Special programmes

Special programmes are specific research projects undertaken jointly by IFRF and other research institutes or industrial organisations. Due to their private nature, the research outcomes of such projects are generally shared with the wider IFRF Membership only after a certain time period.

Currently IFRF has partner status in two ongoing projects funded by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme:

RELCOM “Reliable and Efficient Combustion of Oxygen/Coal/Recycled Flue Gas Mixtures”
BRISK “Biofuels Research Infrastructure for Sharing Knowledge”

Click here for the complete list of the special programmes in which IFRF has previously had partner status.

RELCOM

RELCOM is being undertaken by a consortium of higher education institutions, research centres and industrial partners bringing together the best in research facilities and technology development expertise.

The partners are required to perform a series of applied research, development and demonstration activities involving both experimental studies and modelling work. The goal is to improve the design of full-scale early demonstration oxyfuel plant and better assess the associated commercial risks and opportunities.

Key project tasks:

Underpinning technology investigation including: fuel and combustion characterisation; flame radiation and explosion characteristics; high temperature gas-side corrosion; flue gas clean-up; and mercury emissions in oxy/coal/recycled flue gas.
CFD simulation and validation to develop improved burner designs, flame stability assessment and scaling rules.
Pilot-scale burner trials for assessment of novel burner designs and development of combustion monitoring and control systems.
Medium-scale burner testing using pilot scale results and scaling criteria developed within the project.
Detailed engineering analysis of retrofit and new-build case studies utilising the fundamental data and modelling tools developed within the project.

IFRF also has a key role in Dissemination and Technology Transfer of findings to project stakeholders.

The project commenced in November 2011 and has a duration of 4 years.

For more, see the RELCOM project website.

BRISK

Within the scope of the BRISK project are:

Biofuels characterisation
Establishment of protocols for solid fuels combustion characterisation
Characterisation of solid (and liquid) fuels to agreed protocols in order to fill data gaps for numerical model validation and application

Fuels include those which are environmentally and economically significant such as biomass, wastes and blends with coals.

A further aspect of BRISK is the establishment of a Europe wide database of biofuels test facilities aimed to promote the sharing of resources and know how for mutual benefit. The database is open to the public.

Through a programme of Transnational Access, the test rigs described are available for use by organisations based in Europe and meeting the EC Capacities programme eligibility criteria. For the duration of BRISK, funds will be available to cover for the costs of running a selected rig. A contribution will also be made to the cost of travel and subsistence for visiting researchers.

More information is available at the BRISK website.

PAST PROGRAMMES

The most recent of these is DEBCO "DEmonstration of large scale Biomass Co-firing and supply chain integration", which concluded at the end of 2012, and in which IFRF had a dissemination role.

Funded under the EU FP7 Programme, DEBCO developed and demonstrated innovative approaches to the co-utilisation of biomass with coal for large-scale electricity production and/or CHP, at more competitive costs and/or increased energy efficiency. The website, which was developed by IFRF, features the final project report and a Guidebook amongst other resources.

Technical reports and other documents related to the programmes listed below may be located using the search facility in Archived Reports.