Last week’s 14th Triennial IFRF Member’s Conference proved to be a great success, both in terms of technical content and the discussion raised, and the networking activities dotted around the presentations.

Held in Noordwijkerhout in the Netherlands, the theme of the conference, ‘A Sustainable Energy Supply for Industry: A Challenge for the IFRF’ had the clear outcome of showing that the global environment, in particular the issue of carbon dioxide, is of vital importance for the energy industry, as well as other process industries.

Seven keynote lectures were presented, will the lead taken by Professor Adel Sarofim, followed by Professor Mikko Hupa, Professor Lasse Strömberg, Professor Terry Wall, Dr Joachim Wünning and Professor Klaus Hein.

Complimenting these, thirty-three technical presentations were given on many different topics you can get a short description of these from the programme previously published, and a full description from the presentations to be published on IFRF NET over the summer.

There were also two workshops held, one on solid fuels, and the other on gas and liquid fuels.

The conference was opened with a welcome given by IFRF President Drs. Nico Thijssen, while Prof Spliethoff, the Superintendent of Research outlined the research side of the IFRF and the possible future, and Peter Roberts told us all how it was to be done.

Finally, poster presentations were conducted during lunchtimes.

Of course, the question of what role the IFRF can play in the future of a sustainable energy industry underpinned the conference. Several roles took shape, and shall be fleshed out in the coming months. These include the research of oxy-fuel combustion techniques, the development of an institute for combustion research, training and education organized through the IFRF, to add practical experience as well as theoretical knowledge to the training of combustion engineers and scientists, both young and old.

On the social side of the conference, the traditional Kapitein Kok boat trip was held after the first day of the conference, with Prof. Rolf Collin’s Blue Flame band renewing their role of music providers for the evening, and doing it very well. Prof. Rolf Collin travelled to the conference especially for the occasion, and led the band on cornet. The cruise provided the opportunity for IFRF Director Peter Roberts to thank on behalf of the IFRF two long serving retiring operators, Theo Rooymans and Sjef van der Berg, for their much appreciated and immense contributions to the IFRF Research Station over many years.

 

 

Thursday night arrived along with the Conference Dinner, where the Swedish Flame-sponsored Växjö Pig Award was announced for Dr. Thomas Klasen and Prof. Klaus Göener, for best IFRF Journal article in the triennial, enjoyable speeches were given by Nico Thijssen, Tsuneaki Nakamura and Terry Wall, and generally a good time. This was followed by a midnight-to-early-morning Former Investigator’s Meeting, augmented by many interested observers, in which past and current IFRF investigators exchanged anecdotes and stories.

 

 

 

Overall, the conference:

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  Brought closer many established connections between IFRF members and began many more, which are sure to be valuable for members in their future work,
  
  
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  Gave the IFRF inspiration and ideas for the future, and 
  
  
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  Enlightened all participants as to the technical expertise and research of the conference participants.

With all of this, the next Triennial Member’s Conference, the fifteenth, is sure to be a highly interesting one.