WO1999033756A1 - Germanium-containing particulate capture from an exhaust gas stream of a glass production system - Google Patents

Germanium-containing particulate capture from an exhaust gas stream of a glass production system Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1999033756A1
WO1999033756A1 PCT/US1998/027779 US9827779W WO9933756A1 WO 1999033756 A1 WO1999033756 A1 WO 1999033756A1 US 9827779 W US9827779 W US 9827779W WO 9933756 A1 WO9933756 A1 WO 9933756A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
glass
baghouse
particulate material
germanium
manufacturing facility
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1998/027779
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Steven A. Dunwoody
Eric C. Hilton
Richard D. Pace
Original Assignee
Corning Incorporated
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Corning Incorporated filed Critical Corning Incorporated
Priority to US09/555,943 priority Critical patent/US6463764B1/en
Priority to BR9814517-7A priority patent/BR9814517A/en
Priority to CA002316346A priority patent/CA2316346A1/en
Priority to AU20206/99A priority patent/AU736085C/en
Priority to EP98965006A priority patent/EP1042242A4/en
Priority to KR1020007007239A priority patent/KR20010033716A/en
Publication of WO1999033756A1 publication Critical patent/WO1999033756A1/en

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Classifications

    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03B—MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
    • C03B37/00—Manufacture or treatment of flakes, fibres, or filaments from softened glass, minerals, or slags
    • C03B37/01—Manufacture of glass fibres or filaments
    • C03B37/012—Manufacture of preforms for drawing fibres or filaments
    • C03B37/014—Manufacture of preforms for drawing fibres or filaments made entirely or partially by chemical means, e.g. vapour phase deposition of bulk porous glass either by outside vapour deposition [OVD], or by outside vapour phase oxidation [OVPO] or by vapour axial deposition [VAD]
    • C03B37/018—Manufacture of preforms for drawing fibres or filaments made entirely or partially by chemical means, e.g. vapour phase deposition of bulk porous glass either by outside vapour deposition [OVD], or by outside vapour phase oxidation [OVPO] or by vapour axial deposition [VAD] by glass deposition on a glass substrate, e.g. by inside-, modified-, plasma-, or plasma modified- chemical vapour deposition [ICVD, MCVD, PCVD, PMCVD], i.e. by thin layer coating on the inside or outside of a glass tube or on a glass rod
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
    • B01D—SEPARATION
    • B01D46/00—Filters or filtering processes specially modified for separating dispersed particles from gases or vapours
    • B01D46/66—Regeneration of the filtering material or filter elements inside the filter
    • B01D46/74—Regeneration of the filtering material or filter elements inside the filter by forces created by movement of the filter element
    • B01D46/76—Regeneration of the filtering material or filter elements inside the filter by forces created by movement of the filter element involving vibrations
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
    • B01D—SEPARATION
    • B01D46/00—Filters or filtering processes specially modified for separating dispersed particles from gases or vapours
    • B01D46/02—Particle separators, e.g. dust precipitators, having hollow filters made of flexible material
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03B—MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES
    • C03B37/00—Manufacture or treatment of flakes, fibres, or filaments from softened glass, minerals, or slags
    • C03B37/01—Manufacture of glass fibres or filaments
    • C03B37/012—Manufacture of preforms for drawing fibres or filaments
    • C03B37/014—Manufacture of preforms for drawing fibres or filaments made entirely or partially by chemical means, e.g. vapour phase deposition of bulk porous glass either by outside vapour deposition [OVD], or by outside vapour phase oxidation [OVPO] or by vapour axial deposition [VAD]
    • C03B37/0144—Means for after-treatment or catching of worked reactant gases

