Applied Energy 88 (2011) 4451–4458

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Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Performance analysis for glass furnace regenerator

Vishal Sardeshpande ⇑, Renil Anthony, U.N. Gaitonde, Rangan Banerjee
Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Glass manufacturing is an energy intensive process where fossil fuel is used to maintain high tempera-
Received 26 January 2011 ture (about 1700 °C) for glass melting. Heat recovery from flue gas (1350–1500 °C) is usually in the form
Received in revised form 14 May 2011 of combustion air pre-heating (900–1200 °C) using a regenerator. Dust from flue gas which is carried over
Accepted 18 May 2011
from the furnace gets deposited in the regenerator storage matrix path. This leads to a deterioration of
Available online 16 June 2011
regenerator efficiency. A regenerator model is developed to estimate the actual performance of the regen-
erator and to compare it with the target performance. The proposed model is based on mass and energy
Keywords:
balance of streams along with heat transfer characteristic equations. The model is illustrated for a 130
Glass furnace
Regenerator
TPD (Ton per Day) furnace regenerator of an industrial glass plant at Mumbai, India. Model results for
Performance the regenerator studied indicate a blockage of 50% on the doghouse side and 22% on the non-doghouse
Blockage side of the regenerator. The actual performance of the regenerator is found to be 7% lower than its target
Air leakage performance for the doghouse side regenerator. The model developed can also be used in other industrial
sectors like steel, chemical etc.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction cooled paddle. The deposition of exhaust gas components in the

A typical glass furnace consumes about 70–80% of the total
thermal energy consumed in a glass plant. For an efficiently oper-
ating furnace, specific energy consumption is about 4000 kJ/kg
glass received from fuel. About 1500 kJ/kg glass is recovered in
combustion air using regenerators [1]. An increase in the preheat
temperature of combustion air leads to a decrease in the specific
energy consumption of furnace and also helps in achieving higher
flame temperature inside the furnace. A well designed regenerator
recovers about 60–65% of total input heat to the regenerator. The
efficient operation of regenerator plays an important role in the
economics of glass plant operation.
The regenerative system consists of a storage type matrix for
accumulating the waste heat of the flue gas and releasing it to
the combustion air for pre-heating. A pair of regenerator matrices
is used to provide continuous flow of hot air.
An accurate estimation of regenerator performance is important
for the overall performance estimation of the furnace. Performance
estimation for regenerators was discussed by Schack [2] and Trinks
[3]. A set of experimental measurements for heat transfer coeffi-
cient estimation for different regenerator packing arrangement
was presented by Yazicizade [4] and Zanoli et al. [5]. Experiments
on deposit characteristics were carried out by Busby and Sengelow
[6] where they measured the carryover composition using water
⇑ Corresponding author. Present address: A.T.E. Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., 2 Shreenivas
Classic, Baner Road, Pune 411 045, India. Tel.: +91 20 2729 3942x027; fax: +91 20
2729 3308.
E-mail address: vishalsir@gmail.com (V. Sardeshpande).
regenerators of glass furnaces was investigated by Beerkens and
Waal [7] using simulated flue gases from glass furnace on a labora-
tory scale. The application of chimney block packing in glass fur-
nace regenerator was described in relation to the advantages
over straight packing by Scheiblechner [8]. The basis for selecting
regenerator design based on investment and efficiency was dis-
cussed by Clark-Monks [9], Turton and Argent [10]. The regenera-
tor performance evaluation using numerical techniques was
discussed by Foumeny and Pahlevanzadeh [11] and Reboussin
et al. [12]. The effect of variation in the exit temperature and heat
recovery for packed-bed regenerator is studied by Yu et al. [13].
The simulation of packed bed regenerator for flue gas heat recovery
is discussed by Zarrinehkafsh and Sadrameli [14]. In this paper the
simulation results are compared to the mathematical model and
emphasized the need for considering wall losses from the regener-
ator surface for accurate regenerator performance modeling. The
effect of leakage on the performance of fixed matrix regenerator
is studied by Skiepko and Shah [15]. The results of the study clearly
suggest that a drop in the regenerator effectiveness due to leakages
can be significant and depends on the category of leakages.
The carryover from furnace flue gas creates deposits in the
regenerator path. These deposits cause blockage, leading to a
reduction in heat transfer area and an increase in the flue gas outlet
temperature. The regenerator performance is normally decided
based on the regenerator outlet temperature; lower the flue gas
outlet temperature higher is the heat transfer to air. The regenera-
tor outlet temperature is also influenced by the ingress of ambient
air into the flue gas due to the negative operating pressure in the
regenerator.

