Having huge energy saving and emission reduction potentials through fuel substitution, efficient energy use, raw material replacement, broken glass recycling and glass product thinning, the glass industry plays an important role in achieving the "double carbon" goal. And at present, oxy-fuel combustion technology is gradually emerging.
What is Oxyfuel Combustion Technology?
Oxyfuel combustion technology refers to using industrial oxygen instead of air to burn fuels. Compared with the traditional air-fuel combustion technology, the "oxygen + fuel" mode changes the combustion medium from air to oxygen, which reduces the introduction and removal of N2 by about 78% and improves the flame temperature as well as heating efficiency, thus greatly lowering the amount of flue gases and venting heat loss, etc.
Oxygen-fuel combustion technology for glass kilns has been widely used in the production of photovoltaic glass, glass fiber, glassware, microcrystalline glass and other manufacturing sectors. Its excellent effect on improving glass quality, energy saving and emission reduction has been fully verified.
Development History of Oxyfuel Combustion Technology
In the glass industry, oxyfuel technology was primarily used on long-duration glass kilns at first to maintain productivity or extend the service life of the furnaces, to address heat storage or heat exchange chamber failures, or to temporarily meet high-output-rate requirements.
By the end of the 1980s, with the development of oxygen production technologies and the reduction of electric power costs, the oxyfuel combustion technology of “oxygen + fuels” gradually replaced the conventional air combustion systems in glass melting kilns.
Oxyfuel combustion technology, with its wider applications in the glass industry, is considered to be one of the most economical and effective alternatives.
Equipment Systems of Oxyfuel Combustion in Glass Industry
Kiln control system: oxyfuel combustion technology requires high control accuracy and safety for combustion. Usually, human-computer interaction mode, through the industrial PC, PLC (programmable logic controller) or PLV control cabinet and touch screen, is used to complete the adjustment of the combustion valves, safety control, necessary closed-loop control (liquid level, kiln pressure, etc.), storage and correlation analysis of the operation data of environmental protection systems and glass furnaces and other functions.
Combustion equipment: These are the main components for oxyfuel combustion fuels in the glass kilns and oxygen flow control. Common fuels are natural gas, liquefied natural gas, coke oven gas, rock formation gas, biogas, coal tar, heavy oil, petroleum coke, etc. Oxygen is mainly liquid oxygen or oxygen gas.
Lance: Compared with the traditional air-fuel lance, the lance in oxygen-fuel combustion is relatively complicated due to the extra oxygen pipelines.
Antifoaming system: Regarding the foam generated on the glass surface during the oxyfuel combustion process, the foam layer is eliminated or mitigated by spraying atomized anti-foaming solutions to achieve stable production and energy saving.
In the future, driven by energy conservation, emission reduction and green development, the promotion and application of oxygen-fuel combustion technology in the glass industry will usher in faster development.
How to Choose the Oxygen Supply Equipment for Glassmaking Oxyfuel Combustion?
Oxyfuel combustion enables more complete combustion of the fuels. PKU Pioneer's Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption (VPSA) oxygen units generate 93% industrial oxygen which is especially suitable for the oxyfuel combustion technological transformation in the glass industry. Statistics from the China General Machinery Association show that in the application scenarios of oxygen generation above 1000Nm3/h, with many advantages such as lower energy consumption, flexible load regulation, long service life and higher reliability, VPSA oxygen equipment of PKU Pioneer has more than 60% market share in China, making PKU Pioneer the invisible champion in VPSA oxygen production industry.
