International Flame Research Foundation

The International Flame Research Foundation – IFRF is a non-profit research association and network created in 1948^[1][2] in IJmuiden (Netherlands), established in Livorno (Italy) between 2005^[3] and 2016 (Fondazione Internazionale per la Ricerca Sulla Combustione – ONLUS), and in Sheffield (UK) since 2017.^[4] Meredith Thring was one of the founders.^[5]

International Flame Research Foundation

International Flame Research Foundation
Abbreviation	IFRF
Formation	1948 (1948)
Type	Non-profit educational society
Legal status	Foundation
Purpose	Industrial combustion science
Region served	Word

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).^[6] 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).^[6]

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)[7]	2024	Calgary	Canada
50	Decarbonising combustion in hard-to-abate sectors[8]	2023	Piacenza (Politecnico di Milano)	Italy
49	Chemical energy carriers for long-term storage and long-distance transport of renewable energies[9]	2023	Mulhouse (LGRE)	France
48	Hydrogen for decarbonisation[10][11][12] (European Hydrogen Week 2022 side event[13])	2022	Jouy-en-Josas (Air Liquide)	France
47	Additive manufacturing for combustion application[14]	2020	Paris (Fivesgroup)	France
46	Waste-to-energy – Status and perspective of technologies[15]	2019	Pisa	Italy
45	Gas turbines for future energy systems[16]	2018	Cardiff	UK
44	Gaseous fuels for industry and power generation: challenges and opportunities[17]	2017	Essen (GWI Gas- und Wärme-Institut)	Germany
43	Fired equipment safety and its associated instrumentation and control requirements[18]	2016	Sheffield	UK
42	Industrial heating: furnaces, process heaters, kilns, design of safe and environmentally efficient thermal equipment[19]	2014	IJmuiden	Netherlands
41	Optimisation of OXY/COAL/FGR systems – state of the art for scaling and modelling[20]	2014	Warsaw	Poland
40	Gasification, a versatile technology converting biomass to produce synfuels, heat and power[21]	2015	Delft	Netherlands
39	Oxy-coal Combustion[22]	2013	Pisa	Italy
38	Tar & sulphur sampling and analysis[23]	2013	Copenhagen	Denmark
37	Innovative and Advanced Coal Co-Firing Technologies[24]	2012	Warsaw	Poland
36	Industrial Flares[25]	2010	Hawaii	USA
35	Co-firing secondary fuels in power generation: from fuel characterization to full scale testing[26]	2010	Pisa	Italy
34	Gas Turbine Research: Fuels, Combustion, Heat Transfer and Emissions[27]	2010	Cardiff University and the Gas Turbine Research Centre, Port Talbot	UK
33	Challenges in Rotary Kiln Combustion Processes[28]	2009	Pisa	Italy
32	Efficient solid fuel utilisation: How to overcome ash related restrictions[29]	2008	Freising	Germany
31	Oxy-combustion technologies and applications[30]	2008	Pisa (Enel)	Italy
30	Computational Fluid Dynamics – Simulation of Combustion Processes[31]	2007	Waikoloa (HI)	USA
29	Characterisation of biofuels for co-combustion[32]	2006	Munich	Germany
28	Mercury, trace metals and fine particulates – Issues and Solutions[33]	2008	Salt Lake City (UT)	USA
27	Process heating in petroleum, petrochemical and chemical industries: Identifying trends and satisfying needs through leveraged external research[34]	2003	Birmingham	UK
26	CO2 control, capture, sequestration, storage and emissions trading[35]	2003	Birmingham	UK
25	Quest for Zero Emission in Industrial Furnaces -State of the Art and Future Development of High Temperature Air Combustion[36]	2003	Stockholm	Sweden
24	Challenges in the development of high efficiency combustion - The Excess Enthalpy Combustion Project[37]	2003	Velsen Noord	Netherlands
23	Efficiency and flexibility of energy use in the Iron and Steel industry: Minimise costs and CO2 emissions[38]	2003	Velsen Noord	Netherlands
