Heat Transfer From Glass Melt To Cold Cap: Effect Of Heating Rate

Conversion of melter feed to glass occurs in the cold cap that floats on the melt pool in a nuclear waste glass melter. The conversion rate (the melting rate or the glass production rate) is controlled by the heat flux delivered to the cold cap from the molten glass. In an attempt to analyse the intricate relationship between the rate of heating, the feed foaming response, and the rate of melting, the change in feed volume at different heating rates by using several melter feeds known to exhibit a wide range of melting rates under identical melter operating conditions was measured. As expected, the maximum foam porosity increased as the heating rate increased.