces. The first furnace was lit off in early 1996 and currently has reached a campaign life of about 8 and a half years (over 9000 metric tons of glass pulled per square meter of the meiter area) without major silica corrosion problems. The furnace is expected to operate for a total furnace campaign of 10 to 11 years with the original silica crown, with overcoat repair near the end of this period. The furnace has also demonstrated a high heat transfer rate and an excellent energy efficiency with a productivity as high as 3.5 metric tpd/m~2 (2.8 ft~2/tpd) without electric boost and a specific energy consumption of about 815 kcal/kg (3.3 MMBtu/ton) for flint glass with 60 percent cullet. The second and the third furnaces have adopted the same furnace design and have operated about six and four years respectively with furnace performance, similar to the first furnace.
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