Melting Crown Lining

The path toward NetZero

The path toward NetZero is reshaping the requirements for refractories and solutions in the glass industry’s next-generation furnaces. The demanding conditions for high performances in glass melting involves a wide range of challenges, including combustion of new fuels (such as hydrogen and biofuels), oxy-combustion, low operating temperatures and increased dust carry-over related to batch preheating. Simultaneously, improving efficiency and enhancing heat exchange are critical for reducing emissions and lowering the energy costs of glass plants.

In the melting crown, the application of free lime silica combined with shapes that optimize heat exchange, along with improved insulation and sealing, allows for reduced consumption and safe operations even in the toughest conditions.

These developments are pivotal in achieving NetZero goals and ensuring sustainable and efficient glass production.

Lime-Free Silica for Demanding Conditions

STELLA GNL and RHIM-Si100nl

STELLA and RHIM-Si100nl are silica grades, with 99% SiO_₂ content and entirely free of lime in its bonding phase.
This high-purity silica is the ultimate choice in the melting crown of glass furnaces.

Let’s explore the advantages of lime free Silica, particularly in challenging scenarios such as oxyfuel combustion, hybrid furnaces, and high-wear zones:

Alkali Resistance

Lime free Silica is less sensitive to alkali attack, resulting in superior corrosion resistance. This translates to a longer lifetime for the refractory material, whether operating at low or high temperatures.

Insulation Potential

The use of lime free Silica allows for the installation of higher insulation levels, leading to increased energy savings.

In summary, lime free Silica offers exceptional performance, stability, and lifetime—essential qualities for sustainable and competitive glass production.

Honeycomb Shape for Enhanced Heat Exchange
+ Epsilon High Emissivity Technology

The design of crown wedges plays a crucial role in optimizing heat exchange within the furnace.
By adopting specific shapes, such as Honeycomb wedges combined with Epsilon High Emissivity Technology, it’s possible to significantly enhance the combustion efficiency.

Let’s explore the benefits of these grades:

Honeycomb Shape

This geometric pattern improves heat transfer by 4% to 8%. The resulting gains can be translated into a potential 15% increase in furnace pull or a reduction of up to 40°C in crown temperature.

Epsilon Technology

The application of a special additive in the raw materials, leading to a darker coloration, improves significantly the heat transfer from the crown to the melting bath by increasing the emissivity.

In summary the selection of the appropriate crown wedge shape can lead to substantial improvements in energy efficiency and contributes to the goal of NETZERO.

Crown Insulation for Melting Furnaces

The design of melting crown insulation is crucial, as it involves balancing heat loss with the investment costs. Let’s explore the key aspects:

Higher-Quality Refractories

The application of lime free Silica enables higher furnace operating temperatures (for example in case of hydrogen combustion), increasing the heat losses throughout the melting crown. A performant and accurately designed crown insulation will significantly reduce the heat losses.

Two Standard Layouts Proposed by RHIM Monolithic Insulation

This solution, applied via dry-gunning in hot conditions, effectively seals the crown and reduces the risk of rathol formation. It can be installed either on new crowns as sealing layer or on damaged crowns as a safety layer.

Standard Brick Improved Insulation

Specifically designed to minimize thermal losses, this solution offers superior performance compared to others insulating materials on the market.

In summary, thoughtful crown insulation design ensures efficiency, longevity, and safety in high-temperature environments and new combustions conditions.

Your Benefits and Key features

Summarizing the benefits and key features of the proposed solutions:

Lime free Silica

Lime free Silica is suitable for all the conditions that modern furnace generations encounter. It ensures adaptability to various operational scenarios, allowing for optimal performance in terms of corrosion resistance and creep.

High Efficiency Shapes

They enable a significant furnace’s overall efficiency improvement.

Monolithic Insulation

Main advantages:

Sealing: It enables a fully sealed furnace, preventing heat leakage and maintaining consistent temperatures.
Extended lifetime: Even in cases of crown damages, monolithic insulation contributes to prolonging the furnace’s operational life.
Thermal stability: The insulation material withstands extreme temperatures, ensuring reliable performance.

Want to get the full picture?

Download our MELTING CROWN LINING folder and learn more about our capabilities!

MELTING CROWN LINING folder

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High Availability & Production Capacity

Our plants of Niederdollendorf and Svitavy in Europe, Rajgangpur in India ensure that we can provide you great availability, fast delivery times and high production capacities. Our experienced team is ready to support you in the accurate design of your melting Crown– tailored to your individual specifications. Upon receiving the project data our team will provide you an accurate calculation of the thermal loss and assist you in the selection of the suitable materials and shapes