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Glass & Ceramics

Ensuring consistent and well-mixed feed, especially with potentially problematic components like moist glass cullet, is crucial in the glass industry to prevent flow irregularities, avoid abrasive wear on furnace feed bins, and avert potential catastrophic consequences at hopper connections.

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Overview

Glass & Ceramics Industry

Glass: We can help you improve the quality of your LCD screens, hand-held electronic displays, optical fibers, safety glass, light bulbs or beverage bottles.

Ceramics: Ceramics are commonly used to make abrasion resistant liners, insulation products (refractories), and filtering applications. If you are compacting your ceramic powders to achieve a higher density, we can help achieve consistent powder flow through your process.

Glass production process in an industrial setting.

Services

Glass & Ceramic Services

Whether you are formulating a specialized sand batch, dosing in minor ingredients to a continuous blending operation, charging glass batch to a float furnace, or compacting ceramic powders, Jenike & Johanson is prepared to meet your material handling needs.

On-site review of flow, segregation issues
Glass batch, ceramic powder testing
Silo, feeder, and chute designs
Pneumatic conveying testing and assessment
Abrasive wear testing to assess liners
Anti-segregation equipment design and supply
Mass flow bin and silo insert supply
Continuous blender or wetting screw testing

Model of a furnace feed system.

Challenge

Common Glass & Ceramics Industry Challenges

Most glass batch flows freely, but de-mixes readily via various segregation behaviors. Poor flow (arching and ratholing) can occur with some of the ingredients that make up the batch. Glass cullet, in particular, can be moist and often consists of large, irregularly shaped particles. Both of these characteristics can lead to flow irregularity.

Providing well-mixed, consistent feed to the furnace can significantly improve the quality of your glass. Sand and cullet are highly abrasive and will cause wear of furnace feed bins, especially at the hopper connection. A failure at this point could have catastrophic consequences. Many ceramics are also highly abrasive given their alumina, silica, and oxide contents.

Click here for a review of abrasive wear estimation with glass batch.

Glass waste in a recycling facility.

Materials

Common Materials Handled

Here is a shortened list of some of the most common bulk materials we have successfully handled in the Glass & Ceramics industry to date. Please reach out to us if you’d like to discuss our experience with your specific material.