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 furnace system includes a furnace and a preheater configured to preheat material before it enters the furnace. The system further includes a duct system including a mixing chamber disposed between the furnace and preheater. The duct system further includes an exhaust duct in fluid communication with an exhaust fluid outlet of the furnace and configured to vent fluid exhausted from the furnace. The exhaust duct is in fluid communication with the mixing chamber and configured to redirect a portion of the fluid exhausted from the furnace to the mixing chamber. The duct system further includes a preheater duct in fluid communication with the mixing chamber and a fluid inlet of the preheater and configured to direct fluid from the mixing chamber to the preheater. The system further includes a duct scraper configured for movement within the mixing chamber to move particulates from the mixing chamber into the exhaust duct.

A thermochemical regenerator system is operated without encountering accumulation of unwanted solids on the interior surfaces of the passages through which flue gas passes.

Processes of controlling submerged combustion melters, and systems for carrying out the methods. One process includes feeding vitrifiable material into a melter vessel, the melter vessel including a fluid-cooled refractory panel in its floor, ceiling, and/or sidewall, and heating the vitrifiable material with a burner directing combustion products into the melting zone under a level of the molten material in the zone. Burners impart turbulence to the molten material in the melting zone. The fluid-cooled refractory panel is cooled, forming a modified panel having a frozen or highly viscous material layer on a surface of the panel facing the molten material, and a sensor senses temperature of the modified panel using a protected thermocouple positioned in the modified panel shielded from direct contact with turbulent molten material. Processes include controlling the melter using the temperature of the modified panel. Other processes and systems are presented.

Method of producing molten glass and system therefor, including providing a glass melting furnace configured to melt a glass sample, the glass sample including glass batch material including soda ash, or cullet or post-consumer cullet, or any combination of batch material, cullet and post-consumer cullet. The method includes introducing glass sample into a chamber of a rotary drum heat exchanger having at least one heat exchange tube; introducing the exhaust gas into the tube; causing a transfer of heat from the exhaust gas in the tube to the glass sample in the chamber to volatilize any organic impurities in the glass sample, heat the glass sample and evaporate water from the glass sample to dry it, the evaporated water forming water vapor in the chamber; contacting the dried sample with the water vapor; and discharging the dried sample from the rotary drum heat exchanger and introducing it into the furnace.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method of making a mineral melt, the method comprising the steps of providing a circulating combustion chamber (1); injecting fuel, preheated mineral material and combustion gas into the circulating combustion chamber (1); combusting the fuel in the circulating combustion chamber (1) thereby melting the mineral material to form a mineral melt and generating exhaust gases; separating the exhaust gases from the mineral melt, collecting the mineral melt (9) and passing the exhaust gases (10) to a heat exchange system, the method being characterised in that the mineral material comprises a first mineral material and a second mineral material wherein the first mineral material has a higher sintering temperature than the second mineral material and the first and second mineral materials are provided separately to the heat exchange system, wherein the first mineral material is preheated through contact with the exhaust gases and subsequently the second mineral material is preheated through contact with the exhaust gases and the preheated first mineral material.

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.

An optimized gasification/vitrification processing system having a gasification unit which converts organic materials to a hydrogen rich gas and ash in communication with a joule heated vitrification unit which converts the ash formed in the gasification unit into glass, and a plasma which converts elemental carbon and products of incomplete combustion formed in the gasification unit into a hydrogen rich gas.

Method of producing molten glass and system therefor, including providing a glass melting furnace configured to melt a glass sample, the glass sample including glass batch material including soda ash, or cullet or post-consumer cullet, or any combination of batch material, cullet and post-consumer cullet. The method includes introducing glass sample into a chamber of a rotary drum heat exchanger having at least one heat exchange tube; introducing the exhaust gas into the tube; causing a transfer of heat from the exhaust gas in the tube to the glass sample in the chamber to volatilize any organic impurities in the glass sample, heat the glass sample and 10 evaporate water from the glass sample to dry it, the evaporated water forming water vapor in the chamber; contacting the dried sample with the water vapor; and discharging the dried sample from the rotary drum heat exchanger and introducing it into the furnace.

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.