Rene Meuleman
furnace support
Furnace support is getting increasingly important with more stringent regulations on emissions levels and energy consumption. Furthermore asset utilization and product optimization are key to lower the total cost of ownership during the lifetime of the furnace. ``
CelSian supplies full support on every aspect of your glass furnace. When it comes to decreasing energy consumption, CO2 reduction, increasing furnace lifetime, process or emission measurements, furnace simulations (modelling) or furnace inspections, CelSian is the right partner.
Our furnace support team offers solutions for multiple challenges faced by glass furnace operations: energy and CO2 reduction, emission reduction and increasing furnace lifetime. CelSian also assists with raw material selection and glass quality.
CO+ sensor
The CO+ sensor is a laser based sensor to replace standard O2 measurements, developed by CelSian for the glass industry to optimize combustion settings for higher energy efficiency and lower emission levels.
The sensor measures CO and O2 simultaneously over the complete width of your burner port or flue gas channel. In this way we measure a better representative value for the CO and O2 compared to traditional point measurement devices.
For a high energy efficient combustion process you have to operate the furnace close to the stoichiometric point (perfect mix of fuel and air/oxygen) of combustion. Near the stoichiometric point only CO is a reliable parameter to measure the completeness of the combustion. CO levels in the furnace and regenerators are limited to avoid high refractory corrosion. High energy efficient combustion cannot be achieved safely without measuring CO.
Our sensor has proven to lower the energy consumption of your furnace with 2% or more. On an oxyfuel fired furnace there are additional savings on oxygen. Emissions like NOx and SOx normally drop by 20% when using the CO+ sensor.
Another important impact of this sensor is the increased lifetime of your furnace thanks to optimized and stable combustion.
CO+ sensor
Experts in combustion technology agree that the spatial CO concentration close to the burner flames is the only suitable parameter to both:
• Quantify the completeness of the combustion process and
• Use as control parameter for manual or automatic burner control
• Control near stoichiometric firing conditions, needed for low NOx production without the risk of too high CO levels and potential excessive refractory corrosion
Energy & CO2 reduction for glass furnaces
Legislations on emissions are getting more stringent throughout the world, with governments requiring energy and CO2 reduction while manufacturers wish to maintain tight cost control when operating their assets. NGOs and customers also require improved CO2 footprint of the glass market. These developments need a professional approach towards the energy efficiency of furnaces.
CelSian uses a step-by-step approach that leads to optimized energy efficient operation of the glass furnace. Furthermore we provide hardware to optimize your combustion efficiency: the CO+ Sensor.
Benchmarking of energy usage and CO2 emissions
The first step of our energy reduction approach delivers
• A determination & global ranking of the energy efficiency of your glass furnace(s)
• An estimation of the realistic energy savings potential for your furnaces
• A proposal and explanation of process based and/or technological solutions delivering energy saving
Energy balance measurements
We use energy balance measurements to determine the energy savings potential of your glass furnaces. Our calculations and conclusions used for implementation in optimized process conditions often result in 4 – 8 % energy reduction. To do this, we need to perform industrial measurements and collect process data.
Energy Balance Model
Our proprietary Energy Balance Model (EBM) software uses actual process data as input to calculate the current energy balance of your glass furnace. Many of our customers had used a wide variety of different methods tracking the energy usage of their furnace fleet, with EBM you have all relevant data of your entire fleet instantly available.
Software simulation
We can further decrease the energy consumption and CO2 emissions by making a detailed CFD model of your furnace with help of our GTM-X software. With this model we can make variances in design, process settings or batch/glass composition to see what the effect is on energy consumption. This is very valuable tool while engineering a furnace rebuild, for maximizing your pull or solving glass problems.
Emission reduction
Emission reduction normally starts with extensive analysis of your furnace process data. Based on this we provide an advice which can lead to on site measurements or a CFD simulation of your furnace and process to understand the root cause and suggest changes to stay within the required environmental limits.
Emission optimization
Our specialists can optimize emissions levels by tuning the furnace operating settings during a plant visit. Firstly we measure flue gas compositions at several positions in and around the furnace to determine the baseline. With CelSian’s thorough knowledge about process settings leading to emissions we can solve a lot of emissions problems by just changing some operating parameters without compromising glass quality.
Software simulation
Already during the design phase of the furnace, emissions can be taken into account. We have several validated cases where we have lowered emissions, especially NOx by making design changes. With our world class NOx model we are able to calculate the actually NOx levels with very high accuracy. But we have also very good models on other evaporating species like sodium, sulphur and boron. These emissions can all be optimized by our software before building the furnace.
Furnace lifetime
Asset optimization and increasing furnace lifetime is getting more and more important as cost effectiveness during the furnace lifetime is becoming of more interest.
With extensive knowledge about furnace designs, glass composition and furnace wear relating to furnace settings, CelSian is able to increase furnace lifetime and decrease maintenance costs already in the design phase or later on during the furnace campaign.
Process measurements
With our professional equipment CelSian can measure all kinds of process related issues like carry-over and evaporation of species from the glass melt. In combination with temperature measurements of the internal refractories the potency for corrosion in the furnace can be determined. Flue gas compositions in the furnace are measured to determine the combustion effectiveness locally.
Furnace inspections
One of the most important aspects of increasing lifetime of a furnace is maintaining the refractories of the furnace at a high level. CelSian has a clear vision how and when to inspect your furnace throughout the lifetime to prevent sudden process interruptions, like glass leakage, to happen. Furthermore refractory issues or corrosion problems will be identified in an early stage resulting in better (and cheaper) planning of proper maintenance ahead.