0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.05.028
4452 V. Sardeshpande et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 4451–4458

Nomenclature

A area (m2) act actual

Cp specific heat (kJ/kg K) cool cold side
h enthalpy (kJ/kg) comb combustion
m_ mass flow rate (kg/s) con convective heat transfer
Q_ heat transfer rate (kW) design design
T temperature (°C) f flue gas
U overall heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K) heat hot side
h operating time for heating or cooling of regenerator ma- in inlet
trix (s) id ideal
a heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K) matrix matrix for heat storage
v correction factor for ideal heat transfer coefficient out outlet
g regenerator efficiency rad radiative heat transfer
f correction factor for ideal heat transfer coefficient reg regenerator
surf surface
Subscripts and superscripts tot total
air air wall wall

In literature there is no methodology available for the estima-
tion of regenerator blockage. There is also a need for a methodol-
ogy for estimation of overall regenerator efficiency based on
regenerator operating parameters. Accurate estimation of air in-
gress into the regenerator is also required for calculating the outlet
flue gas enthalpy.
Regenerator modeling is essential to capture the performance
for different designs and operating conditions. A model for regen-
erator performance prediction is developed and presented in this
paper. The model is based on the approach presented by Schack
[2], where the overall heat transfer coefficient is calculated for a
steady state condition and corrected for cyclic operation. The mod-
el also estimates the target performance of the regenerator and the
blockage factor.
The model enables decision for regenerator cleaning and air
leakage sealing. The model can be used for the estimation of regen-
erator performance for different furnace loading conditions and
can also be extended for the estimation of performance of different
regenerator packings. The model is illustrated for an industrial
glass furnace operating in India.
2. Regenerators in glass industry
The general arrangement of a glass furnace is shown in Fig. 1.
The type of regenerator commonly used for waste heat recovery
from flue gases in glass furnaces is of the stationary matrix type.
The regenerative heat exchanger consists of two refractory-lined
chambers, constructed of thermal storage brickwork (also called
‘checker work’). For a period (usually 20–30 min) one of the stor-
age matrices absorbs and accumulates heat from the flue gas, fol-
lowed by release of the heat to the incoming air for a similar
duration after the reversal of flow direction.
Generally a glass furnace is installed with a single raw material
feeding port called ‘doghouse’ (the name is due to the shape of the
feeding section).The regenerator chambers are generally called as
left side and right side regenerator. In this paper regenerator

Exhaust

Burners
Air
Air preheating Working End
regenerator Melting Tank

Non-Doghouse
side regenerator Pour
+
Mou
Doghouse side
regenerator
Chimney
Diverter
Draft
damper
control
damper Flue gas heat accumulation
Doghouse (Raw
A pair of regenerator material feeding)

Fig. 1. General arrangement drawing for glass furnace.

 V. Sardeshpande et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 4451–4458 4453

chambers are termed as doghouse side (feeding side) and non-dog- Combustion
Flue gas inlet
house side regenerator. air outlet
The glass furnace regenerators are exposed to some unique
operating conditions as follows:
System
Regenerator Regenerator
boundary under heating under cooling
 The gas generated from glass reaction is added in the combus- Heat loss from
tion volume. This normally contributes to about 10–15% of total regenerator walls
Air leakage in
flue gas quantity.
side
 The composition of flue gas in terms of CO2 and H2O is influ-
enced by glass reaction products.
 The flue gas is dust laden and creates deposits in the path of the
storage matrix.

Flue gas Combustion

Apart from this, regenerator flue gas flow side operates at neg- air inlet
outlet
ative pressure due to chimney draft. This leads to air ingress in the
flue gas path and reduces the outlet flue gas temperature. Fig. 3. Regenerator inlet/outlet streams.

