IFRF will undertake two weeks of Biofuel characterisation tests using the Livorno IPFR rig during December.  The campaign is one of the ‘Joint Research Activities’ in the EC co-funded BRISK Project in which IFRF is a partner.

BRISK (Biofuels Research Infrastructure for Sharing Knowledge) is a 2nd Generation Biofuels Research Network.  While the main activity within the network is to offer Transnational Access to experimental facilities at 23 BRISK partner laboratories, some partners also undertake Joint Research Activities to enhance the experimental facilities and methods available within the Network itself.

IFRF is developing new methods to characterise solid biofuels based on larger scale continuous reactors.  The experimental vehicle for these tests will be the IPFR reactor which has been adapted to allow it to operate under gasification/pyrolysis conditions as well as the more traditional combustion conditions.  The modified IPFR rig will be coupled to CFD calculation in order to determine kinetic characteristics of solid feedstocks/biofuels and biofuel residues.

IFRF Members wanting more information about the nature and timing of the tests are invited to get in touch with IFRF Director Leo Tognotti or IFRF Investigator Giovanni Coraggio.  The results of the work will be reported to IFRF Members and the EC in due course.