Joint contracts have been signed by US companies Praxair Inc. and Corning Inc. valuing more than US$ 35 million with US, Brazilian and Portuguese glass makers for the supply of oxygen plants and oxyge…
Joint contracts have been signed by US companies Praxair Inc. and Corning Inc. valuing more than US$ 35 million with US, Brazilian and Portuguese glass makers for the supply of oxygen plants and oxygen-based glass melting technology. The three contracts with Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc., Nadir Figueiredo Industria e Comercio SA and Tosel represent an oxygen supply of 446 tons per day. The deals mean that the two firms have now converted more than 70 glass furnaces worldwide to oxy-fuel combustion. Under a long-term contract with Thomson, Praxair will build a cryogenic air separation plant at Thomson“s Circleville, Ohio, US, facility to supply 375 tons per day of oxygen for use in making TV picture tube glass. The Praxair-Corning alliance will convert Thomson“s air-fired glass furnace to 100% oxygen. Scheduled to start up in mid-1996, the new oxy-fuel system will help improve glass melting efficiency while reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. Praxair“s Brazilian company White Martins S.A. and Corning have signed the alliance“s first Brazilian contract; a 10-year agreement with Nadir Figueiredo to supply oxygen and convert its furnace to 100% oxy-fuel combustion. The alliance will supply Nadir, the country“s leading glass tableware maker, with a 55-ton-per-day oxygen vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) system, which will increase furnace capacity by 50%. In Leiria, Portugal, Praxair“s Portuguese subsidiary, Companhia Nacional de Oxigenio SA, and Corning will supply oxygen and oxy-fuel technology to Tosel, a manufacturer of soda-lime glass lamps. The alliance will supply a combustion system and an 18-ton-per-day VPSA plant.