CO₂ Recovery

The following equipment was installed in order to reduce the NOx emissions – all specially engineered by Nippon Gases:

1. Main Oxygen Skid
2. Oxygen skid control for each lance
3. Lances with nozzles
4. Panel view electrical cabinet

• Before installation of Nippon Gases’ paraphernalia, the furnaces were operating at 380-400 tpd and producing 800-870 mg/Nm³ of NOx emissions at the Port Neck
• After installation, the total NOx emissions had reduced to 590-630 mg/Nm³, showing a 26.5% decrease in emissions

1. Together with the customer’s engineering team, we developed a customized solution to transform their old recuperative glass furnace; based on air-fuel combustion, to 100% oxy-fuel
2. Compiling the customer’s experience on the furnace’s engineering with the experience of Nippon Gases’ Combustion Team, the new furnace was designed reusing the old super structure; elongating the old furnace footprint and doing the necessary CFD simulations and calculations in order to build a furnace capable of achieving the required glass quality – minimizing the NOx and particulate emissions
3. The furnace entered into production with a LOX (liquid oxygen) supply, but was designed ready to incorporate one VPSA (Vacuum Pressure Swing Absorption) system some months after start-up – once the glass production entered a stable level
4. The combustion system installed comprised of one state-of-the-art safety skid, together with the skid to control the pressure and flow of the comburent and oxidant, as well as the most advanced Dilujet JL burners capable of using the Diluted Oxygen Combustion concept (the market’s responsible for achieving lower NOx emissions for this kind of furnace)

• We achieved the desired production level increase from 52 tpd to 65 tpd of glass, reaching the desired quality level
• The furnace’s specific energy consumption was reduced from 200Nm³ NG/t glass to 100Nm³ NG/t
• NOx emissions where drastically reduced and the flue gas volume also decreased in volume even when taking into account the increase of production level
• Operators can smoothly run the new furnace without the necessity of continued supervision on the flue gas Tª to avoid damaging the recuperator that was necessary to have with the previous furnace’s design
• The customer received our support and advice in every step of the project
• The addition of the new VPSA system, that is capable of generating the necessary oxygen amount at the right pressure and quality, helped reduce the number of trucks that arrive every week to the plant

1. Initial inspection of the furnace in order to fully understand the problem
2. Taking into account (amongst others):

- Furnace type

- Nominal production rate

- Actual throughput

- Charge dimensions

- Specific energy consumption

- Internal pressure

3. Split into multiple cases to properly simulate the problem and model the solutions
4. Installed an oxygen control skid with automatic flow control (0-900nm³/h) and electric cabinet with PLC and HMI screen

• The solution was a success, with good operation and no instances of quality problems, temperature problems or refractory damage
• This resulted in energy savings (8.3% average), reduced CO₂ emissions (4.6 kg/Ton average) and reduced production costs