Development of prototype fritting furnace for small scale pottery producers in Nigeria

Frit is an essential material required in the composition of low temperature glazes. Unfortunately, up till the year 2020 appropriate furnace for local production of frit is scarce in Nigeria. This may be due to the prohibitive prices of customary refractory materials, exorbitant cost for construction of a standard frit furnace, and the epileptic power supply to run a frit producing plant. Consequently, previous attempts to produce frit locally ended up in losses and products froth with impurities. In this work, the continuous-flow frit kiln with a sloping floor design was modified and a prototype was constructed using locally sourced refractory. The working section was lined with highly corrosion resistance monolith produced with a ramming mass composed of zircon and kaolinite. It has a volume of 10.62 litre. The furnace runs on butane gas, it is fed with pre-treated precursor in granules form and capable of continuous production of 30 kg of frit per hour (kg/h) at 1100 oC. With the appropriate burner, the furnace achieved the optimum operation temperature of 1100oC within two hours. The design is suitable for private studio, research and educational institutions. It can also be scaled up for industrial uses.