2.1. Regenerator design configuration

The regenerator dimensions are based on furnace dimensions

and furnace capacity. Regenerator cross-sectional (horizontal) flow Energy supplied Energy stored Energy recovered
area for an end-fired furnace is governed by furnace width while from flue gas in matrix in air
the regenerator height is based on furnace capacity.
The packing material is classified mainly into three types-brick
work, chimney block and cruciform. The brick-work type can be
constructed with different packing arrangements like intermediate Wall loss during cooling
layer (pigeon hole), basket wave, and straight smooth. Fig. 2 shows Wall loss during heating
basket wave arrangement for bricks with regenerator construction
details. Fig. 4. Heat transfer steps from flue gas to combustion air.

Regenerator surface area available for heat transfer depends on

the regenerator dimensions and type of packing arrangement. A
smaller opening size provides a higher heating surface area, but in-
creases the possibility of blockage with furnace carryover.
The bottom of the regenerator section, where the carryover
from the furnace and the deposit in the regenerator get collected,
is called ‘bulkhead’. The general arrangement of checkers in the
regenerator with the bulkhead opening doors is presented in Fig. 2.
2.2. Regenerator operating conditions
The regenerator is operated in a cyclic manner by changing the
fuel firing port location; thus changing the flue gas flow and
combustion air flow sections. The changing over of firing port loca-
tion is carried out in 40–60 s.
The schematic of regenerator operation is presented in Fig. 1.
The pressure in the combustion chamber of the furnace is con-
trolled using a draft control damper, located at the outlet of flue
gas duct of the diverter damper. Based on the flow resistance of
the regenerator section, opening of the draft control damper is ad-
justed to control the furnace pressure.
The carryover of dust, volatile matter and alkaline gases in flue
gas attacks the regenerator surface. The dust gets deposited on the
regenerator surfaces while the volatile and alkaline gases wear out
the refractory structure. This eventually leads to collapse of bricks
resulting in blockage of the regenerator passages.

Design parameters Operating parameters

Regenerator geometry Regenerator operating

Regenerator
parameters
crown

Radiative heat coefficient Air leakage in regenerator

Regenerator wall transfer

Convective heat transfer coefficient

Regenerator
packing
Overall heat transfer coefficient for
thermal storage

Bulkhead

Bulkhead door Overall heat balance for model

Fig. 2. Regenerator construction details. Fig. 5. Regenerator model flow diagram.

4454 V. Sardeshpande et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 4451–4458

Table 1 m _ air;leak;reg ¼ m
_ tot;f ;in þ m _ tot;f ;out ð1Þ
List of instruments used for study.
The energy balance for regenerator presented in Eq. (2) relates
Name of instrument Instrument Measured Least count of
heat coming in from furnace flue gas, heat absorbed by air, regen-
range parameter instrument
erator wall losses and heat loss from flue gas outlet of the regener-
Oxygen analyzer (Effi Pro) 0–21% Oxygen% 0.1%
ator. The regenerator performance is specified in terms of an
Contact type 0–800 °C Temperature 1 °C
thermocouple (K type) efficiency parameter in Eq. (3).
Contact type 0–1600 °C Temperature 1 °C
thermocouple (R type) m _ air;leak;reg  hair;leak
_ f ;tot;in  hf ;in þ m
Radiation pyrometer 500–1600 °C Temperature 1 °C
_ f ;tot;out  hf ;out þ Q_ l;wall;reg þ m
¼m _ air;comb;reg  ðhair;comb;reg;out
 hair;comb;reg;in Þ ð2Þ
The blockage of the regenerator alters the pressure drop and the
flue gas flow pattern. The blockage reduces the heating surface
_ air;comb;reg  ðhair;comb;reg;out  hair;comb;reg;in Þ
m
greg ¼ _ f ;tot;in  hf ;in
ð3Þ
area and cross sectional area of the regenerator which in turn leads m
to a reduction in the regenerator efficiency. The regenerator depos-
its on checkers surface are periodically cleaned by scrubbing.
3.1. Regenerator model

3. Regenerator mass and energy balance
The flue gas and combustion air flow in the regenerator as two
separate streams, without mixing. The negative pressure due to
chimney draft on the flue gas side of the regenerator leads to an
ingress of atmospheric air into the regenerator. The air leakage
from combustion air is neglected. The inlet and outlet streams
for regenerator are presented in Fig. 3. The mass balance for the
regenerator is presented in following equation:
The regenerator modeling is based on the mass and energy bal-
ances of the heat supplied from flue gas and heat absorbed by air.
The regenerator design and operating characteristics determine
heat transfer rate between air and flue gas. The heat transfer rate
depends on regenerator surface area, heat transfer coefficient and
temperature difference between air and flue gas streams.
Two stream equations (Eqs. (4) and (5)) and one design charac-
teristic equation (Eq. (6)) together determine the total heat transfer
from flue gas to combustion air.