Definitions

  • This invention relates to production of germanium- containing glass.
  • the invention is more particularly concerned with an improved glass manufacturing facility and method of operation, wherein germanium-containing particulate filtered from an exhaust gas stream of the glass production process is collected from a filtration system at a concentration level conducive to reclamation of the germanium.
  • germanium-containing glass for various advanced optical products, such as optical fibers, germanium dioxide (Ge0 2 ) particulate, silicon dioxide (Si0 2 ) particulate, hydrochloric acid (HC1) fumes, and water vapor are produced as byproducts. These byproducts are exhausted to a pollution abatement system where, among other things, the Ge0 2 and Si0 2 particulate are captured from the exhaust stream and collected for disposal in a landfill.
  • Fig. 1 is a basic block diagram of a conventional glass manufacturing facility 10 that produces germanium- containing glass.
  • the facility comprises a glass production system 12 including a plurality of lathes 14.
  • the lathes produce bodies of Ge0 2 -doped silica glass, commonly called blanks or preforms, using a process known as flame hydrolysis.
  • the aforementioned byproducts are reaction products of this process.
  • vaporous SiCl 4 and GeCl 4 as raw materials are passed though a specially designed methane burner in precisely controlled amounts depending upon the desired constitution of the silica glass blanks.
  • the SiCl 4 and GeCl 4 are reacted with oxygen under the heat of the burner to form minute particles or "soot" of Si0 2 and Ge0 2 .
  • a portion of these particles is deposited on the outer periphery of a rotating mandrel (a technique known as outside vapor deposition or OVD) to form the glass blanks.
  • OVD outside vapor deposition
  • the respective exhausts of the lathes 14 are connected to a dedicated loop L that pulls air from the lathes by way of a loop exhaust fan 16.
  • the fan circulates the exhaust stream to a baghouse 18, including a plurality of baghouse modules 20 (four in the form shown) , for filtration of the Si0 2 and Ge0 2 particulates from the stream.
  • a portion of the exhaust stream is recirculated through the loop and mixed with pre-heated makeup air.
  • the non- recirculated portion of the exhaust stream is supplied, via a scrubber fan 22, to a scrubber system 24 and then discharged through an exhaust stack 26.
  • the scrubber system 24 scrubs the filtered exhaust stream from the baghouse with weak acid or soft water to remove vapor- phase chloride components, including HC1 , SiCl 4 and GeCl 4 , to ensure that the discharge from the exhaust stack complies with environmental requirements.
  • soot deposition can be accomplished by other techniques such as modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) , in which soot is deposited on the inner periphery of a rotating hollow mandrel, and vapor axial deposition (VAD) , in which soot is deposited on the axial end of a rotating rod.
  • MCVD modified chemical vapor deposition
  • VAD vapor axial deposition
  • the glass production system 12 includes additional lathes 28 that produce blanks of germanium- free silica glass, and these lathes are also connected to the loop L.
  • the Si0 2 particulate and the Ge0 2 particulate byproducts from the lathes 14 are generally in the size ranges of 0.5 - 1 ⁇ m and 0.05 - 0.5 ⁇ m, respectively.
  • the baghouse modules 20 use acrylic filter bags 21 that are pre-coated (pre-loaded) with particulate Si0 2 .
  • the exhaust stream from the lathes is passed through the pre-coated bags which trap and accumulate substantially all of the particulate material entrained in the exhaust stream.
  • Each of the baghouse modules is periodically taken off-line and isolated from the loop L in order to conduct a cleaning cycle.
  • a mechanical shaking system (not shown) shakes the bags of the isolated module to dislodge the accumulated particulate material captured from the exhaust stream.
  • the cleaned bags are then recoated with Si0 2 from a supply system 30 connected to the baghouse, and thereafter placed back on-line.
  • the material dislodged from the filter bags during the cleaning cycle is collected and landfilled in an appropriate facility. By landfilling the particulate mixture collected from the baghouse, there is substantial waste of costly germanium.
  • the production system is constituted by lathes which are dedicated predominantly to the production of blanks for use in making multi -mode optical fibers.
  • the invention provides a glass manufacturing facility which comprises a glass production system providing an exhaust stream entrained with particulate material including germanium-containing particulate, and an exhaust filtration system including PTFE membrane filter material supported by PTFE fabric material, the exhaust filtration system being connected to the glass production system to receive the exhaust stream and capture the particulate material.
  • the facility additionally comprises a collection system connected to the exhaust filtration system to collect the captured particulate material from the exhaust filtration system.
  • the glass production system operates to produce glass selected such that the concentration of germanium in the particulate material collected by the collection system is at least about 2% by weight.
  • the invention provides an operation method of a glass manufacturing facility, which comprises producing glass with a glass production system that provides an exhaust stream entrained with particulate material including germanium-containing particulate, filtering the exhaust stream with an exhaust filtering system including PTFE membrane filter material supported by PTFE fabric material, thereby capturing the particulate material, and collecting the captured particulate material from the exhaust filtration system with a collection system.
