Compressed air in glass and ceramics plants

Uses listed by the DOE

Table 1.1 of the sourcebook, Industrial Sector Uses of Compressed Air, groups glass with stone and clay. Its example uses for the sector are conveying, blending, mixing, controls and actuators, glass blowing and moulding, and cooling.

Air quality and cost

Drying has a cost. The DOE sourcebook warns that drying compressed air beyond the required pressure dew point results in unnecessary energy and costs, and that the higher the air quality, the more the air costs to produce.

Ultra Controlo oil-free compressor and air treatment lines

The Ultra Controlo Industrial 2026 catalogue names glass and ceramics among the sectors that its compressed air, gas and vacuum systems serve, in more than 40 industries, without naming models for the sector. The Ultra Controlo datasheets describe these lines:

• ULTRACECO SC and ULTRACECO SCA scroll compressors: the datasheets state that compression is exempt of oil or grease.
• ULTRACECO ESW piston compressors: oil-free models, according to the datasheet.
• ULTRASEC refrigeration dryers: aluminium heat exchanger for inlet air up to 70 °C and a hot gas bypass valve for a constant dew point.
• ULTRADRY adsorption dryers: pressure dew point range of −40 °C to −70 °C.
• ULTRAK activated carbon towers: separate oil vapours from compressed air, with a nominal residual oil vapour content below 0.003 mg/m³.

For oxygen in glass melting furnaces, see oxygen for glass furnaces.