Chemical Engineering And Polymer Science

Lab report on
Float glass Industry in Bangladesh
Course Name: Plant design and Process simulation
Course code: CEP 454

Group 03
Course Teachers:
Sourav Sutradhar 2016332005
1) Dr Engr Salma Akhter Tamara Ferdous 2016332008
Professor, Dept. Of CEP,SUST Shubhashesh Paul 2016332046
Niloy
2)Dr Md. Salatul Islam Mozumder Mohammad 2015332049
Farhan
Professor, Dept. Of CEP,SUST Iftidul Alam 2016332037

3)Md. Delowar Hossain

Lecturer, Dept. Of CEP,SUST

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sABSTRACT:
The objective of this report is to describe about the set-up of a float glass industry. Glass industry
is a growing sector in Bangladesh. Ninety five percent of the local demand is meet by the leading
industry of Bangladesh. Now a days the local industries are exporting glass in the global market.
The aim of the project is to manufacture standard quality glass and export in the global market. In
Bangladesh labor cost is minimum and Bangladesh government is developing the economy as an
export-based economy. This project will help the economy and help the government to complete
the goal.

DESIGN BASIS:
The site of the plant is at the south eastern part of Bangladesh. The area is near the Bay of Bengal
and has silt soil type. The soil has very small presence of sand. The area is out of danger of
earthquake according to geological survey Bangladesh.
The area has very high humidity and presence of sodium salt in the climate.
Near the plant site there is 1200MW power plant, deep seaport and continuous supply of soft
ground water.

SITE SELECTION:
The plant is located in Dhalghata Union, Maheshkhali Upazilla, Cox’s Bazar District, Chittagong.
Matarbari and Dhalghata union in Maheshkhali District is an important dimension for the industrial
sector in Bangladesh. In Matarbari union there is one 1200MW coal base power plant and a deep
seaport. The power plant will help the plant by providing continuous power supply and the port
will help to supply raw material and export the finished product easily. This site will reduce the
transportation cost at a high extend.
The labor cost in this area is very cheap and infrastructural facility is proper for building this area
as an industrial hub.
Localities of Dhalghata union mainly earn their livelihood by fishing. The land area is not suitable
to use as farmland. For this reason, the cost of land is cheap.
Selected plant site is on the roadside of the four-lane highway that connects the power plant and
port with national highway.
South Western part of Chittagong is in a position where there is very much low possibility of
earthquake. Natural disaster like cyclone or tornado barely effects the south western part of
Bangladesh. Therefore, the plant area is natural disaster free.
The only problem of the area is high humidity and presence of sodium salt in the climate. To
mitigate the problem corrosion inhibitors are used at the outer surface of the process units. For
back up plans the design has passivation of a light coat of protective material

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
The major environmental impact of glass production is caused by atmospheric emissions from
melting activities.
 The combustion of natural gas/fuel oil and the decomposition of raw materials during the
melting lead to the emission of CO2. This is the only greenhouse gas emitted during the
production of glass.
 Sulphur dioxide (SO2) from the fuel and/or from decomposition of sulphate in the batch
materials can contribute to acidification.
 Nitrogen oxides (NOx) due to the high melting temperatures and in some cases due to
decomposition of nitrogen compounds in the batch materials also contribute to acidification
and formation of smog.
 Evaporation from the molten glass and raw materials can cause release of particles into the
atmosphere.
 Other environmental issues are water pollution, the use of non-renewable natural raw
materials such as sand and minerals, production of solid waste and emission of volatile
organic compounds (used in production of mirrors and coatings).

There are many ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector, including
energy efficiency, fuel switching, combined heat and power, use of renewable energy, and the
more efficient use and recycling of materials. Such as:
1. The emissions of carbon dioxide from the carbonisation process can be reduced by
adding more recycled glass or using non- carbonate basic materials and by fossil fuel
energy saving measures.
2. The only available technology that provides substantial reduction on SO2 emissions is an
exhaust gas cleaning system. On the other hand, running on low sulphur fuel in controlled
areas and blending fuel onboard before using it in engines are the main strategies to comply
with the SO2 limits.
3. One of them tackles nitrogen oxide pollution using a chemical process called reduction
(removing oxygen). This breaks up nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and oxygen gases (which
are harmless, because they already exist in the air around us)

RAW MATERIAL:
1. Silica sand (SiO2)
2. Soda Ash (Na2CO3)
3. Dolomite (CaCO3.MgCO3)
4. Sodium Sulfate (Na2SO3)
5. Limestone (CaO)
6. Feldspar (R2O.Al2O3)
7. Coal (C)

