South African based Consol Group produces all kinds of glass containers in many colours, ranging from flint to light and standard emerald green, dark green, amber and blue. Colour changes on the fly are made on most of the furnaces. In 2002, Sorg was asked by Consol Glass to design a large, all-electric melter for container glass. The availability of energy sources in South Africa differs significantly to those in most other countries. Much is made of their large deposits of coal since there are no indigenous oil reserves. Coal is the main energy source for electric power generation,a edit is also used to produce fuel gas. As a result of the specific conditions relating to energy supply in South Africa, the operation for all-electric furnaces is more economic than in most other countries. This article describes the project.
