Design of a flat glass furnace waste heat power generation system

China is the largest glass producer in the world. Although the energy consumption of flat glass production has decreased significantly, from 12.6 MJ/kg in 2006 to 8.5 MJ/kg in 2010 and even lower now, very high energy recovery potential exists. A series of documents encouraging the development of glass furnace waste heat power generation systems have been issued by the Chinese government. There are already several waste heat power plants in China. This paper presents a power generation system using the waste heat from a 1200 t/d glass furnace. Two energy sources, viz. natural gas and petroleum coke, are studied. The system steam output is 23 t/h, and the power output 5.2 MW. The high sulfur content in the petroleum coke requires large heating surface area of deaerator to prevent acid corrosion, leading to high investment cost and long payback period. The annual power supply is about 31 million kWh, which means that a saving of 12,400 tons of coal equivalent and a reduction of 0.84 MJ energy consumption of per kilogram glass. The annual reduction of CO2, SO2, NOx and dust are 28,500 tons, 79 tons, 83 tons and 33 tons, respectively. •Waste heat power generation for a 1200 t/d glass furnace was designed.•Payback period analyses for cases of natural gas and petroleum coke were presented.•Annual power supply was 31 million kWh with 12,400 tons of coal equivalent saving.•Annual CO2 reduction was 28,500 tons.•Energy consumption reduction was 0.84 MJ per kilogram glass production.