4
5

1
Port neck

Glass level

2
Checkers
packing
3
Manual damper for
Rider arch airflow selection and
Diverter damper control

Combustion air
Measurement locations

Measurement location Type of measurement conducted

1 Oxygen % , flue gas and inside wall temperature
2 Oxygen %, Skin temperature
3 Oxygen %
4 Oxygen %, Flue gas temperature
5 Pyrometer inside wall temperature
6 Pyrometer checkers surface temperature

Fig. 6. Points for measurement in regenerator setup (130 TPD furnace).

 V. Sardeshpande et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 4451–4458 4455

650
600
Non-doghouse side
550

Temperature ( C )
o
500
Doghouse side
450
400
350
300
250
200
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time (min)

Fig. 7. Variation of regenerator flue gas output temperature in one cycle.

1450
Non-doghouse side
Temperature ( C)

1400
o

Doghouse side
1350

1300

1250

1200
0 4 8 12 16 20 24
Time (min)

Fig. 8. Regenerator checkers temperature variation in one cycle.

Table 2
_ air  C p;air  ðT reg;air;out  T reg;air;in Þ
Q reg;air ¼ m ð4Þ Oxygen measurement in regenerator.

Measurement location Oxygen % dry vol.

_ f  C p;f  ðT reg;f ;in  T reg;f ;out Þ
Q reg;f ¼ m ð5Þ basis
Furnace outlet (regenerator inlet)-doghouse side firing 1.7
Q reg;design ¼ U reg;act  Areg;surf Furnace outlet (regenerator inlet)-non doghouse side 1.9
firing
ððT reg;f ;in  T reg;air;out Þ  ðT reg;f ;out  T reg;air;in ÞÞ Regenerator outlet (regenerator bottom)-doghouse 5.5
 ðT T reg;air;out Þ
ð6Þ
ln ðT reg;f ;in side firing
reg;f ;out T reg;air;in Þ Regenerator outlet (regenerator bottom)-non doghouse 5.1
side firing
The overall ideal heat transfer coefficient (Eq. (7)) is calculated
Chimney Inlet after diverter damper-doghouse side 12.8
using gas side and air side heat transfer coefficients. The heat firing
transfer coefficient for flue gas side presented in Eq. (8) is the Chimney Inlet after diverter damper-non doghouse 13
sum of the convective heat transfer coefficient and the radiative side firing
heat transfer coefficient, whereas for the air side only the convec-
tive heat transfer coefficient is considered. The radiative heat
transfer for air is assumed to be negligible.
Table 3
Regenerator design variables input to model.
1
U reg;id ¼ 1 1
ð7Þ Sr. Particular Value
af ;tot
hgas
þ aair;tot hair no
1 Regenerator type Single pass
af ;tot ¼ af ;con þ af ;rad ð8Þ 2 Type of packing arrangement Basket wave
3 Regenerator dimensions 4.2  2.6  10 m
The convective heat transfer coefficient is based on the correla- (length  width  height)
tion proposed by Yazicizade [4]. The radiative heat transfer is esti- 4 Brick dimensions (length  width  thickness) 450  115  75 mm
mated based on the gas radiation method proposed by Hottel and 5 Regenerator checkers opening size 192 mm

Sarofim [16] for CO2 and H2O.

The regenerator heat storage and heat release is a transient phe-
nomenon. This can be modeled as a steady state by using the ap- matrix increases or decreases (depending on the regenerator side)
proach presented by Schack [2]. This approach calculates the linearly with time at all the points along the length. Schmidt and
ideal overall heat transfer coefficient for a steady state condition Willmott [17] have investigated a number of cases, and have
and corrected for cyclic operation. In this approach lumped heat demonstrated that in general the difference between the lumped
transfer coefficient is considered. The lumped heat transfer coeffi- heat transfer coefficient method and an accurate numerical meth-
cient is based on the assumption that the local solid temperature of od is negligible.
4456 V. Sardeshpande et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 4451–4458

Table 4 Table 6
Furnace operating variables input to model. Regenerator blockage prediction.

