The melting behaviour of representative container glass batch with and without the addition of 15wt% briquettes produced from waste cullet fine particles was investigated in the context of reducing both waste and glass melting energies. Carbonate raw material decomposition and reactions during melting were studied by DTA-TGA-MS. The decomposition kinetics of two batches, representing typical container glass batches with 0% and 15% briquette additions, were calculated by transformation degree based on the Ginstling-Brounstein and Arrhenius equations. High temperature phase transitions and fractions of silica reaction in each batch were obtained from XRD. The briquette additions accelerated the decomposition reactions and the silicate reaction kinetics by decreasing the activation energy for carbonate decomposition. Silica sand in the batch was shown to melt at lower temperatures with the addition of briquettes. Batch melting processes at different temperatures and briquette melting on top of the molten glass at high temperatures were investigated by macroscopic investigations of sample cross section post-melting. The positive effects of briquette additions to container glass batches, in terms of increased melting rate and reduced batch reaction and decomposition temperatures, are supported by the results of this study.
