A feed assembly for a melting chamber having a plurality of walls and at least one submerged burner, and related methods of its operation are disclosed. The feed assembly includes a tubular body being hollow and having a first end and extending to a second end. The second end is for connecting to one of the plurality of walls. The tubular body further includes a port proximate the second end wherein the port has a first port end and tapers radially inwardly to a second port end at the second end. The feed assembly also has a batch charger disposed within the tubular body and having a first charger end and extending to a second charger end.

A method of melting glass and glass-ceramics that includes the steps: conveying a batch of raw materials into a submerged combustion melting apparatus, the melting apparatus having liquid-cooled walls and a floor; directing a flame into the batch of raw materials and the melted batch with sufficient energy to form the raw materials into the melted batch; and heating a delivery orifice assembly in the floor of the submerged melting apparatus to convey the melted batch through the orifice assembly into a containment vessel. The melted batch has a glass or glass-ceramic composition that is substantially reactive to a refractory material comprising one or more of silica, zirconia, alumina, platinum and platinum alloys.

A method and an apparatus for making a mineral melt having a cyclone furnace and a separating cyclone, the apparatus having a device for supplying pre-heated particulate mineral material from a bottom of the separating cyclone to an inlet of the cyclone furnace. A material receiving conduit adapted for receiving the pre-heated particulate mineral material from the bottom outlet of the separating cyclone, in which the material receiving conduit has a first pressure. An outlet conduit supplying the particulate mineral material to the inlet of the cyclone furnace having a second pressure, wherein the second pressure is higher than the first pressure, and the particulate mineral material is fluidised and flows from the material receiving conduit to the outlet conduit. A gas-lock valve is provided between the material receiving conduit and the outlet conduit.

A method for controlling a plant for melting a raw-material composition, suitable for obtaining mineral wool, cullet, textile glass yarns and/or flat glass or container glassware, which includes a melting chamber suitable for melting the composition, wherein the composition includes at least one wet mixture of mineral wool and/or biomass, and the method includes controlling at least one physical variable that has an impact on the output of the melting chamber, the controlling being carried out as a function of the moisture content of the composition and/or of the wet mixture, as measured before introduction of the composition and/or of the wet mixture into the melting chamber.

Processes and systems for producing molten glass using submerged combustion melters, including densifying an initial composition comprising vitrifiable particulate solids and interstitial gas to form a densified composition comprising the solids by removing a portion of the interstitial gas from the composition. The initial composition is passed from an initial environment having a first pressure through a second environment having a second pressure higher than the first pressure to form a composition being densified. Any fugitive particulate solids escaping from the composition being densified are captured and recombined with the composition being densified to form the densified composition. The densified composition is fed into a feed inlet of a turbulent melting zone of a melter vessel and converted into turbulent molten material using at least one submerged combustion burner in the turbulent melting zone.

A method of melting glass and glass-ceramics that includes the steps: conveying a batch of raw materials into a submerged combustion melting apparatus, the melting apparatus having liquid-cooled walls and a floor; directing a flame into the batch of raw materials and the melted batch with sufficient energy to form the raw materials into the melted batch; and heating a delivery orifice assembly in the floor of the submerged melting apparatus to convey the melted batch through the orifice assembly into a containment vessel. The melted batch has a glass or glass-ceramic composition that is substantially reactive to a refractory material comprising one or more of silica, zirconia, alumina, platinum and platinum alloys.

A feeding device for a glass melting plant, having a sealing device and at least one movement device, the movement device executing a cyclical movement during operation of the feeding device, and being guided along at least one feedthrough through the sealing device. Adjacent to an open area of each feedthrough at least one gas nozzle is situated on the side of the sealing device facing away from the glass melting plant in such a way that the gas flowing out from the at least one gas nozzle reduces the quantity of dust and/or exhaust gases that moves out of the glass melting plant through the respective feedthrough to the side of the sealing device facing away from the glass melting plant.

A feed assembly having a hollow tubular body and a batch charger disposed within the hollow tubular body is disclosed. The hollow tubular body extends along a central axis from a first end to a second end and, further, comprises a port that tapers from a first port end to a second port end at the second end of the tubular body. The batch charger includes a first charger end proximate the first end of the tubular body and a second charger end proximate the second end of the tubular body. The second charger end is spaced away from the second end of the tubular body to provide a port space within the port. An apparatus that includes a melting chamber and a feed assembly is also disclosed along with a method of feeding batch materials into a melting chamber.

A method and an apparatus for making a mineral melt having a cyclone furnace and a separating cyclone, said apparatus further having a device for supplying pre-heated particulate mineral material from a bottom of the separating cyclone to an inlet of the cyclone furnace. A material receiving conduit adapted for receiving the pre-heated particulate mineral material from the bottom outlet of the separating cyclone, in which the material receiving conduit has a first pressure. An outlet conduit supplying the particulate mineral material to the inlet of the cyclone furnace having a second pressure, wherein said second pressure is higher than said first pressure, and the particulate mineral material is fluidised and flows from the material receiving conduit to the outlet conduit. A gas-lock valve is provided between said material receiving conduit and said outlet conduit.

A glass furnace includes a furnace chamber for containing glass melt and a conveyor for receiving glass batch material and feeding the glass batch material to the furnace chamber. A dam wall is disposed with respect to the conveyor such that batch material from the conveyor must flow upward over the dam wall before entering the furnace chamber. The top of the dam wall may be below the level of the melt pool in the furnace chamber.