TOTeM 33 was chaired by Professors Mikko Hupa (Finland) and Honghi Tran (Canada) who had coordinated a full programme of technical presentations by specialists from industry and academia worldwide.  Grouped into thematic sessions and interspersed with panel discussions which gave ample space for contributions from the floor, the presentations were brought to a conclusion with the customary Open Forum and Meeting Summary which is common to all IFRF TOTeMs. 

From the presentations and panel discussions it was clear that rotary kiln users in the cement, lime, and pulp & paper sectors are facing common challenges.  These include:

• using a wider range of alternative fuels more frequently than in the past (financial and environmental drivers)
• dealing with problems of increased ring formation that result directly from the increased use of alternative fuels, and in particular from the need to switch fuels repeatedly
• simultaneously reducing NOx emissions

In the current environment all these challenges must be met within very tight financial constraints where capital expenditure is increasingly limited, and operating expenditure (including R&D budgets) must be reduced.

During the final wrap up, a significant number of research needs was identified.  To name two in particular:

• a requirement for alternative fuels to be characterised against rotary kiln criteria as well as those appropriate to large utility boilers
• an increasing demand for rapid and reliable simulation of kiln firing processes.

The TOTeM 33 summary and copies of the presentations will be available shortly for download from the IFRF website.  Watch MNM for details.