When production schedules force a drastic change in the colour of the production of a melting furnace (e.g. from white to dark green or amber, or vice versa), it is important to minimise the time required for the transition, so as to limit the quantity of glass to be sent to cullet.
To this end, optimizing the step-by-step management of the change in batch formulation and glass composition (type of cullet, dosage of sulphates, reducing agents, oxidizers, chromofores and decolorizers) both in the relative quantities and in the correct sequence of steps, allows on one hand to return to the production of compliant glass in the shortest possible time, and on the other hand to avoid critical issues such as uncontrolled generation of foam in the bath or the inclusion of blisters in the final product.
Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro is able to support glass companies in colour change operations in two ideally complementary ways:
- Technical consultancy for the definition of the optimal strategy of step-by-step modification of the composition and set-up of the furnace, using a specifically developed predicitive numerical simulation model.
- Dedicated service of analysis of chemical composition, redox and color coordinates, with return of analytical results guaranteed witihin a few hours from samples arrival.