MM 323 Manufacturing Processes

Report on Gunj Glass Industrial Trip

This report includes the manufacturing technology, quality control system, production and equipment Gunj Glass uses to manufacture glass for various applications Umer Tariq 2008263 20/2/2011

Brief Introduction of the Manufacturers

Operating two flat glass manufacturing plants namely Gunj Glass Works Ltd.,and Ali Glass industries (Pvt.) Ltd., in Pakistan. They are the largest Sheet and Safety glass producers in the country with production capacity of 200 tons per day of glass manufacturing and 48,000 Sqft/day of glass tempering. The two plants were designed by the UK based glass furnace designing firms and were erected and commissioned under supervision of a team of experts retired from M/s Pilkington plc-UK. The glass manufacturing is based on Glaverbel Process. We produce glass thickness from 2mm to 12mm. In the year 2004 a Safety and Decorative Glass Division was set up to produce high quality valued added glass. In the year 2009 one of the largest and the latest tempered safety glass plant in the South East Asia came into operation based on Forced Convection Technology to temper all kinds of online and off line LOW-E glass. Forced convection tempering complete system is by ABB & Siemens of Switzerland/Germany. The maximum flat tempered glass size produced is 96" x 204" and bend tempered glass size is 96" x 98". The tempering capacity of the two lines is 48,000 sqft/day. An Insulating Glass Units production line from BystronicLenhardt of Germany/Switzerland came into production to produce international quality Double Glazed glass in 2009. The maximum IGU size available is 91" x 137" and the production capacity is 15,000 sqft/day. The company is also a certified glass processors of world most renowned glass companies -- AGC(AsahiGlaverbel) and Guardian.

Process used to manufacture glass

The company uses the Pittsburgh process to manufacture the glass sheets. The process was developed by the USA Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company in the 1920s. The glass is drawn from the melt and conveyed vertically through an annealing shaft around 12 meters long prior to cutting. The Gunjglass furnace used for melting the raw materials to make molten glass was started in 1986. Then the plant was shut down for repair and maintenance in 1995 and since then it is still working continuously. Maximum life of the furnace is 10 years while it works for 13 or more years easily. The glass sheet produced has a thickness in the range of 212 mm depending upon the customers requirement. Gunjglass has adapted the continuous process for the formation of the glass so three shifts work for 24/7 i.e. 8 hours each. Furnace heating is done by natural gas, while the alternative fuel is the furnace oil. Heating the furnace with the furnace oil is too expensive so natural gas is the best solution but due to the non-availability of the gas, nowadays furnace is running on furnace oil due to which prices are going much higher.

Raw Materials used to make Glass

Raw materials used to manufacture glass are sodium nitrate, salt cake, dolomite, lime stone, feldspar, silica sand (washed)- to remove iron and other impurities because they add color to the glass. Stabilizers are: feldspar, dolomite and lime stone. Soda Ash (from ICI) is used to reduce the temperature. All glasses are oxides. For bronze glasses, color materials are used. Salt cake (sodium sulphate) is used for refining e.g. removal of bubbles etc. Sodium nitrate is used for the colored glass while the process to manufacture the colored glass remains the same. Main raw material used for the production of glass is Silica. Silica sand is obtained from Khoshab and Mianwali. Second major raw material is Dolomite stone it is obtained from Swat and Bonaire.

Irene & Almond Lab The company is ISO-9001 certified and has certification from MOODY International. For quality control purpose company has installed state of the art Laboratory they named it as Irene & Almond Lab. The laboratory has latest equipment to test the quality of the glass. Flame photometer is used to test the Na and K of the glass. Spectrophotometer is used to test the iron oxide, silica oxide and light transmission of the glass. Soft water is used in the lab so that scaling can be avoided. While testing the materials, analysis of weight is done. Sieve analysis is done to get 0.25-1 mm grain sizes of the raw materials. Range for the sieve numbers is 16-20. First testing of the raw material is done then all the raw material is converted into the batch of 800 kg, while 120 batches are used for the production every day. In the lab, temperature range of the furnace for testing is 1400oC and for all the experiments distilled water is needed. Weight of the sample obtained for testing is almost 0.1 g and then physical test (density) of the manufactured glass is done. Standard density of glass = 2.059 g/cm3 and required density = 2.5 g/cm3 for the production of glass.

Testing/QA Process
Tempered and IGU Testing Equipment GASP-Tempered Glass Surface Stress Meter LowEGlass Coating Detector Dual Pane Low-E Coating Detector Strengthened Glass Detector Tin side Detector Glass Temperature Detector Window Energy Profiler Roll Wave Tester

Production
Production of glass is equal to 110-115 ton. In which 95 ton of glass is useful, the remaining is not for sale and is used again in the production. Main furnace which is used to melt the raw material is controlled from the control room. Raw material is feeded by the elevator and is put into the container called cellos. In the whole batch, 20% color is added and then the weighing is done through the machines Batch is then discharged and put into the mixer for 4-5 minutes. The moisture percentage at that stage is 3-5%. The bogies or lift is used to put the material in batch feeders (part of the furnace). In furnace there are 17 burners on each side. After each 20 minutes side is changed. Depth of the furnace tank is about 1.2 m. there is 1000 metric ton glass can be stored. Inside the furnace, a refractory material named ZAC is used. Furnace is divided into 3 portions: (1) melting area (2) refining area (3) machine canal- to form shape (1300-1400oC). In refining phase, impurities are separated out from the furnace with the help of pipes which can be changed after 2-3 days, sometimes weekly. Impurities float over the melted glasses which are separated out. The process is called manual skimming after this phase temperature is reduced sharply. After canal it is put into the drawing machines. There were three drawing machines working together giving the glass sheets of thicknesses 2, 3 and 5 mm. Thickness of the glass can be changed by changing the drawing speed of the glass sheet. Thickness increases for reducing the drawing speed and vice-versa. Height of the sheet is 60-70 m. Maintenance is done after each 10 days. The glass sheet is cut with the help of very sharp cutter named rabbit cutter. On rollers a sheet of asbestos is coated so that manufactured glass can be protected. The advantage of manufacturing sheet in glass is that variety of the final product increases.

Products:
Standard Clear and Bronze Glass Flat Tempered Glass Bend Tempered Glass Auto Glass Decorative Glass Solar & High Performance Low-E Glass Energy Saving Double Glazed Glass Laminated Glass Glass Furniture Bullet Resistant Glass

Other Facilities
In other facilities Gunjglass is making tempered glass, decorative glass in which rough sides of the glass are smoothened and polished. While drilling the water is used to avoid the crack formation in it. Diamond wheat is used for polishing the glass. For round or circular shapes in the glass, manual grinding and polishing is done so cost of this glass increases ultimately. Auto machining is only for the flat shaped glass of standard size. Then beveling, designing and frosting are done if it is necessary. Venile tape is put on the portion where frosting is not required the other portion of the glass changes its color. For bent glass price increases significantly because strength sand processing increases. Strength of the tempered glass is comparatively high. For tempering soft water is used and it increases the strength 5 times. The temperature for this process is 670-700oC. Then quenching is done. Bent glass is broken into small pieces instead of sharp edges.