22	Combustion Trends in Power Generation Industries[39]	2002	Linkebeek (Laborelec)	Belgium
21	Combustion Trends in Cement and Mineral Processing Industries,[39][40]	2002	Linkebeek (Laborelec)	Belgium
20	CFD for Combustion Engineering[41]	2002	Akersloot	Netherlands
19	Combustion oscillation and hum: Problems and opportunities[42]	2002	Akersloot	Netherlands
18	Intelligent Combustion Control[43]	2000	Cernay-la-Ville	France
17	The Use of Oxygen for Industrial Combustion[44]	2000	Cernay-la-Ville	France
16	Toxic Metals and Fine Particulates from Combustion Processes[45]	2000	Lyngby	Denmark
15	Ash and Deposit Formation in Utility Boilers[46]	2000	Lyngby	Denmark
14	Bio-fuels - Fuel preparation, Combustion Technologies and Scope for Utilisation[47]	1999	Växjö	Sweden
13	High Temperature Combustion Research for Industry – Results from the IFRF Research Station[48]	1999	IJmuiden	Netherlands
12	Application of Mathematical Modelling of full Scale Industrial Processes: Status and need for Sub-Models[49]	1999	Guernsey	UK
11	Liquid Fuels: Heavy oils wastes and slurries[50]	1995	Biaritz	France
10	Advanced Power Generation[51]	1994	Veldhoven	Netherlands
9	IFRF triennial planning 1995-1997 and future flame research[52]	1994	Haarlem	Netherlands
8	High temperature combustion – High air preheat/oxygen enrichment[53]	1993	Loughborough	UK
7	Scaling and mathematical modeling of combustion systems[54]	1993	Chicago (GRI)	USA
6	Measurement and control diagnostics[55]	1992	Karlsruhe	Germany
5	Waste incineration technology[56]	1991	Bari	Italy
4	IFRF Triennial Planning 1992-94[57]	1991	Haarlem	Netherlands
3	In-furnace NOx reduction techniques[58]	1990	Leeds	UK
2	Fuel combustion characterisation[59]	1990	Rueil Malmaison (IFP)	France
1	Capabilities and limitations of mathematical models of flares[60]	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)[61]	2025	20	Sheffield	UK
IFRF 2021 Conference (Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic)	2021
IFRF 2018 Conference "Clean, efficient and safe industrial combustion"[62]	2018	19	Sheffield	UK
18th IFRF Members Conference "Flexible and clean fuel conversion in industry"[63]	2015	18	Freising	Germany
17th IFRF Members Conference "Clean and efficient fuel conversion in industry"[64]	2012	17	Maffliers	France
16th IFRF Members Conference "Combustion and sustainability: new technologies, new fuels, new challenges"[65]	2009	16	Boston	USA
15th IFRF Members Conference "Combustion in an Efficient and Environmentally Acceptable Manner"[66]	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[67]	1969	1	IJmuiden	Netherlands

Short courses

The IFRF organises short courses:

• Industrial Combustion training, Air Liquide, Jouy-en-Josas, France,18-19 March 2025,^[68]
• IFRF Hydrogen Short Course, Sheffield, UK, 2024,^[69]
• “Combustion & Emissions in Furnaces and Kilns – An Industrial Approach”, 16 to 18 October 2002, Villa Olmo – Como, Italy.^[39]
• 5th Flame Research Course, Koningshof Congress Centre, Veldhoven, The Netherlands, 1992.^[70]
• 4th Flame Research Course, Christal Hotel, Prague, Czechoslovakia, 9–13 September 1991.^[71]

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:[72] From lab scale to industrial combustion: challenges for the scale up of experimental and simulation approaches[73][74]	2023	Rouen	France
Industry Roundtable at the 39th International Symposium on Combustion – Decarbonated Combustion in Industrial Processes[75]	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.^[76]

In 2015 a relocation of the IFRF headquarters process was initiated.^[77] 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.^[78]

See also

• The Combustion Institute, a network of researchers specialised in combustion mainly from academia.
• The European Conference on Industrial Furnaces and Boilers - INFUB, conference related to industrial combustion.