• Feedback from Combura

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      espadmin

The Combura 2008 Symposium took place on October 10 and was organised by the Dutch section of the IFRF (NVV), the Dutch section of the Combustion Institute (CI), the Dutch Engineers’ Association (KIVI) and the Dutch Technology Foundation (STW). The conference kicked off with a keynote lecture by Dr. Schaverien of Shell on biofuels, followed by four parallel sessions.  The topics were ‘application of biofuels’, ‘experimental combustion studies’, ‘numerical combustion studies’ and ‘fuel composition related combustion issues’. Prof. Dr. Smooke of Yale University, USA closed the proceedings with another keynote address.


The conference was attended by about 100 representatives from academia, institutes and industry in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands.


For the first time, the NVV presented the NVV Combustion Award.  Prior to the Symposium a prize of 1.000 Euros prize had been offered to the writer of the best M.Sc. thesis on combustion technology.  Entrants had to be based in either The Netherlands or Belgium and should have written a thesis that was graded at least 8 (out of 10).  Five students sent in their theses which were assessed by the NVV Combustion Award jury on originality, industrial application, societal relevance, quality, and scientific value.


Ron Heynens was unanimously judged the winner for his thesis on rotational effects of laminar combustion.  An honourable mention was given to Evie Kerkhof for her thesis on the application of Jathropa oil and biogas in a duel fuel engine for rural electrification.   Our congratulations go to all participants!


Overall Combura offered an excellent mix of presentations from academia, institutes and industry. Alongside the oral presentations, more than 20 posters were exhibited, showing ‘work in progress’.   We are happily convinced that interest in combustion-related research is increasing and that the symposium was a great success.