  • the glass is selected such that the concentration of germanium in the particulate material collected by the collection system is at least about 2% by weight.
  • Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing of a conventional glass manufacturing facility for germanium-containing glass.
  • Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a glass manufacturing facility according to the present invention.
  • Fig. 2 diagrammatically depicts a glass manufacturing facility 10' in accordance with the present invention.
  • the basic layout of this facility is similar to that of the facility 10 shown in Fig. 1, except that no Si0 2 supply system is provided for the baghouse 18 ' .
  • the principal differences from the conventional facility relate to the baghouse 18 ' and the glass production system 12 ' . These differences are addressed below.
  • the particulate collection system for the baghouse is designed to package the particulate in appropriate form for shipment to the germanium reclamation service provider.
  • Baghouse 18' in the facility of Fig. 2 is a modification of the conventional baghouse previously described, in which the standard pre-coated acrylic filtration bags are replaced with bags 21' constructed from a PTFE filtration laminate.
  • the laminate material comprises, more particularly, an expanded PTFE filtration membrane (e.g., 0.01 inch thickness) bonded to a PTFE backing fabric that supports the membrane.
  • the laminate material is commercially available under the trademark GORETEX from W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., Elkton, Maryland. This material has been found to exhibit excellent resistance to the high-temperature, acidic environment in the loop L', and to capture soot particles, such as Si0 2 and Ge0 2 in the earlier-mentioned size ranges with satisfactory efficiency.
  • Optimum cleaning of the PTFE filtration laminate bags may require that increased cleaning energy be imparted to the bags during the cleaning cycle . This can be accomplished by adjusting the shake amplitude and frequency imparted to the bags by the mechanical shake system incorporated in the baghouse modules . Sonic horns may also be installed in the baghouse modules to increase the cleaning energy to the bags .
  • the glass production system 12' is modified from the conventional system such that preferably all of the lathes are dedicated to the production of Ge0 2 -doped silica glass blanks.
  • the glass (or glasses) produced on the lathes 14' is (are) preferably selected such that the resulting exhaust stream from the lathes will provide a sufficient amount of Ge0 2 such that the germanium concentration in the material collected from the baghouse is at least 2% in order to allow for reclamation of the germanium.
  • the Ge0 2 content of the exhaust stream from the lathes may vary, provided that the average content over a suitable period of time, such as the interval between cleaning cycles, yields the desired concentration of germanium in the particulate collected from the baghouse.
  • Another modification related to the baghouse involves the so-called air-to-cloth ratio, which is defined as the ratio of nominal volumetric air flow through the baghouse in actual cubic feet per minute to the total on-line filter cloth area of the baghouse in square feet. It has been determined that the PTFE laminate bags do not tolerate as high an air-to-cloth ratio as the conventional pre-coated filter bags in the environment of the invention. This factor should be taken into consideration in the overall facility design, because when an individual baghouse module is taken off-line during a cleaning cycle or a service outage, for example, the air-to-cloth ratio of the modules remaining in operation will be increased correspondingly. In other words, the remaining modules bear the load of the module taken off-line.
  • the PTFE laminate bags should not be subjected to sustained operation at an air-to-cloth ratio exceeding 1.1. Sustained operation above this ratio may cause excessive wear of the PTFE membrane and/or excessive caking of particulate on the bag material such that it cannot be adequately cleaned.
  • the air-to-cloth ratio for normal operation is therefore preferably set such that when the modules are individually off-line, the air-to- cloth ratio of the remaining modules does not exceed 1.1. More preferably, the setting is such that the ration of the remaining modules does not exceed 0.9.
  • the capacity of the baghouse and/or the number of lathes connected to the baghouse may be determined as needed to attain an appropriate ratio.
  • the baghouse particulate collection system includes a silo 32 which is connected to hoppers at the respective bases of the baghouse modules via a pneumatic transport system 34.
  • the pneumatic transport system transports particulate material dislodged from the PTFE filter bags during the cleaning cycle for collection in the silo.
  • the silo feeds a mixer 36, where the collected particulate material is mixed with water from a water spray to compact it, whereupon it is dropped into bulk bags for shipment to the germanium reclamation service provider (for reclamation in the form of GeCl 4 ) .
  • the water spray furnishes only such an amount of water that is sufficient to compact the particulate without forming hard nodules, which are undesirable for reclamation.
  • the compacted material thus remains substantially dry.
  • a glass manufacturing facility as shown in Fig. 2 was constructed and operated in accordance with the following parameters :
  • Lathes 6 lathes operated to produce Ge0 2 -doped silica glass blanks with a predominance of blanks for multi-mode optical fiber and a balance of blanks for dispersion- shifted optical fiber
  • Bag material - GORETEX PTFE laminate (0.01 in. membrane thickness) Bag size - 5 in. diameter, 14 feet long Cleaning Cycle - Every 10-18 hours depending on production conditions (total shake time 7 minutes per module)

