# International Flame Research Foundation

The International Flame Research Foundation – IFRF is a non-profit research association and network created in 1948 in IJmuiden (Netherlands), established in Livorno (Italy) between 2005 and 2016 (Fondazione Internazionale per la Ricerca Sulla Combustione – ONLUS), and in Sheffield (UK) since 2017. Meredith Thring was one of the founders.
The IFRF Membership Network unites some 1000 combustion researchers from 130 industrial companies and academic institutions worldwide, around a common interest in efficient and environmentally responsible industrial combustion, with a focus on flame studies.

## History

The IFRF can be traced to a proposal written in 1948 by Meredith Thring, head of the Physics Department in the newly formed British Iron and Steel Research Association (BISRA). Entitled Proposals for the Establishment of an International Research Project on Luminous Radiation, the document resulted in the formation of the International Flame Radiation Research Committee with representatives of the steel, fuel and appliance making industries in France, Holland and England - specifically the British Iron and Steel Research Association (BISRA), the Iron and Steel Research Association of France (IRSID) and the Royal Dutch Iron and Steel Company (KNHS).

## Publications

The IFRF is the publisher of technical reports and regular publications:
* The Industrial Combustion Journal (ISSN 2075-3071) since 1999, named IFRF Combustion Journal between Sept. 1999 and Aug. 2009 (ISSN 1562-479X),
* The Monday Night Mail - MNM - (ISSN 1562-4781) since 1999, in 1998 a few numbers of the IFRF Newsletter were also published,
* The Combustion Handbook (ISSN 1607-9116) since 2001.
Theses publications are freely available on-line.

## Events

The IFRF organises events to disseminate knowledge on combustion: conferences, technical meetings (called TOTeMs), common days with other technical or scientific associations and courses:

