Submerged combustion burners having improved fuel and oxidant mixing characteristics. Submerged combustion melters including the burners. Methods of using submerged combustion melters to melt glass-forming materials and produce molten glass.

Submerged combustion burners having improved fuel and oxidant mixing characteristics. Submerged combustion melters including the burners. Methods of using submerged combustion melters to melt glass-forming materials and produce molten glass.

Submerged combustion burners having a burner body, a burner tip connected thereto, and a protective cap and/or cladding layer. Submerged combustion melters including the burners and methods of using them to produce molten glass. The burner body has an external conduit and first and second internal conduits substantially concentric therewith, forming first and second annuli for passing a cooling fluid therethrough. The burner tip body is connected to the burner body at ends of the external and second internal conduits. The burner tip and protective cap and/or cladding layer include a generally central flow passage for a combustible mixture, the flow passage defined by an inner wall of the burner tip and protective cap.

A method of heating up a furnace bottom and a burner lance used in the method are proposed. The method of heating up the furnace bottom includes a step of opening, in the tap hole, a burner lance insertion hole having a diameter larger than a diameter of the burner lance so as to penetrate into the furnace, a step of installing the burner lance in the opened burner lance insertion hole, a step of filling a gap between the installed burner lance and a furnace exterior side of the tap hole with a refractory, and a step of blowing in gas for heating into the furnace from the burner lance to heat up the furnace bottom.

An installation for melting a composition of raw materials, suitable for obtaining glass wool, textile glass yarns and/or flat glass, includes a melting chamber equipped with at least one submerged burner, wherein the melting chamber is defined by side walls made of refractory material and a bare metal bottom traversed by a network of pipes adapted for the circulation of a cooling fluid.

The present application discloses a furnace for melting particulate materials configured with a furnace chamber, a feed hopper, a protrusion and at least one burner. The particulate materials fall along the protrusion into a melting tank, and flue gas generated by the burner flows upwardly, thereby preheating the particulate materials. The process of utilizing the flue gas to preheat the particulate materials begins with the flue gas in the high temperature section. The efficiency of preheating the particulate materials with the flue gas greatly improves and the heat loss reduces.