Simulation strategies for regenerative chambers in glass production plants with strategic exhaust gas recirculation system

Glass production is an energy-intensive and a high-polluting industry. This study has the aim to describe the computational approaches developed and set up for the analysis of the innovative Strategic Waste Gas Recirculation (WGR) System applied to the glass industry to new or existing furnaces. The final goal is to reduce the production of NOx during combustion making a primary combustion zone poor of oxygen. In order to have a controlled combustion in the primary zone it is of utmost importance to properly design the recirculation system to get the desired distribution of the recirculated gases in a specific zone over the methane injection. Moreover, the WGR system can have a second positive effect: it enhances the thermal performance of the regeneration system due to the radiating capacity of the exhaust flow recirculated that contains CO2and H2O molecules. A CFD approach is presented and its applications to the design and optimization of WGR system are discussed. A numerical model for the evaluation of the emissive properties of radiant gases is developed and used for a parametric analysis on the thermal effects introduced by the WGR system.