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.

The invention includes systems and methods for melting materials to make glass and other materials subject to electric melting that improve the capacity of the melters and/or the melt quality and/or the melting costs and/or the life of tank melters. These systems and methods use one or more of boosting with one or more streams of super hot melt coming from one or more boosting melters, cooling one or more components of one or more of the melters normally cooled using water with a high temperature cooling fluid or fluid suspension and protecting the normally high wear areas of refractory linings by covering those high wear areas with one or more strips of a corrosion and oxidation resistant metal or alloy useful above 2400 degrees F.

A system and method of controlling a metal melting process in a melting furnace, including determining at least one furnace parameter characterizing a melting furnace, adding a charge containing solid metal into the melting furnace, detecting at least one charge parameter characterizing the charge, firing a burner into the melting furnace to provide heat to melt the charge, and exhausting burner combustion products from the furnace, detecting at least one process parameter characterizing progress of melting the charge, calculating a furnace efficiency based on the at least one furnace parameter, calculating a predicted process pour readiness time based on the at least one charge parameter, the at least one process parameter, and the furnace efficiency, and controlling the metal melting process based on the predicted process pour readiness time.

A method of fabrication of arsenic glass, comprising forming pellets of an arsenic-containing glass-forming mixture comprising arsenic in a range between about 30 and about 50% w/w and glass forming elements, and melting the pellets by direct heating to a temperature in a range between about 950 and about 1250 C.

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.

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.

Systems and methods for controlling the flow of vitrified material. In at least some embodiments, a vitrified material control system comprises a melt chamber (8) configured to contain a molten material (27) during operation of the control system; a siphon valve (11) configured to facilitate a flow of the molten material from the melt chamber; and a vacuum-generation system (26, 15, 16) configured to controllably deliver a vacuum to the molten material in the melt chamber and to thereby regulate a flow of the molten material from the melt chamber. In other embodiments, methods of controlling a flow of molten vitrified material from a heating device are disclosed. The methods may include, for example, applying a vacuum to the molten material to control a dwell time of the molten material in a vessel of the heating device and regulating the vacuum based on a measured temperature of the molten material.

Systems and methods for generation of porous silicate aggregates are disclosed. For example, the manufacturing systems may include a conveyor element, multiple hoppers positioned over a first section of the conveyor element, one or more derricks and/or holding elements to move and/or hold the hoppers, a kiln positioned with respect to a second portion of the conveyor element, and/or computing components to allow for control of the components of the system. The system may produce single-layer products in a continuous fashion, multi-layered products having multiple physical and/or chemical properties, and/or more than one product at a time.

Systems and methods for generation of porous silicate aggregates are disclosed. For example, the manufacturing systems may include a conveyor element, multiple hoppers positioned over a first section of the conveyor element, one or more derricks and/or holding elements to move and/or hold the hoppers, a kiln positioned with respect to a second portion of the conveyor element, and/or computing components to allow for control of the components of the system. The system may produce single-layer products in a continuous fashion, multi-layered products having multiple physical and/or chemical properties, and/or more than one product at a time.

Continuous flow submerged combustion melter cooling wall panels, including a primary metal plate, and several 90 degree metal pieces welded to the primary metal plate in parallel configuration, each of the 90 degree metal pieces having metal leg plates forming a 90 degree vertex there between. Each metal leg plate has an edge distal to the vertex, the distal edge of the first metal leg plate welded to the first major surface of the primary metal plate, the distal edge of the second metal leg plate welded to the vertex of an adjacent 90 degree metal piece. The plurality of 90 degree metal pieces may have a length (l) such that l<L, each welded to the primary metal plate in staggered configuration to form, along with first and second end plates and a seal plate, a serpentine continuous flow coolant channel.