Abstract

Particulate material including germanium-containing particulate, such as germanium dioxide (GeO2), is captured from the exhaust stream loop (L) of a glass production system (12) by an exhaust fan (16) in a filtration system employing a baghouse (18) consisting of baghouse modules (20) containing filter bags (21) of a PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) filter membrane supported by a PTFE fabric backing and pre-loaded with SiO2 from a SiO2 supply system (30). The captured particulate material is collected from the filtration system by an associated collection system comprising a scrubber fan (22) and scrubber system (24) before exhaust leaves the facility (10) through the exhaust stack (26). The glass produced by the production system (12) consisting of vapor deposition lathes (14) and (28) is selected such that the concentration of germanium in the particulate material collected from the filtration system is at least about 2 % by weight.

Description

GERMANIUM-CONTAINING PARTICULATE CAPTURE FROM AN EXHAUST GAS STREAM OF A GLASS PRODUCTION SYSTEM
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention
This invention relates to production of germanium- containing glass. The invention is more particularly concerned with an improved glass manufacturing facility and method of operation, wherein germanium-containing particulate filtered from an exhaust gas stream of the glass production process is collected from a filtration system at a concentration level conducive to reclamation of the germanium.
Background of the Invention
In the manufacture of germanium-containing glass for various advanced optical products, such as optical fibers, germanium dioxide (Ge02) particulate, silicon dioxide (Si02) particulate, hydrochloric acid (HC1) fumes, and water vapor are produced as byproducts. These byproducts are exhausted to a pollution abatement system where, among other things, the Ge02 and Si02 particulate are captured from the exhaust stream and collected for disposal in a landfill.
Fig. 1 is a basic block diagram of a conventional glass manufacturing facility 10 that produces germanium- containing glass. The facility comprises a glass production system 12 including a plurality of lathes 14. The lathes produce bodies of Ge02-doped silica glass, commonly called blanks or preforms, using a process known as flame hydrolysis. The aforementioned byproducts are reaction products of this process.
In the lathes 14, vaporous SiCl4 and GeCl4 as raw materials are passed though a specially designed methane burner in precisely controlled amounts depending upon the desired constitution of the silica glass blanks. The SiCl4 and GeCl4 are reacted with oxygen under the heat of the burner to form minute particles or "soot" of Si02 and Ge02. A portion of these particles is deposited on the outer periphery of a rotating mandrel (a technique known as outside vapor deposition or OVD) to form the glass blanks. The excess soot is exhausted from the lathes.
The respective exhausts of the lathes 14 are connected to a dedicated loop L that pulls air from the lathes by way of a loop exhaust fan 16. The fan circulates the exhaust stream to a baghouse 18, including a plurality of baghouse modules 20 (four in the form shown) , for filtration of the Si02 and Ge02 particulates from the stream. After filtration by the baghouse 18, a portion of the exhaust stream is recirculated through the loop and mixed with pre-heated makeup air. The non- recirculated portion of the exhaust stream is supplied, via a scrubber fan 22, to a scrubber system 24 and then discharged through an exhaust stack 26. The scrubber system 24 scrubs the filtered exhaust stream from the baghouse with weak acid or soft water to remove vapor- phase chloride components, including HC1 , SiCl4 and GeCl4, to ensure that the discharge from the exhaust stack complies with environmental requirements.
In conventional operation of the production system 12, different types of blanks are run on individual lathes depending upon customer demand. At any given time, some of the lathes 14 may be running a low concentration of germanium, while others may be running a high concentration of germanium, with still others running at intermediate concentration. Ge02 content may differ between individual blanks by as much as about 13 - 14% by weight, and possibly more. It will thus be appreciated that the Ge02 concentration in the exhaust stream supplied to the baghouse system varies widely, depending upon the particular mix of blanks being manufactured a given time. It should be noted, incidentally, that the earlier- described production process of the lathes 14 is merely exemplary. As is well known to those skilled in the art, the flame hydrolysis process can be implemented using materials other than those mentioned above. And soot deposition can be accomplished by other techniques such as modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) , in which soot is deposited on the inner periphery of a rotating hollow mandrel, and vapor axial deposition (VAD) , in which soot is deposited on the axial end of a rotating rod. Indeed, as shown in Fig. 1, the glass production system 12 includes additional lathes 28 that produce blanks of germanium- free silica glass, and these lathes are also connected to the loop L.