Sr. Particular Unit Non- Doghouse Particular Unit Doghouse Non-

no. doghouse side side doghouse
side side
1 Mass flow rate of flue gas kg/h 8687 8467 Total number of design openings in 152 152
2 Mass flow rate of combustion air kg/h 7345 7124 regenerator
2
3 Average temperature at the °C 1425 1375 Surface area of each opening m 7.8 7.8
regenerator inlet Total design surface area m2 1180 1180
4 Average temperature at the °C 550 500 Actual surface area available based on m2 590 916
regenerator outlet model estimation
5 Oxygen at the regenerator inlet % 1.7% 1.9% Total number of openings blocked 76 34
6 Oxygen at the regenerator outlet % 5.5% 5.1% Percentage blockage of regenerator % 50% 22%
7 Oxygen at chimney inlet % 12.8% 13.0%

Table 5 The methodology for calculation of mass flow rate of flue gas and
Regenerator model output parameters. combustion air is discussed in Sardeshpande et al. [18]. The regen-
Particular Unit Doghouse Non-doghouse erator model estimates the air leakage quantity and corrects the
side side outlet flue gas temperature, which is used as the true outlet tem-
Mass of air leakage in regenerator kg/h 1840 1490 perature for regenerator performance estimation.
Corrected regenerator outlet °C 666 588 The regenerator performance estimated for the given design
temperature and operating conditions is used to estimate the actual area avail-
Air preheat temperature °C 1022 1040
Actual regenerator efficiency % 48.8% 52.8%
able for the heat transfer. The heat transfer area estimated is com-
Targeted regenerator efficiency % 55% 55% pared with the design heat transfer area to estimate the blockage
factor of the regenerator. The target performance based on design
area and the actual performance of regenerator are compared for
performance improvement. Fig. 5 shows of the information flow
diagram for the calculations in the regenerator performance
The ideal heat transfer coefficient calculated for steady state is model.
then corrected for the transient condition (Eq. (9)) using properties
of bricks, expressed by dimensionless factors f and v calculated
based on the method proposed by Schack [2]. 4. Performance estimation of a regenerator
f
U reg;act ¼ U reg;id ð9Þ A case study on the estimation of performance of a regenerator
v is presented here with experimental data and model runs. The
The regenerator storage matrix receives heat from the flue gas furnace in the case study is a 130 TPD (Ton per Day) regenerative
and releases this heat to the combustion air. During heat storage end fired glass furnace located in Mumbai, India.
and air heating, wall loss from regenerator is deducted from heat The experimental work is carried out mainly to measure the
stored in matrix. Eqs. (10)–(12) represent these calculations. The input parameters required for the regenerator performance model.
heat supplied from the flue gas to the combustion air is presented A set of portable instruments is used for this purpose. The
in Fig. 4. parameters monitored with existing instrumentation (installed
on furnace) are also measured during experimentation. The
Q reg;matrix ¼ Q reg;f  Q reg;wall;heat ð10Þ list of instruments used during measurement is presented in
Table 1.
Q reg;matrix ¼ Q reg;air þ Q reg;wall;cool ð11Þ

4.1. Measurement of glass furnace regenerator

Q reg;design ¼ Q reg;matrix ð12Þ
The mass balance, energy balance and heat transfer equations of Several sets of measurements have been taken in the plant. The
the furnace are the basic building blocks of the regenerator model. types of measurements taken and its locations are shown in Fig. 6.
Percentage of tota l heat available

100% 5.5 5.7

80%
40
49
60%

40%
54
20% 46

0%
Actual performance Target performance

Heat recovered in air pre-heating Heat loss in flue gas Heat loss in regenerator wall losses

