Burning issue of fuel comes under the microscope

Researchers from NUI Galway and Trinity College Dublin hosted the largest and most important scientific gathering on alternative fuels and fuel efficiency, when the 37th International Symposium on Combustion was held in Dublin last week.

This was the first time the biennial Symposium has been held in Ireland and was a major coup for the small but growing fuels research community in Ireland. Over 1,800 delegates from across the globe attended the technical presentations in the Convention Centre Dublin.

Over 90% of the energy used in Ireland is delivered by burning fuels, the vast majority of which is imported. This energy is needed for everything from lighting and heating our homes and preparing our meals, to powering our industries and fuelling our planes, trains and automobiles.

The immediate challenges posed by climate change, declining air quality, increasing energy bills, and energy supply security, especially with Brexit around the corner, means that cleaner, cheaper, more reliable forms of energy are urgently needed.

The International Symposium on Combustion  highlighted recent advances in:

■  The development and testing of renewable fuels including solid biomass, biomethane, liquid biofuels and hydrogen.

■  The use of waste products like agri-forestry wastes, sludge’s and municipal waste as fuels.

■  Efforts to reduce harmful emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.

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For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.