Praxair's Optimelt™Thermo-Chemical Regenerator (TCR) system was first demonstrated on a 50/tpd container glass furnace in 2014 and has been operating reliably since then. The technology stores waste heat from the hot oxy-fuel flue gas in regenerator beds and uses this energy to reform a mixture of natural gas and re-circulated flue gas to hot syngas which is combusted with oxygen int eh furnace. Operation of the TCR system on the 50/tpd furnace resulted in 16-18% reduction in energy consumption compared to the baseline oxy-fuel furnace, flue gas temperature reduction from 1500 deg C at the furnace exit to about 650 degrees C after the TCR, and the recovery of about 60% of the sensible heat in the flue gas. To further improve the performance of the system, the TCR technology is being advanced by combining it with another heat recovery step to more efficiently recover waste heat and cool down the flue gas to about 400 degrees C. This advanced heat recovery system recovers about 75% of the sensible heat in flue gas. This paper summarises two years of extensive operational experience, performance, and maintenance requirements of the TCR system on the 50/tpd commercial container glass furnace. In addition, the technical concept including engineering layout and results of a numerical model of the Optimelt™ Plus technology is presented for a full scale container furnace.
