The International Flame Research Foundation – IFRF is a non-profit research association and network created in 1948 in
IJmuiden
n IJ (digraph) and that should remain the only places where they are used. >
IJmuiden () is a port town in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland. It is the main town in the municipality of Velsen which lies mainly to the south-ea ...
(Netherlands), established in
Livorno
Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...
(Italy) between 2005 and 2016 ''(Fondazione Internazionale per la Ricerca Sulla Combustione – ONLUS)'', and in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
(UK) since 2017.
Meredith Thring was one of the founders.
[Rob Thring''The Independent'', 30 September 2006]
/ref>
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
Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combustion ...
, with a focus on flame
A flame () is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction made in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density, they are then considered plasm ...
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).[
]
Publications
The IFRF is the publisher of technical reports and regular publications:
* Th
Industrial Combustion Journal
() since 1999, named ''IFRF Combustion Journal'' between Sept. 1999 and Aug. 2009 (),
* Th
Monday Night Mail
- MNM - () since 1999, in 1998 a few numbers of th
IFRF Newsletter
were also published,
* Th
Combustion Handbook
() since 2001.
Theses publications are freely available on-line.
Events
The IFRF organises events to disseminate knowledge on combustion: conference
A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...
s, 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:
IFRF Conferences
IFRF Conferences (formerly Members Conference) are organized approximately every two or three years:
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.
Other events
The IFRF organises events with other scientific associations such as the Combustion Institute and special flame days with other national committees.
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
Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel was first established as a public body at the end of 1962, and then transformed into a limited company in 1992. In 1999, following the liberali ...
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
The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...
and it
PACT
laboratory as the new IFRF location from 2017.
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.
References
External links
*
{{authority control
International scientific organizations
Research institutes in Italy
Scientific organizations established in 1948
Combustion