Fig. 9. Regenerator actual and target performance for doghouse side regenerator.
 V. Sardeshpande et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 4451–4458
700
650
Flue gas temperature
600
( C)
550
o
500
450
400
0% 10%
Fig. 10. Variation of regenerator efficiency and flue gas outlet temperature as a function of blockage factor.
The flue gas outlet temperature is measured at an interval of
30 s for the complete reversal cycle in order to obtain the temper-
ature variation (Fig. 7). A radiation pyrometer is used to measure
the temperature of the top layers of regenerator checkers. The
measurements conducted during flue gas flow for doghouse and
non-doghouse side, are shown in Fig. 8.
A portable oxygen analyzer was used to measure oxygen in the
flue gas at the furnace outlet, the regenerator outlet and chimney
inlet (Fig. 6). The measurement of oxygen is indicated in Table 2.
By applying an oxygen composition balance; the flow rate of air
and flue gas is calculated. The list of model input parameters for
regenerator design and operating parameters are presented in
Tables 3 and 4.
5. Results and discussion
Difference in oxygen concentration between the inlet and outlet
of the regenerator indicates the presence of air leakage into the
regenerator. If there is no air leakage into the regenerator, low flue
gas temperature indicates efficient performance of regenerator.
During normal operation of a furnace, oxygen is seldom measured
at the regenerator outlet, and hence the low flue gas temperature
on account of air leakage is interpreted as efficient operation of
the regenerator. Measuring oxygen and temperature at regenerator
inlet and outlet helps in arriving at the true regenerator
performance.
The basic output parameters for the model are presented in
Table 5. The actual and target performance of the regenerator is
presented in Fig. 9. The heat recovered in air pre-heating is about
48% of total heat supplied to the regenerator, while the target per-
formance for heat recovery in air pre-heating is about 54%.
The regenerator blockage predicted by the model for doghouse
and non-doghouse sides is presented in Table 6. The regenerator on
the doghouse side is observed to have a higher blockage as com-
pared to the non-doghouse side regenerator. Based on the model
calculation, number of openings blocked is 76 ± 12 on the dog-
house side and 34 ± 12 on the non-doghouse side. The design has
152 openings on each side. The uncertainties associated with
blockage prediction on doghouse side and non-doghouse side,
are 15% and 30% respectively, due to measurement errors.
The blockage developed in the regenerator path reduces the
surface area participating in heat storage. Variation of regenerator
efficiency and flue gas outlet temperature for different blockage
percentage is presented in Fig. 10.
The doghouse side regenerator performance is observed to be
lower as compared to non-doghouse side regenerator. The pro-
posed methodology provides quantification of the performance
loss by predicting the regenerator blockage percentage. This is use-
ful for industry to take corrective actions for regenerator cleaning.
4457
60%
55%
50%
Efficiency
45%
40%
35%
30%
20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Blockage
Flue gas temperature Efficiency
6. Conclusions
A regenerator blockage prediction model is developed based on
design and operating parameters of the regenerator. The model
estimates the actual performance and compares it with the target
performance of the regenerator for estimation of blockage factor.
The performance analysis of regenerator is based on mass and
energy balances of streams along with heat transfer characteristic
equations. Regenerator performance, based on the inlet flue gas
temperature and dilution due to air ingress is captured in the mod-
el. Regenerator wall loss is also considered in the model for accu-
racy of calculations.
Regenerator performance is normally decided based on the
regenerator outlet temperature; lower the flue gas outlet temper-
ature higher the heat transfer to air. The regenerator outlet tem-
perature is also influenced by the air leakage in flue gas and the
inlet flue gas temperature.
The model is illustrated for a 130 TPD glass furnace. The block-
age factor for doghouse side regenerator is 50% and non-doghouse
side regenerator is about 22%. The actual regenerator performance
is 7% lower than the target performance for doghouse side. The
reduction in heat transfer area (blockage factor) by 50% reduces
overall performance of regenerator by only 7%. The reduction in
the heat transfer area due to the blockage factor is partly compen-
sated by increased heat transfer coefficient due to reduced cross
sectional area.
The model can be used for predicting performance deterioration
factors like blockage, air leakage and wall losses. The efficiency and
the pre-heat air temperature can also be estimated using the mod-
el. The model can also be used for studying various checker packing
configurations for given regenerator dimensions. The model devel-
oped is not limited to be used to glass furnace regenerator but can
also be used in regenerators of other industrial sectors like steel,
chemical etc.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Petroleum Conservation Re-
search Association (PCRA) India for financial support for the pro-
ject. Authors are thankful to Vitrum Glass for providing access to
experimental measurement and Mr. Pream Malhotra of Glacera
Consultants for providing inputs on regenerator design and opera-
tion practices.
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