The Si02 particulate and the Ge02 particulate byproducts from the lathes 14 are generally in the size ranges of 0.5 - 1 μm and 0.05 - 0.5 μm, respectively. To capture these particulates, as well as the particulates from the lathes 28, the baghouse modules 20 use acrylic filter bags 21 that are pre-coated (pre-loaded) with particulate Si02. The exhaust stream from the lathes is passed through the pre-coated bags which trap and accumulate substantially all of the particulate material entrained in the exhaust stream. Each of the baghouse modules is periodically taken off-line and isolated from the loop L in order to conduct a cleaning cycle. During the cleaning cycle, a mechanical shaking system (not shown) shakes the bags of the isolated module to dislodge the accumulated particulate material captured from the exhaust stream. The cleaned bags are then recoated with Si02 from a supply system 30 connected to the baghouse, and thereafter placed back on-line.
The material dislodged from the filter bags during the cleaning cycle is collected and landfilled in an appropriate facility. By landfilling the particulate mixture collected from the baghouse, there is substantial waste of costly germanium.
Technology exists and is commercially available for reclaiming germanium from particulate Ge02. But, in the conventional facility using pre-coated bags and operated as described above, the concentration level of germanium in the material collected from the baghouse is insufficient for cost-effective reclamation. As a practical matter, a minimum concentration of 2% germanium by weight is ordinarily required.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered that by appropriate adaptation of the manufacturing facility design and operation, it is possible to collect a substantial portion of the heretofore wasted germanium in sufficient concentration to permit cost-effective reclamation. In particular, it has been discovered that by modifying the baghouse to use filtration bags having a PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) filter membrane supported on a PTFE backing fabric, and by dedicating the glass production system connected to the baghouse to the production of blanks having sufficient germanium concentration, it is possible to obtain a particulate mixture from the baghouse that meets or exceeds the aforementioned 2% level. For example, in a preferred mode of the invention to described in detail later, the production system is constituted by lathes which are dedicated predominantly to the production of blanks for use in making multi -mode optical fibers.
Briefly stated, in accordance with one of its broader aspects, the invention provides a glass manufacturing facility which comprises a glass production system providing an exhaust stream entrained with particulate material including germanium-containing particulate, and an exhaust filtration system including PTFE membrane filter material supported by PTFE fabric material, the exhaust filtration system being connected to the glass production system to receive the exhaust stream and capture the particulate material. The facility additionally comprises a collection system connected to the exhaust filtration system to collect the captured particulate material from the exhaust filtration system. The glass production system operates to produce glass selected such that the concentration of germanium in the particulate material collected by the collection system is at least about 2% by weight.
In a related aspect, the invention provides an operation method of a glass manufacturing facility, which comprises producing glass with a glass production system that provides an exhaust stream entrained with particulate material including germanium-containing particulate, filtering the exhaust stream with an exhaust filtering system including PTFE membrane filter material supported by PTFE fabric material, thereby capturing the particulate material, and collecting the captured particulate material from the exhaust filtration system with a collection system. As previously stated, the glass is selected such that the concentration of germanium in the particulate material collected by the collection system is at least about 2% by weight.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The aforementioned and additional aspects of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing of a conventional glass manufacturing facility for germanium-containing glass; and
Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a glass manufacturing facility according to the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Fig. 2 diagrammatically depicts a glass manufacturing facility 10' in accordance with the present invention. The basic layout of this facility is similar to that of the facility 10 shown in Fig. 1, except that no Si02 supply system is provided for the baghouse 18 ' . Beyond the absence of this system, the principal differences from the conventional facility relate to the baghouse 18 ' and the glass production system 12 ' . These differences are addressed below. As will also be explained, the particulate collection system for the baghouse is designed to package the particulate in appropriate form for shipment to the germanium reclamation service provider.
Baghouse 18' in the facility of Fig. 2 is a modification of the conventional baghouse previously described, in which the standard pre-coated acrylic filtration bags are replaced with bags 21' constructed from a PTFE filtration laminate. The laminate material comprises, more particularly, an expanded PTFE filtration membrane (e.g., 0.01 inch thickness) bonded to a PTFE backing fabric that supports the membrane. The laminate material is commercially available under the trademark GORETEX from W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., Elkton, Maryland. This material has been found to exhibit excellent resistance to the high-temperature, acidic environment in the loop L', and to capture soot particles, such as Si02 and Ge02 in the earlier-mentioned size ranges with satisfactory efficiency.
