A method of producing glass using submerged combustion melting includes supplying a combustible gas mixture to one or more submerged burners of a submerged combustion melter, combusting the combustible gas mixture supplied to the submerged burner(s) to produce combustion products, and discharging the combustion products from the submerged burner(s) directly into a glass melt contained within the submerged combustion melter to agitate and heat the glass melt. The glass melt is comprised of soda-lime-silica glass and has a redox ratio. Additionally, the disclosed method involves controlling one or more operating conditions of the submerged combustion melter selected from (1) an oxygen-to-fuel ratio of the combustible gas mixture supplied to each of the submerged burners, (2) a residence time of the glass melt, and (3) a gas flux through the glass melt.

A submerged combustion melting system includes a submerged combustion melter having a housing that defines a melting chamber and one or more vibration damping devices operatively coupled to the housing.

A method of producing glass using submerged combustion melting is disclosed. The method includes introducing a vitrifiable feed material into a glass melt contained within a submerged combustion melter. The glass melt contained in the melter has a redox ratio defined as a ratio of Fe.sup.2+ to total iron in the glass melt. The method further includes combusting a combustible gas mixture supplied to each of the submerged burners to produce combustion products, and discharging the combustion products directly into the glass melt. Still further, the method includes adjusting the redox ratio of the glass melt by controlling one or more operating conditions of the submerged combustion melter selected from (1) an oxygen-to-fuel ratio of the combustible gas mixture supplied to each of the submerged burners, (2) a residence time of the glass melt, and (3) a gas flux through the glass melt.

A method of producing flint glass using submerged combustion melting is disclosed. The method includes operating a submerged combustion melter such that combustion products are discharged from one or more submerged burners combusting a combustible gas mixture that comprises fuel and oxygen. An oxygen-to-fuel ratio of the combustible gas mixture ranges from stoichiometry to 30% excess oxygen relative to stoichiometry, a temperature of a glass melt in the submerged combustion melter is between 1200° C. and 1500° C., a residence time of the glass melt is maintained between 1 hour and 10 hours, and a specific throughput rate of molten glass discharged from the submerged combustion melter ranges from 2 tons per day per meter squared of cross-sectional area of the submerged combustion melter [tons/day/m.sup.2] to 25 tons/day/m.sup.2. A method of forming glass containers from the molten glass discharged from the melter is also disclosed.

A method for heating a liquid glass channel of a glass fiber tank furnace. The method comprises: passing oxygen gas and a fuel, via a burner (1), into a channel space (3) for combustion to heat the channel space (3) and a liquid glass (2), wherein the flow rate of the fuel is V.sub.F and the flow rate of the oxygen gas is V.sub.OX such that the relative velocity difference D=(V.sub.FV.sub.OX)/V.sub.F. The temperature of the channel is 0-1500 C., and the relative velocity difference D is kept to 25% or more. A pure oxygen combustion method is used for heating a tank furnace channel to reduce waste gas emission and heat loss, thereby achieving the goals of energy conservation, reduced carbon emissions, and improve environment friendliness. The fuel flow rate, relative velocity difference, and related parameters can be controlled according to the temperature of the channel, providing excellent uniformity and accurate control of the temperature of the channel.

A submerged combustion melting system (90) includes a submerged combustion melter (100) having a housing with one or more side walls (104), a floor (106), and a ceiling (108) which at least partially define a melt chamber (110). The melter has one or more main burners (128) positioned along the floor of the housing and an oxygen/gas burner in a preheat burner system (300) removably attached to one of the sidewalls or the ceiling, the oxygen/gas burner arranged such that a flame from the oxygen/gas burner is directed downward into the melt chamber.

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 method for heating a liquid glass channel of a glass fiber tank furnace. The method comprises: passing oxygen gas and a fuel, via a burner (1), into a channel space (3) for combustion to heat the channel space (3) and a liquid glass (2), wherein the flow rate of the fuel is V.sub.F and the flow rate of the oxygen gas is V.sub.OX such that the relative velocity difference D=(V.sub.FV.sub.OX)V.sub.F. The temperature of the channel is 0-1500 C., and the relative velocity difference D is kept to 25% or more. A pure oxygen combustion method is used for heating a tank furnace channel to reduce waste gas emission and heat loss, thereby achieving the goals of energy conservation, reduced carbon emissions, and improve environment friendliness. The fuel flow rate, relative velocity difference, and related parameters can be controlled according to the temperature of the channel, providing excellent uniformity and accurate control of the temperature of the channel.

A roof mounted oxygen-fuel burner for a glass melting furnace can produce a variable moving or sweeping flame in the furnace and can also vary the flame shape. The burner has a housing having an oxygen inlet pipe coupled to an oxygen chamber and a fuel inlet pipe coupled to a fuel feeding crossover block. The fuel feeding block feeds fuel to a nozzle fuel port while the oxygen chamber feeds a plurality of nozzle oxygen ports which oxygen port outlets are angled toward the centralized fuel port outlet. A rotating impeller over the oxygen ports has a partial opening that causes a variable moving or sweeping flame in the burner as the impeller rotates. The impeller is also raised or lowered to control the flow of oxygen to the plurality of oxygen port outlets to control the shape of the burner flame.

A submerged combustion melting system includes a submerged combustion melter having a housing that defines a melting chamber and one or more vibration damping devices operatively coupled to the housing.