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FLOAT GLASS PROCESS:
The basic principle of the float process is to pour the molten glass onto a bath of molten tin, and
to form a ribbon with the upper and lower surfaces becoming parallel under the influence of
gravity and surface tension.
The float tank (or bath) consists of a steel casing supported by a steel framework, and lined with
refractory blocks which contain the molten tin. The float tank is about 55 to 60 m long, 4 to
10 m wide and divided into 15 to 20 bays. The tank is airtight and a slightly reducing
atmosphere is maintained by the injection of a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen. This is
essential to prevent the oxidation of the tin surface, which would damage the crucial contact
surface between the glass and the tin. Molten tin is used as the bath liquid because it is the only
substance which remains liquid and without a significant vapour pressure over the required
temperature range.
The whole process begins with the following procedure:
1. The molten glass flows from the furnace along a refractory-lined canal, which can be
heated to maintain the correct glass temperature.
2. At the end of the canal, the glass pours onto the tin bath through a special refractory lip
(‘the spout’) which ensures correct glass spreading. The glass flow is controlled by means
of an adjustable suspended refractory shutter in the canal (the front‘tweel’).
3. Where the glass first makes contact with the tin, the temperature of the metal is about 1000
°C cooling to about 600 °C at the exit of the bath. As it passes over the surface of the bath,
the glass develops a uniform thickness and assumes the almost perfect flatness of the
molten tin.
4. Inside the float tank are several pairs of water-cooled top rollers, adjustable in direction,
height, penetration and angle. These rollers catch the glass sheet on both edges by
cogwheels and draw it in length and width. The rate of glass flow and the rotation speeds
of the rollers help to govern the thickness of the glass, typically from 1.5 to 19 mm. The
glass has a maximum natural thickness on the tin surface, and graphite barriers can be
introduced in order to produce the thicker glasses.
5. At the exit of the float bath, the glass ribbon is taken out by lift-out rollers, and is passed
through a temperature-controlled tunnel, the lehr, to be annealed.
6. At the beginning of the lehr, SO2 is sprayed on both sides of the ribbon, providing a surface
treatment to protect the glass against the contact of the rollers. The lehr is divided into
sections in which there is heating and indirect or direct cooling by forced and natural
convection.

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 7. Glass is thus gradually cooled from 600 to 60 °C in order to reduce residual stresses caused
during the forming process to an acceptable level. This operation needs time and space,
and from the pouring of glass onto the float bath to the cutting line, there is a continuous
200 m ribbon of glass.
8. The cooled glass ribbon is cut on-line by a travelling cutter; the angle of the cutter against
the line depends on the speed of the line (90 ° if it is not moving). The edges of the ribbon
that bear roller marks are cut off and recycled to the furnace as cullet. The glass sheets are
then inspected, packed and stored, either for sale or for secondary processing.

On-line coatings can be applied to improve the performance of the product (e.g. low-emissivity
glazing). On-line coating processes are case specific and the total number of plants within the
industry with on-line coating facilities is very low. A moving ribbon of glass is coated whilst
hot by the impingement onto its surface of silica or tin compounds where they react to form the
required film. The process generally consists of two separate coating stages, a silicon-based
undercoat and a separate topcoat, e.g. fluorine-doped tin oxide. Due to the nature of the
chemicals used, emissions of acid gases and fine particulates can arise, which are generally
treated in a dedicated abatement system.
All raw materials used for glass making e.g. silica, soda ash, limestone dolomite sodium sulfate
coal and cobalt oxide are individually weighted according to specified ratio of consumption.
The batch is than introduced to a rotating batch mixture to get a homogeneous batch. The
thoroughly mixed batch is then stacked from where the batches are sent to the melting tank of the
furnaces.
The mixed batch stored in batch section is fed into furnace at an interval of half an hour with the
help of trolly bucket at a rate of 0.34MT Per feeds.
The main furnace has got mainly three zones viz. melting zone Refining zone and working zone
THR molten and refined mass is led to an auxiliary chamber known as drawing chamber through
an arrow passage known as “THROAT” . Melting zone is required to be maintained at an
approximate temperature of 1400OC to 1500 OC at which range batch material are melted into
molten glass.
The molten mass is then refined mainly through settling and the to proceed towards during
chamber through working zone. The temperature at temperature ranges from 950 OC
&1200 OC respectively. In drawing temperature ranges 950 OC to 1050 OC.
Abridge channel divides unto the furnace into two main parts. The molten mass after entering into
the drawing chamber gradually approaches a floating bridge installed prior to the debit use is
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maintained in the debit use where the sheet in the process of forming is gradually cooled by sheet
steel coolers on both side of sheet by supplying water through 2 inch Dia. Pipe, the glass is drown
to sheet through the vertical Foucault machine temperature is control are the three stage a in order
to make the sheet glass cool and hard, In the vertical fourcault machine there are 15 pairs of rollers
to draw sheet glass each roller rolling in opposite direction to help drawings . At the initial pair of
rollers temperature is maintained at 500o C at fourth pair it is maintained at 300oC and at 14th pair
it is maintained at 180oC. When the sheet glass passes the last pair of rollers and reaches at the
breaking point the temperature is about 80o C The drawing machine is regulated by a speed
regulated to produce sheet of different thickness, Higher the speed thinner the lesser the speed
thicker the glass .The Foucault machine is fitted with an automatic cutter to cut the drawn glass
when it is reaches a desired height motorized according to the expected size of the glass sheet. Cut
sheets are the stacked-on trolleys and then sent to cutting hall Via Cargo lift for cutting into
marketable sizes.

Fig: Production procedure of float glass