Optimum cleaning of the PTFE filtration laminate bags may require that increased cleaning energy be imparted to the bags during the cleaning cycle . This can be accomplished by adjusting the shake amplitude and frequency imparted to the bags by the mechanical shake system incorporated in the baghouse modules . Sonic horns may also be installed in the baghouse modules to increase the cleaning energy to the bags .
Because the PTFE laminate bags do not require Si02 pre-coating, it becomes possible to substantially reduce the concentration of Si02 in the particulate material collected from the baghouse, thus effectively increasing the concentration of Ge02, and therefore, germanium. To further increase the concentration of Ge02 in the collected material, the glass production system 12' is modified from the conventional system such that preferably all of the lathes are dedicated to the production of Ge02-doped silica glass blanks. The glass (or glasses) produced on the lathes 14' is (are) preferably selected such that the resulting exhaust stream from the lathes will provide a sufficient amount of Ge02 such that the germanium concentration in the material collected from the baghouse is at least 2% in order to allow for reclamation of the germanium. A sightly lower concentration may be acceptable in some applications, however. The Ge02 content of the exhaust stream from the lathes may vary, provided that the average content over a suitable period of time, such as the interval between cleaning cycles, yields the desired concentration of germanium in the particulate collected from the baghouse.
Another modification related to the baghouse involves the so-called air-to-cloth ratio, which is defined as the ratio of nominal volumetric air flow through the baghouse in actual cubic feet per minute to the total on-line filter cloth area of the baghouse in square feet. It has been determined that the PTFE laminate bags do not tolerate as high an air-to-cloth ratio as the conventional pre-coated filter bags in the environment of the invention. This factor should be taken into consideration in the overall facility design, because when an individual baghouse module is taken off-line during a cleaning cycle or a service outage, for example, the air-to-cloth ratio of the modules remaining in operation will be increased correspondingly. In other words, the remaining modules bear the load of the module taken off-line.
Generally speaking, the PTFE laminate bags should not be subjected to sustained operation at an air-to-cloth ratio exceeding 1.1. Sustained operation above this ratio may cause excessive wear of the PTFE membrane and/or excessive caking of particulate on the bag material such that it cannot be adequately cleaned.
The air-to-cloth ratio for normal operation (all modules on-line) is therefore preferably set such that when the modules are individually off-line, the air-to- cloth ratio of the remaining modules does not exceed 1.1. More preferably, the setting is such that the ration of the remaining modules does not exceed 0.9. The capacity of the baghouse and/or the number of lathes connected to the baghouse may be determined as needed to attain an appropriate ratio.
Returning now to Fig. 2, the baghouse particulate collection system includes a silo 32 which is connected to hoppers at the respective bases of the baghouse modules via a pneumatic transport system 34. The pneumatic transport system transports particulate material dislodged from the PTFE filter bags during the cleaning cycle for collection in the silo. The silo feeds a mixer 36, where the collected particulate material is mixed with water from a water spray to compact it, whereupon it is dropped into bulk bags for shipment to the germanium reclamation service provider (for reclamation in the form of GeCl4) . The water spray furnishes only such an amount of water that is sufficient to compact the particulate without forming hard nodules, which are undesirable for reclamation. The compacted material thus remains substantially dry.
F.xampl p.
A glass manufacturing facility as shown in Fig. 2 was constructed and operated in accordance with the following parameters :
Lathes: 6 lathes operated to produce Ge02-doped silica glass blanks with a predominance of blanks for multi-mode optical fiber and a balance of blanks for dispersion- shifted optical fiber
Baghouse Construction:
Number of baghouse modules - 4 (same construction)
Bag material - GORETEX PTFE laminate (0.01 in. membrane thickness) Bag size - 5 in. diameter, 14 feet long Cleaning Cycle - Every 10-18 hours depending on production conditions (total shake time 7 minutes per module)
Total bag (cloth) area - 20,888 sq. feet Flowing Temp . /Baghouse Inlet Temp.: 190°F Loop Nominal Volumetric Flow Rate (@ 190°F) : 10,500 scfm; 12,877 acfm
Permissible Loop Temp. Range: 140-250°F (dew point @ 130°F)
Range of Air-to-Cloth Ratio:
All modules on-line - 0.57 @ 140°F to 0.67 @ 250°F
One module off-line - 0.76 @ 140°F to 0.90 @ 250°F
Ge02 Concentration of Collected Particulate at Mixer Output (per 400 lb. particulate batch, dry weight basis) : 2.7 - 6.7% by wt . depending on glass production mix
It is to be understood, of course, that the preferred modes of the invention described above are merely exemplary and that various implementations are possible in keeping with the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims .

