Patent ID: 8087262

Claim:
A process for making glass comprising: (A) handling a glass melt in a refractory vessel, wherein the glass melt is exposed to an atmosphere comprising an air-borne particle above the glass melt near the glass surface; and (B) abating the particle by applying an electric field in the atmosphere, and collecting the particles above the glass melt near the glass surface on the surface of at least one electrode generating the electric field, wherein the electric field does not provide an electrical potential gradient in the glass melt that would result in an electrolysis of the glass melt, wherein the refractory vessel comprises a refractory metal comprising platinum or an alloy thereof exposed to the atmosphere, and the atmosphere is oxidative such that the reaction between the refractory metal and the atmosphere produces at least part of the air-borne particle; in step (A), the refractory vessel comprises a glass melt stirring device comprising (a) a stir chamber defined by a chamber wall comprising a refractory metal and (b) a stirrer shaft comprising a refractory metal; and in step (B), the electric field is at least partly generated by an electrical potential gradient between (i) the stir chamber wall and the stirrer shaft, which together function as a first electrode subjected to the same electric potential; and (ii) an opposite second electrode placed above the surface of the glass melt.