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Show Overall, because of the significant savings in capital, all of the oXY-fuel processes offer glass melting unit cost savings--ranging from 23% for the reforming process scheme to 13% for the gas turbine process. Based on this analysis, the natural gas reforming process, which can offer savings of $10/ton relative to air-fuel operation, is the leading candidate for prototype development and commercialization in the next phases of this program. VI. CONCLUSIONS This paper has shown that the three TEAM processes incorporating oxy-fuel glass melting with heat recovery can provide increased energy efficiencies of up to 24% and capital savings of up to 50% over the conventional air-fuel based glass melting process. Overall unit product cost reductions of up to 22% can be realized. Besides these cost benefits, the TEAM processes are environmentally benign compared to current processes. Among the three TEAM processes, the natural gas reforming process yields the best overall economics with an estimated savings of $10 per ton of glass melted. In the next phases of this development program, key equipment components will be designed and field-tested. In summary, by simultaneously improving the energy efficiency and environmental compliance, we believe that the TEAM processes can significantly improve the overall competitiveness of the U.S. glass industry. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the U.S. Department of Energy for this development program. The authors would also like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of D. C. Winchester, S. P. Pastore, B. E. Herb, G. S. Roth, and J. G. Hansel to the development of the concepts and material presented in this paper. - 12 - |