Earlier this month, IFRF together with its Italian Flame Research Committee (Comitato Italiano) held TOTeM 50, entitled ‘Decarbonising combustion in hard-to-abate industrial sectors’. Scheduled over 2 days on 5-6 December 2023 at the Politecnico di Milano in Piacenza, Italy, the event focused on the industrial sectors of glass, metals, cement and ceramics. The conference theme was inspired by the glass industry’s need to address its emission problem, as well as the IFRF’s goal of enhancing applied combustion research and increasing cooperation and information exchange throughout the international combustion and energy arena.

The TOTeM was very well attended with 86 delegates from 52 individual organisations which were spread across 10 countries. Industrial attendance was high at 77% of the total delegates, reflecting the importance of the decarbonisation topic to the foundation industries.      

The programme included 18 presentations, 8 ‘fast’ presentations and a vibrant poster session. These are being collected currently and will be made available as the conference proceedings for the attendees, together with a feedback survey in due course.  

The event concluded with a visit to a carbon capture facility hosted by Buzzi Unicem at their Vernasca site. This facility is part of the CLEANKER, project assessing calcium looping technology for CO2 capture during the cement production process. 

Closing the TOTeM, Massimiliano Fantuzzi, President of the Comitato Italiano di IFRF said: “I am really proud of the result! The success of this event, marked by an important and wide presence of experts from industries, research centres, and universities, underscores the collective commitment to address the challenges in decarbonising crucial sectors such as glass, iron and steel, metals, ceramic, and waste to energy. The journey to decarbonisation is probably long and hard, but with the collective determination showcased at this conference, I am confident that we are on the right path… Together, we can build a future that is not only environmentally responsible but also economically viable and socially equitable.”

On behalf of IFRF, I would like to extend our thanks to the event sponsors who were Nippon Gases, Air Liquide and Politecnico di Milano. I would also like to thank the event organisers, presenters and every one who attended for making this TOTeM a big success.