Review: 14th European Conference on Industrial Furnaces and Boilers (INFUB)

The INFUB conference took place in the Algarve in Portugal from 2-5 April 2024. The 14th edition of the European Conference on Industrial Furnaces and Boilers is the latest event in a long series of successful conferences that have been held in Portugal since 1988. Over the years, delegates from more than 30 countries have participated in these events, with around 90 presentations given at each of these conferences. INFUB is particularly popular with industry representatives and covers a wide range of topics, from fundamental research to more practically orientated applications.

Three representatives from the Chair of Energy Process Engineering were on site. Antonia Sikotakopoulou, M. Sc., Matteo Giesen, M.Sc. and Dipl.-Ing. Antje David travelled to Portugal to present and discuss their projects and research in two lectures and a poster presentation.

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In her presentation entitled "Operational determination of the fraction composition during waste incineration", Dipl.-Ing. Antje David spoke about the MOAB project (model-based determination of the fluctuating waste composition on the grate using raw gas measurements), which was completed in August 2023. The focus of this presentation was the adaptation of a previously developed model for the operational determination of the elemental and fractional waste composition to large-scale technical conditions, especially the change in fuel composition and the change in water content due to weather influences. In addition to the mathematical model, the results of the validation tests at a pilot plant and the implementation at a large-scale plant were also presented. In the future, this model can provide valuable information on the change in waste composition, plant status, optimisation potential and biogenic or fossil CO2 emissions.

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Matteo Giesen, M.Sc. presented his project "Method development for characterising the ignition of pulverised fuels using spectroscopy on an ignition furnace". Under the title "Characterization of the ignition and combustion behaviour of biogenic residues", he presented the method of the ignition furnace for determining the ignition delay time as well as the extension of the method using near-infrared spectroscopy. By extending the method, it is possible to determine the temperature in a dust cloud and also to determine fuel-specific, kinetic parameters for biogenic fuels in the future.

Antonia Sikotakopoulou, M.Sc., presented a poster entitled "Comparative Studies on the operation of two industrial burners with natural gas and hydrogen", which is based on an industry-accompanying project with the project partner SAACKE GmbH. A comparative experimental study was carried out on the operating behaviour of typical industrial burners in natural gas and hydrogen operation. Particular attention was paid to the use of hydrogen in burners in automotive production. This study involved the separate integration of the two burner types into a 1-megawatt combustion chamber system operated at the Centre for Energy Technology (ZET) at TU Dresden. The experimental results from this project serve as the basis for numerical CFD calculations and future adjustments to the burners. 

The INFUB 2024 was a wonderful opportunity for EVT researchers to exchange ideas with other experts in the industrial furnace and boiler sector, to network and to familiarise themselves with innovative research projects.