SORG have recently completed the planned redesign/rebuild of a cross-fired regenerative furnace at the Steinbach factory of Wiegand Glas, in Germany. It is probably true to say that the majority of container furnaces world wide are end-fired units, However, it is still possible to find a few examples of cross-fired furnaces used for container production, not surprising considering that this type of furnace was once the standard for larger installations. Furnace number 1 at Wiegand Glas is designed to produce green container glass, & supplies 2 lines. The rebuild included the optimisation of a number of design features, but the most important changes were intended to reduce the output of NOx. Changes include modifications to the port design & a radical redesign of the firing system to give much improved control of the complete combustion process. Initial measurements confirmed that the forecast NOx emission levels were achieved.
