Energy savings in batch melting

The use of proper raw materials in processes prior to melting is useful for not only the glass melting process but can also result in substantial benefits as energy savings. The energy saving in glass melting is distributed non-uniformly and the largest amount of energy is consumed in the first stage of the glass melting. Molten glass must be kept at a high temperature for between 24 and 60 hours but only 5% of this period time involves the heat transfer and therefore the heat transfer to the batch represents the decisive process that controls the glass melting rate. The physical properties of sodium silicates occurring during the reaction are the main reason behind the complexity and the properties of such silicates mean the reaction does not run in a simple manner. The first step is to ensure that the reactions among all the raw materials occur in such a way that any of the reactions do not occur before the remaining two reactions. This can be achieved by selecting correctly the grain size of the raw materials.