### Topic Oriented Technical Meetings (TOTeM)

TOTeMs are organized since 1989, once or twice a year:
List of TOTeM organized by the IFRF and national committees :
| TOTeM n° | Topic | Year | Location | Country |
| 51 | Green hydrogen: advances in CFD simulations of industrial hydrogen flames (announced) | 2024 | Calgary | Canada |
| 50 | Decarbonising combustion in hard-to-abate sectors | 2023 | Piacenza (Politecnico di Milano) | Italy |
| 49 | Chemical energy carriers for long-term storage and long-distance transport of renewable energies | 2023 | Mulhouse (LGRE) | France |
| 48 | Hydrogen for decarbonisation (European Hydrogen Week 2022 side event) | 2022 | Jouy-en-Josas (Air Liquide) | France |
| 47 | Additive manufacturing for combustion application | 2020 | Paris (Fivesgroup) | France |
| 46 | Waste-to-energy – Status and perspective of technologies | 2019 | Pisa | Italy |
| 45 | Gas turbines for future energy systems | 2018 | Cardiff | UK |
| 44 | Gaseous fuels for industry and power generation: challenges and opportunities | 2017 | Essen (GWI Gas- und Wärme-Institut) | Germany |
| 43 | Fired equipment safety and its associated instrumentation and control requirements | 2016 | Sheffield | UK |
| 42 | Industrial heating: furnaces, process heaters, kilns, design of safe and environmentally efficient thermal equipment | 2014 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 41 | Optimisation of OXY/COAL/FGR systems – state of the art for scaling and modelling | 2014 | Warsaw | Poland |
| 40 | Gasification, a versatile technology converting biomass to produce synfuels, heat and power | 2015 | Delft | Netherlands |
| 39 | Oxy-coal Combustion | 2013 | Pisa | Italy |
| 38 | Tar & sulphur sampling and analysis | 2013 | Copenhagen | Denmark |
| 37 | Innovative and Advanced Coal Co-Firing Technologies | 2012 | Warsaw | Poland |
| 36 | Industrial Flares | 2010 | Hawaii | USA |
| 35 | Co-firing secondary fuels in power generation: from fuel characterization to full scale testing | 2010 | Pisa | Italy |
| 34 | Gas Turbine Research: Fuels, Combustion, Heat Transfer and Emissions | 2010 | Cardiff University and the Gas Turbine Research Centre, Port Talbot | UK |
| 33 | Challenges in Rotary Kiln Combustion Processes | 2009 | Pisa | Italy |
| 32 | Efficient solid fuel utilisation: How to overcome ash related restrictions | 2008 | Freising | Germany |
| 31 | Oxy-combustion technologies and applications | 2008 | Pisa (Enel) | Italy |
| 30 | Computational Fluid Dynamics – Simulation of Combustion Processes | 2007 | Waikoloa (HI) | USA |
| 29 | Characterisation of biofuels for co-combustion | 2006 | Munich | Germany |
| 28 | Mercury, trace metals and fine particulates – Issues and Solutions | 2008 | Salt Lake City (UT) | USA |
| 27 | Process heating in petroleum, petrochemical and chemical industries: Identifying trends and satisfying needs through leveraged external research | 2003 | Birmingham | UK |
| 26 | CO$_2$ control, capture, sequestration, storage and emissions trading | 2003 | Birmingham | UK |
| 25 | Quest for Zero Emission in Industrial Furnaces -State of the Art and Future Development of High Temperature Air Combustion | 2003 | Stockholm | Sweden |
| 24 | Challenges in the development of high efficiency combustion - The Excess Enthalpy Combustion Project | 2003 | Velsen Noord | Netherlands |
| 23 | Efficiency and flexibility of energy use in the Iron and Steel industry: Minimise costs and CO$_2$ emissions | 2003 | Velsen Noord | Netherlands |
| 22 | Combustion Trends in Power Generation Industries | 2002 | Linkebeek (Laborelec) | Belgium |
| 21 | Combustion Trends in Cement and Mineral Processing Industries, | 2002 | Linkebeek (Laborelec) | Belgium |
| 20 | CFD for Combustion Engineering | 2002 | Akersloot | Netherlands |
| 19 | Combustion oscillation and hum: Problems and opportunities | 2002 | Akersloot | Netherlands |
| 18 | Intelligent Combustion Control | 2000 | Cernay-la-Ville | France |
| 17 | The Use of Oxygen for Industrial Combustion | 2000 | Cernay-la-Ville | France |
| 16 | Toxic Metals and Fine Particulates from Combustion Processes | 2000 | Lyngby | Denmark |
| 15 | Ash and Deposit Formation in Utility Boilers | 2000 | Lyngby | Denmark |
| 14 | Bio-fuels - Fuel preparation, Combustion Technologies and Scope for Utilisation | 1999 | Växjö | Sweden |
| 13 | High Temperature Combustion Research for Industry – Results from the IFRF Research Station | 1999 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 12 | Application of Mathematical Modelling of full Scale Industrial Processes: Status and need for Sub-Models | 1999 | Guernsey | UK |
| 11 | Liquid Fuels: Heavy oils wastes and slurries | 1995 | Biaritz | France |
| 10 | Advanced Power Generation | 1994 | Veldhoven | Netherlands |
| 9 | IFRF triennial planning 1995-1997 and future flame research | 1994 | Haarlem | Netherlands |
| 8 | High temperature combustion – High air preheat/oxygen enrichment | 1993 | Loughborough | UK |
| 7 | Scaling and mathematical modeling of combustion systems | 1993 | Chicago (GRI) | USA |
| 6 | Measurement and control diagnostics | 1992 | Karlsruhe | Germany |
| 5 | Waste incineration technology | 1991 | Bari | Italy |
| 4 | IFRF Triennial Planning 1992-94 | 1991 | Haarlem | Netherlands |
| 3 | In-furnace NOx reduction techniques | 1990 | Leeds | UK |
| 2 | Fuel combustion characterisation | 1990 | Rueil Malmaison (IFP) | France |
| 1 | Capabilities and limitations of mathematical models of flares | 1989 | Amsterdam | Netherlands |