Claims

WE CLAIM AS OUR INVENTION;
1. A glass manufacturing facility, comprising: a glass production system providing an exhaust stream entrained with particulate material including germanium- containing-particulate ; an exhaust filtration system including PTFE membrane filter material supported by PTFE fabric material, said exhaust filtration system being connected to said glass production system to receive said exhaust stream and capture said particulate material; and a collection system connected to said exhaust filtration system to collect the captured particulate material from said exhaust filtration system, said glass production system operating to produce glass selected such that the concentration of germanium in the particulate material collected by said collection system is at least about 2% by weight.
2. A glass manufacturing facility according to Claim
1, wherein said germanium-containing particulate is Ge02.
3. A glass manufacturing facility according to Claim
2, wherein the Ge02 particle size is in a range from 0.05 - 0.5 ╬╝m.
4. A glass manufacturing facility according to Claim 1, wherein the glass produced by said glass production system is Ge02-doped silica glass and said particulate material includes Si02 and Ge02.
5. A glass manufacturing facility according to Claim 4, wherein the Ge02 particle size is in a range from
0.05 - 0.5 ╬╝m and the Si02 particle size is in a range from
0.5 - 1 ╬╝m.
6. A glass manufacturing facility according to Claim 5, wherein said glass production system includes a plurality of lathes that produce blanks for the production of optical fiber.
7. A glass manufacturing facility according to Claim 1, wherein said exhaust filtration system is a baghouse system including a plurality of baghouse modules using filter bags of a construction in which a PTFE filter membrane is supported on a PTFE fabric backing, and the air-to-cloth ratio of said baghouse system is set such that when said modules are individually off-line, the air- to-cloth ratio of the remaining modules is less than or equal to 1.1.
8. A glass manufacturing facility according to Claim 7, wherein the air-to-cloth ratio of said baghouse system is set such that when said modules are individually offline, the air-to-cloth ratio of the remaining modules is less than or equal to 0.9.
9. A glass manufacturing facility according to Claim 7, wherein said glass production system includes a plurality of lathes that produce Ge02-doped silica glass blanks for the production of optical fibers, and the particulate material includes Si02 and Ge02.
10. A glass manufacturing facility according to Claim 9, wherein the Ge02 particle size is in a range from 0.05 - 0.5 ╬╝m and the Si02 particle size is in a range from 0.5 - 1 ╬╝m.
11. An operation method of a glass manufacturing facility, said method comprising: producing glass with a glass production system that provides an exhaust stream entrained with particulate material including germanium-containing particulate; filtering the exhaust stream with an exhaust filtering system including PTFE membrane filter material supported by PTFE fabric material, thereby capturing said particulate material; and collecting the captured particulate material from said exhaust filtration system with a collection system, wherein the glass is selected such that the concentration of germanium in the particulate material collected by said collection system is at least about 2% by weight .
