Glass Manufacturing

1.0 The Manufacturing Process Glass is made from its raw materials in a carefully controlled two-step process, batch mixing and batch melting, and is then molded to form either sheet glass or bottles. A schematic diagram of this process is given in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Showing A Typical Glass Manufacturing Process

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2.0

Pollution Prevention, P2, and Control

2.1 Method 1 - Reduction of Air Emissions: 1. Oxygen-enriched and oxy-fuel furnaces are used in specialty glass operations to reduce emissions. Low-NOx furnaces, staged firing, and flue gas recirculation are available to reduce both concentration and the mass of nitrogen oxide emissions. 2. The type of combustion fuel used affects the amount of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides emitted. Use of natural gas results in negligible sulfur dioxide emissions from the fuel compared with high-sulfur fuel oils. Fuel oil with low sulfur content is preferable to fuel oil with a high sulfur content if natural gas is not available. 3. The main pollutant emitted by the batch plant is particulates in the form of dust. This can be controlled with 99 to 100 percent efficiency by enclosing all possible dust sources and using baghouses or cloth filters. Another way to control dust emissions, also with an efficiency approaching 100 percent, is to treat the batch to reduce the amount of fine particles present, by pre-sintering, briquetting, pelletizing, or liquid alkali treatment. 2.2 Method 2 - Elimination Reduction of Pollutants: 1. Changing the composition of the raw materials can, for example, reduce chlorides, fluorides, and sulfates used in certain specialty glasses. 2. The amount of heavy metals used as refining and coloring or decoloring agents, as well as use of potassium nitrate, should be minimized to the extent possible. 3. Particulate matter is also reduced, for example, by enclosing conveyors, pelletizing raw material, reducing melt temperatures, and blanketing the furnace melt with raw material. 4. Reductions in wastewater volumes are possible through closed cooling water loops and improved blow-off techniques. 2.3 Method 3 - Recycling and Reusing: 1. The use of outside-sourced cullet and recycled glass (instead of silica, but not totally eliminating silica) will reduce energy requirements (for an estimated 2% savings for each 10% of cullet used in the manufacture of melt) and thus air emissions (up to 10% for 50% cullet in the mix). Typical recycling rates are 10 20% in the flat glass industry and over 50% for the blown and pressed glass industries.
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2.4 Method 4 - Improving Operating Procedures: 1. An efficient furnace design will reduce gaseous emissions and energy consumption. Examples of improvements include modifications to the burner design and firing patterns, higher pre-heater temperatures, preheating of raw material, and electric melting. 2. One available process improvement is called "Rapid Melting Systems," which involves preheating the batch prior to melting. This practice reduces process time, energy consumption, and air emissions. Another process improvement, which can reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions, is the substitution of oxygen for combustion air. The drawbacks of using pure oxygen rather than air include oxygen's high cost and localized hot spots during combustion. 3. A major quantity of hazardous waste generated from glass making is generated in the receiving and delivery areas. Improvements such as clean-up and maintenance in receiving areas can minimize this waste. Keeping the receiving areas clean would allow material spills to be collected and added to the raw materials. Also, by paving receiving areas, collection and clean-up becomes much more efficient and effective and allows spilled material to be identified and separated for recycling back into the process.

Pollution-prevention opportunities include the following: 1. Maximizing the use of cullet as a feedstock; 2. Recycling refractory waste as a feedstock for brick manufacturing (this technique does not affect the quality of the final product); 3. Replacing refractory bricks typically every 612 years (appropriate recycling of these materials presents a pollution-prevention opportunity that should be defined when furnace / forehearth rebuild and repair is implemented); 4. Reusing collected dust in the batch, color permitting.

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