The topic of TOTeM 31 is to be Oxy-combustion technologies and applications and the meeting has been arranged for the 13th and 14th of November at the ENEL Auditorium in Pisa.  The keynote lecture will be delivered by Prof. Jost Wendt, of the University of Utah.

TOTeM 32, entitled Overcoming ash related restrictions on effective solid fuel utilisation will be offered in Freising, Germany on the 15th and 16th of December and will be combined with the 15th Conference of the German Flame Committee.

TOTeMs are organised jointly by the IFRF and local national committees and attendance is open to all members of the combustion community, not only IFRF Members.  The purpose of any one TOTeM is to highlight the state of the art in a particular area and to identify future strategies.  This goal is achieved through a combination of prepared talks and poster sessions on one day, followed by workshop discussion the next morning.  The outcome is published as a Chairman’s summary.  The IFRF willl shortly be embarking on a project to make the summmaries of the previous 30 TOTeMs available to Members on our website.

Two further Topic Oriented Technical Meetings (TOTeMs) are already in the planning stages for 2009, one focused on rotary kilns and the other, to be held in Japan, on industrial furances for the metals industry.  Watch the IFRF calendar for details.

In the mean time, readers are urged to peruse the available information and, should they wish to attend TOTeM 31 or 32, register as soon as possible.