A furnace for melting vitrifiable material, in particular glass, employs a submerged burner, the furnace including a wall cooled by a cooling fluid, the face of the wall facing toward the interior of the furnace having, before vitrifiable material is melted in the furnace, an attachment texture for so-called self-crucible devitrified vitrifiable material.

An apparatus for refining molten glass that includes a housing having a vertically oriented longitudinal axis and a transverse axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. Molten glass is received at an upper end of the housing and is discharged from a lower end of the housing. A guide extends at least partway across the housing and directs molten glass in a generally downward direction through the housing and in a parallel or oblique direction relative to the transverse axis of the housing.

A process and apparatus for manufacturing glass. A mixture of solid glass-forming materials comprising at least one fining agent are introduced into a doghouse located upstream of an elongated tank. The glass-forming materials are melted in the doghouse at a temperature at or above a fining-onset temperature of the at least one fining agent by application of heat from one or more submerged combustion burners. The resulting molten glass is relatively foamy and may comprise greater than 25 vol. % gas bubbles. The molten glass is directed from the doghouse into an upstream end of the tank where it is refined to produce molten glass having on average less than 20 seeds per ounce.

Continuous basalt fibers are produced by melting basalt rock in a submerged combustion melter, and by forming said melt into continuous basalt fibers.

Submerged combustion methods and systems including a melter equipped with an exhaust passage through the ceiling or the sidewall having an aggregate hydraulic diameter. Submerged combustion burners configured to create turbulent conditions in substantially all of the material being melted, and produce ejected portions of melted material. An exhaust structure including a liquid-cooled exhaust structure defining a liquid-cooled exhaust chamber having a cross-sectional area greater than that of the exhaust stack but less than the melter. The exhaust passage and liquid-cooled exhaust structure configured to maintain temperature and pressure of the exhaust, and exhaust velocity through the exhaust passage and the exhaust structure, at values sufficient to prevent the ejected material portions of melted material from being propelled out of the exhaust structure as solidified material, and maintain any molten materials contacting the first interior surface molten so that it flows down the first interior surface into the melter.

The invention relates to a submerged combustion burner (1) and to a melter comprising submerged combustion burners (1). The burner comprises a substantially parallelepipedic body, the melt oriented face of which shows a longitudinal slot, two opposite walls of the slot comprising a series of nozzles each supplied separately with fuel and oxygen containing gas. The slot advantageously shows a narrow opening comprised between 10 and 30 mm, preferably between 15 and 25 mm, most preferably about 20 mm. The burner is advantageously made of steel plates, preferably high temperature resistant steel. The walls of the slot as well as the melt oriented face of the burner are advantageously cooled. According to the invention, the parallelepipedic burner body comprises a first external longitudinal volume showing a generally U-shaped cross-section and a second internal longitudinal volume fitted within the said first external longitudinal volume, showing also a generally U-shaped cross-section, one of the longitudinal volumes comprising a connection to a supply of oxygen and the other comprising a connection to a supply of fuel gas. The ends of the branches of the longitudinal volumes are connected to the burner nozzles. A flange is arranged around the parallelepipedic burner body at a distance from the melt oriented face of said body.

A burner for a facility for melting vitrifiable materials, includes an injector block including a combustion gas distribution network and at least one injector, and a plate in glass and/or flame contact which overlaps the injector block and includes at least one injection hole in fluid communication with the injector, wherein the plate is removably attached to the injector block.

A submerged combustion melting system (90) includes a submerged combustion melter (100) having a housing with one or more side walls (104), a floor (106), and a ceiling (108) which at least partially define a melt chamber (110). The melter has one or more main burners (128) positioned along the floor of the housing and an oxygen/gas burner in a preheat burner system (300) removably attached to one of the sidewalls or the ceiling, the oxygen/gas burner arranged such that a flame from the oxygen/gas burner is directed downward into the melt chamber.

A gas branching apparatus that branches and supplies a gas to first to N-th supply targets, includes first to N-th pipes wherein the first to N-th pipes are each branched into first to N-th branch pipes on a downstream end side, and wherein the i-th branch pipes of the respective first to N-th pipes are connected in common to the i-th supply target, and the i-th branch pipes of the respective first to N-th pipes are provided with valves, respectively, where i denotes each of integers of 1 to N.

The present invention relates to a process for producing a boron containing glass, comprising melting raw materials including boron compounds in a submerged combustion melter (11), withdrawing flue gases from said melter and recovering heat from said flue gases in appropriate heat recovery equipment prior to release into the environment.