A glass furnace includes a furnace chamber including a side wall and a bottom wall and containing a pool of glass melt having a melt level. A batch feed hopper is adjacent to the side wall of the furnace chamber to supply batch material under gravity to a bottom of the hopper. A feed opening is in the side wall of the furnace chamber and feeds batch material from the bottom of the hopper to the pool of glass melt below the melt level. A conveyor is proximate the bottom wall of the hopper and feeds the batch material from the bottom of the hopper through the feed opening and into the furnace chamber.

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.

A glass furnace includes a furnace chamber including a side wall and a bottom wall and containing a pool of glass melt having a melt level. A batch feed hopper is adjacent to the side wall of the furnace chamber to supply batch material under gravity to a bottom of the hopper. A feed opening is in the side wall of the furnace chamber and feeds batch material from the bottom of the hopper to the pool of glass melt below the melt level. A conveyor is proximate the bottom wall of the hopper and feeds the batch material from the bottom of the hopper through the feed opening and into the furnace chamber.

Fly ash and/or rice husk ash is molten in a submerged combustion melter, possibly together with fluxing agent and/or further vitrifiable material, and vitrified upon cooling.

A glass melting tank comprising at least one front part for introducing the charge material, and at least one charging device. To reduce atmospheric heat losses and reduce dust transport into the upper furnace of the tank, and nevertheless to intensify the heating of the charge material, the front part has a length LV of at least 2,250 mm in the direction of the melting tank, and a length LG of at least 1,200 mm is provided with an insulating roof. An end wall near the charging device, together with the roof, encloses a gas chamber open toward the melting tank. A characteristic value K of 3.50 tonnes (t) per hour and per square meter of surface is not exceeded. The characteristic value is calculated from P/F, where P is the throughput per hour in tonnes (t) and F is the inner surface of the front part in m.

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.

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 batch feeding apparatus, a submerged combustion melter, and method are disclosed. The batch feeding apparatus can include a batch feeding apparatus comprising a detachable feeder alcove for providing batch material to a melter, the feeder alcove including at least one side wall and a cover; and a batch feeder sealingly coupled to the cover, that feeds the batch material to the feeder alcove. The batch feeding apparatus may include an extendable panel that extends downwardly below a batch inlet of the feeder alcove to molten glass, and is configured to maintain contact with the molten glass to seal off a feeder alcove interior. Additionally, the batch feeding apparatus may include a heating device, a cleaning device, and/or a storage device.

A melting furnace feedstock charger includes a charger conduit including an inlet to receive feedstock and an outlet at an outlet portion of the charger conduit to transmit feedstock, and an auger or other feedstock mover coupled to the charger conduit to convey feedstock in a direction from the inlet toward the outlet. A gate may be detachably coupled to the outlet portion of the charger conduit and configured to be coupled directly to a wall of a melting vessel. The auger may have a helical flight with an outer diameter of varying size. A stripper may be movably carried by the charger conduit and may include a stripping tool moved by an actuator with respect to the charger conduit to facilitate transmission of feedstock and/or to strip away clogged feedstock and/or molten material.

Apparatus, system, and method for blending batch and cullet at a predetermined cullet ratio for feeding to a furnace. It includes a first hopper for holding cullet; a second hopper for holding batch; feeder associated with the second hopper; a chamber positioned to receive cullet from the first hopper, an inlet spout configured to receive cullet from the first hopper so that cullet flood feeds into the chamber to keep it constantly filled with cullet up to its angle of repose, and an outlet spout; a chute positioned to receive batch from the feeder and extending into the chamber and having a chute outlet having a diameter equal to or larger than the outlet spout; a charger for receiving mixed batch and cullet from the chamber; and a controller operatively connected to the feeder and to the charger.