Demonstration of cost-effective NO{sub x} reduction on a regenerative sideport glass furnace using oxygen-enriched air staging

The Gas Research Institute (GRI), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the Southern California Gas Company (SoCal) have joined with the development team of the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT), Combustion Tec, Inc. (CTI), and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (APCI) and provided support for extension of the oxygen-enriched air staging (OEAS) NO{sub x} control technology to natural gas-fired sideport regenerative glass melters. In previous demonstrations, the OEAS technology has successfully reduced NO{sub x} emissions by more than 50% on natural gas-fired endport regenerative glass melters without any adverse impacts on furnace performance or glass quality. In the current program, Owens-Brockway (OB) provided operations expertise and a 6 port pair, sideport furnace for field evaluation tests of OEAS. Background and initial test results for a single port pair and the complete furnace are presented along with CFD modeling results for OEAS on a single port pair of the sideport furnace. Modeling results confirm the capacity of OEAS to provide significant NO{sub x} reduction and CO burnout while maintaining or increasing thermal efficiency and furnace production rate.