Disclosed is an apparatus and method of making molten glass. The apparatus includes a vessel for conveying the molten glass and at least one flange configured to supply an electric current to the vessel through the flange, the flange including a first ring extending completely around the vessel in a closed loop, the first ring comprising a first portion including a first thickness and a second portion including a second thickness different from the first thickness, wherein the first portion and the second portion overlap in a plane of the flange such that at least a portion of the first portion is positioned between at least a portion of the second portion and the vessel wall, and neither the first portion nor the second portion extends completely around the vessel. Also disclosed is a method of making glass using the disclosed flange.

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.

Provided is a glass product manufacturing apparatus. The glass product manufacturing apparatus includes a furnace including a gas heating zone and an electric heating zone, a first heat exchange module configured to recover heat from the furnace, and a pump configured to drive flow of a heat transfer medium fluid passing through the first heat exchange module, wherein at least a part of the first heat exchange module is thermally coupled with at least a part of an external surface of the electric heating zone. The glass product manufacturing apparatus may reduce defect rate while exhibiting high energy efficiency.

Provided is a glass product manufacturing apparatus. The glass product manufacturing apparatus includes a furnace including a gas heating zone and an electric heating zone, a first heat exchange module configured to recover heat from the furnace, and a pump configured to drive flow of a heat transfer medium fluid passing through the first heat exchange module, wherein at least a part of the first heat exchange module is thermally coupled with at least a part of an external surface of the electric heating zone. The glass product manufacturing apparatus may reduce defect rate while exhibiting high energy efficiency.

Glass melting process including the introduction of a vitrifiable solid charge into a furnace, heating and melting of charge thereby obtaining molten glass. Discharging the molten glass from the furnace and discharging a CO.sub.2-containing gaseous effluent from the furnace. The charge having at least one carbonate undergoing a dissociation reaction and releasing gaseous CO.sub.2 when heated and melted. The gaseous effluent discharged from the furnace being used to produce, at least one additive in the form of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal carbonate, at least a part of which is incorporated in the charge which is introduced into the furnace.

Glass melting process including the introduction of a vitrifiable solid charge into a furnace, heating and melting of charge thereby obtaining molten glass. Discharging the molten glass from the furnace and discharging a CO.sub.2-containing gaseous effluent from the furnace. The charge having at least one carbonate undergoing a dissociation reaction and releasing gaseous CO.sub.2 when heated and melted. The gaseous effluent discharged from the furnace being used to produce, at least one additive in the form of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal carbonate, at least a part of which is incorporated in the charge which is introduced into the furnace.

Embodiments disclosed herein include methods and systems for melting or augmenting a melt rate of material in a melter using electromagnetic radiation with a frequency between 0.9 GHz and 10 GHz. In some examples, a power and/or frequency of radiation used may be selected so as to control a temperature of a cold cap in the melter while maintaining emissions from the melter below a threshold level. In this manner, examples described herein may provide for efficient and safe melting and vitrification of radioactive wastes.

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.

A glass fining system, multi-stage vacuum housing, and method are disclosed. The glass fining system includes a multi-stage vacuum housing comprising a first melt receipt tank configured to receive molten material, where the first melt receipt tank is disposed in a first vacuum chamber; a first refining channel configured to flow the molten material from the first melt receipt tank through a second vacuum chamber; a second melt receipt tank configured to receive the molten material from the first refining channel, where the second melt receipt tank is disposed in a third vacuum chamber; and a second refining channel configured to flow the molten material from the second melt receipt tank and through a fourth vacuum chamber; and a glass melter coupled to the multi-stage vacuum housing.

The present invention is directed to a vertical volcanic rock melting furnace having a reduced spatial footprint relative to prior art furnaces. The melting furnace includes a top melting section, which raises the temperature of a charge above the liquidus temperature, a middle cooling section configured to reduce the temperature of the melt, and a bottom conditioning section configured to maintain the melt above a crystallization temperature before the melt is distributed to one or more bushing plates to extrude into fibers. The top melting section and the bottom conditioning sections are surrounding by induction coils for inductively raising the temperature of the melt.