The goal of the project, Glass Melting Technology: A Technical and Economic Assessment is to create a common base of knowledge on which future technology might be developed for one of the nation's most important industries. The objectives of this study were to better understand the issues that face the US glass industry, particularly with regard to current melting technologies; to identify the factors that will motivate the industry to adopt new technology for commercial glass melting; and to analyze the barriers that have stifled technical innovation and change. One of the major barriers to finding common goals to advance glass melting technology has been the division of the glass industry into four major segments, each with its own requirements, products, and processing methods. To obtain a broad vision of the total industry, the study focused on the larger segments of the glass industry that represent more than 90% of all container, flat, textile and insulation fiber, and the major segments of specialty glass, i.e., lighting, TV and tableware. This report represents the collective efforts of glass scientists, engineers and manufacturers, organizations, academic institutions, technical librarians and automation specialists. Experienced glass engineers, scientists and manufacturers gave willingly of their time and experience to help the authors assess the challenges that face the glass industry as a whole. Personnel and institutions throughout the United States, Europe and Asia generously provided information vital to this study. Professional technical librarians and research scientists conducted exhaustive literature and patent searches that resulted in over 500 technical articles and over 300 patents that been categorized and evaluated, making this an invaluable reference tool. The experimental work of glass scientists and engineers provided a record of the innovations in glass-melting technological innovations that have been developed but, for economic and technical reasons, not implemented over the last quarter of the past century. The report can be downloaded in full from the above-mentioned link.