12. A method according to Claim 11, wherein said germanium-containing particulate is Ge02.
13. A method according to Claim 12, wherein the Ge02 particle size is in a range from 0.05 - 0.5 ╬╝m.
14. A method according to Claim 12, wherein the glass produced by said glass production system is Ge02- doped silica glass and said particulate material includes Si02 and Ge02.
15. A method according to Claim 14, wherein the Ge02 particle size is in a range from .05 - 0.5 ╬╝m and the Si02 particle size is in a range from 0.5 - 1 ╬╝m.
16. A method according to Claim 15, wherein said producing includes operating a plurality of lathes to produce Ge02-doped silica glass blanks for the production of optical fiber.
17. A method according to Claim 11, wherein said exhaust filtration system is a baghouse system including a plurality of baghouse modules using filter bags of a construction in which a PTFE filter membrane is supported on a PTFE fabric backing, and said filtering includes setting the air-to-cloth ratio of said baghouse system such that when said modules are individually off-line, the air-to-cloth ratio of the remaining modules is less than or equal to 1.1.
18. A method according to Claim 17, wherein the air- to-cloth ratio of said baghouse system is set such that when said modules are individually off-line, the air-to- cloth ratio of the remaining modules is less than or equal to 0.9.
19. A method according to Claim 17, wherein said producing includes operating a plurality of lathes to produce Ge02-doped silica glass blanks for the production of optical fiber, and the particulate material includes Si02 and Ge02.
20. A method according to Claim 19, wherein the Ge02 particle size is in a range from .05 - 0.5 ╬╝m and the Si02 particle size is in a range from 0.5 - 1 ╬╝m.
PCT/US1998/027779 1997-12-31 1998-12-29 Germanium-containing particulate capture from an exhaust gas stream of a glass production system WO1999033756A1 (en)

Priority Applications (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US09/555,943 US6463764B1 (en) 1997-12-31 1998-12-29 Germanium-containing particulate capture from an exhaust gas stream of a glass production system
BR9814517-7A BR9814517A (en) 1997-12-31 1998-12-29 Capture of germanium-containing particulates from an exhaust gas stream from a glass production system
CA002316346A CA2316346A1 (en) 1997-12-31 1998-12-29 Germanium-containing particulate capture from an exhaust gas stream of a glass production system
AU20206/99A AU736085C (en) 1997-12-31 1998-12-29 Germanium-containing particulate capture from an exhaust gas stream of a glass production system
EP98965006A EP1042242A4 (en) 1997-12-31 1998-12-29 Germanium-containing particulate capture from an exhaust gas stream of a glass production system
KR1020007007239A KR20010033716A (en) 1997-12-31 1998-12-29 Germanium-containing particulate capture from an exhaust gas stream of a glass production system

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US7023597P 1997-12-31 1997-12-31
US60/070,235 1997-12-31

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CA (1) CA2316346A1 (en)
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AU2020699A (en) 1999-07-19
ID26798A (en) 2001-02-08
KR20010033716A (en) 2001-04-25
CN1285809A (en) 2001-02-28
AU736085C (en) 2002-02-21
EP1042242A4 (en) 2003-05-28
US6463764B1 (en) 2002-10-15
AU736085B2 (en) 2001-07-26
BR9814517A (en) 2000-10-17
CA2316346A1 (en) 1999-07-08
EP1042242A1 (en) 2000-10-11

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