### IFRF Conferences

IFRF Conferences (formerly Members Conference) are organized approximately every two or three years:
List of IFRF Conferences organized by the IFRF and national committees :
| Conference | Year | N° | Location | Country |
| IFRF 2025 Conference (announced) | 2025 | 20 | Sheffield | UK |
| IFRF 2021 Conference (Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic) | 2021 | | | |
| IFRF 2018 Conference "Clean, efficient and safe industrial combustion" | 2018 | 19 | Sheffield | UK |
| 18th IFRF Members Conference "Flexible and clean fuel conversion in industry" | 2015 | 18 | Freising | Germany |
| 17th IFRF Members Conference "Clean and efficient fuel conversion in industry" | 2012 | 17 | Maffliers | France |
| 16th IFRF Members Conference "Combustion and sustainability: new technologies, new fuels, new challenges" | 2009 | 16 | Boston | USA |
| 15th IFRF Members Conference "Combustion in an Efficient and Environmentally Acceptable Manner" | 2007 | 15 | Pisa | Italy |
| 14th IFRF Members Conference | 2004 | 14 | Noordwijkerhout | Netherlands |
| 13th IFRF Members Conference | 2001 | 13 | Noordwijkerhout | Netherlands |
| 12th IFRF Members Conference | 1998 | 12 | Noordwijkerhout | Netherlands |
| 11th IFRF Members Conference | 1995 | 11 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 10th IFRF Members Conference | 1992 | 10 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 9th IFRF Members Conference | 1989 | 9 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 8th IFRF Members Conference | 1986 | 8 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 7th IFRF Members Conference | 1983 | 7 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 6th IFRF Members Conference | 1980 | 6 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 5th IFRF Members Conference | 1978 | 5 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 4th IFRF Members Conference | 1976 | 4 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 3rd IFRF Members Conference | 1973 | 3 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 2nd IFRF Members Conference | 1971 | 2 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |
| 1st IFRF Members Conference | 1969 | 1 | IJmuiden | Netherlands |

### Short courses

The IFRF organises short courses:
* Industrial Combustion training, Air Liquide, Jouy-en-Josas, France,18-19 March 2025,
* IFRF Hydrogen Short Course, Sheffield, UK, 2024,
* “Combustion & Emissions in Furnaces and Kilns – An Industrial Approach”, 16 to 18 October 2002, Villa Olmo – Como, Italy.
* 5th Flame Research Course, Koningshof Congress Centre, Veldhoven, The Netherlands, 1992.
* 4th Flame Research Course, Christal Hotel, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 9–13 September 1991.

### Other events

The IFRF organises events with other scientific associations such as the Combustion Institute and special flame days with other national committees.
Other events (non exhaustive list) :
| Event | Year | Location | Country |
| IFRF Workshop at the 11th European Combustion Meeting: From lab scale to industrial combustion: challenges for the scale up of experimental and simulation approaches | 2023 | Rouen | France |
| Industry Roundtable at the 39th International Symposium on Combustion – Decarbonated Combustion in Industrial Processes | 2022 | Vancouver | Canada |

## Structure

The IFRF is organised in 9 national committee plus the Associate Member Group (AMG) where no national committee exists.

### Committees

* American Flame Research Committee - AFRC
* British Flame Research Committee - BFRC
* Chinese Flame Research Committee - CFRC
* Finnish Flame Research Committee - FFRC
* French Flame (Comité français) - CF
* German Flame (Deutsche Vereinigung für Verbrennungsforschung e.V.) - DVV
* Italian Flame (Comitato Italiano) - CI
* Dutch Flame (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Vlamonderzoek) - NVV
* Swedish Flame Research Committee - SFRC

### Governance

The IFRF in managed by a Council and an Executive Committee.

### Locations

From 1948 to 2005 the IFRF facilities were located in the CORUS R&D centre at IJmuiden (Netherlands).
In 2005, the research station was relocated at ENEL facilities in Livorno (Italy), the measurement programme was restarted November 27, 2006.
In 2015 a relocation of the IFRF headquarters process was initiated. Leading to the designation of University of Sheffield and its PACT Archived 2015-12-22 at the Wayback Machine laboratory as the new IFRF location from 2017.