EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Working Party of Multiphase Fluid Flow

Minutes of the Business Meeting

1. The chairman, Prof. B.J.Azzopardi, welcomed the delegates to the meeting, held in connection with the meeting ESCAPE-10. He thanked Professor Pierucci for organising the conference, which was a joint meeting between the CAPE, Multiphase Flow and Environmental Protection working parties. The small attendance at the business meeting was regrettable, but probably due to the very diverse interests of our members.

2. The minutes of the 1999 meeting in Sozopol were approved. As requested by Prof Boyadjiev (Item 5), information about the 5th Workshop (Orfeus 2000) had been circulated to members, and a copy was tabled. Other matters arising were on the agenda.

3. Strategies to improve the effectiveness of the WP
   Professor von Rohr had submitted two suggestions for possible models, and these were discussed.

   1. MUST. This American structure embraces disciplines other than Chem. Eng. Prof. Zun reported on its development. There are three groups: Diabatic (Profs. Lahey & Ishii), Adiabatic (Prof Hanratty) and Mixing (Prof Theofanos). Prof Dudukovic was keen on a fourth group, Bubble Columns and Stirred Tanks, which would have been of great interest to Chemical Engineers, but this does not seem to have been included. There are 130 members, including representatives from other continents (Prof. Hewitt for Europe), and they are looking for an annual budget of $8m. The major interest is in 3D CFD

      IMUST arose from the US/Japan Multiphase Flow Meetings, as a counterblast to the Japanese Two Phase Flow Group. There is already a Europe/Japan 2 phase flow meeting which met at Villa Rossa in Slovenia last year, and will meet at Tsukuba this September, and Prof Hewitt is very keen to have a European equivalent to IMUST. The WP is a good network, which must have a role to play in this. Profs. Zun and Hewitt to keep us informed of developments.

      Prof. Olujic saw a problem in that we are Chemical Engineers, not Mechanical or Nuclear, but Prof. Zun pointed out that Japan had overcome this, and IMUST were trying hard to do so. Prof. Azzopardi said that he and Prof Zun were already members of the European Two Phase Flow Group, which was biased towards Nuclear Engineering. He also pointed out that the AIChE has a worse problem than the EFCE, in that it has no Multiphase Flow Group. In Europe, the strength of the German group within the EFCE could be a difficulty.

   2. ECOSTAC. Professor Azzopardi proposed that we gather information about this organisation and circulate it.

   Professor Azzopardi then opened up the agenda item by asking "What is our purpose?" and "How do we define effectiveness?"

   Professor Fogelholm suggested we might organise post-graduate student exchanges, similar to what is done in the Nordic countries (see 1997 minutes, Item 3). The Nordic system is specifically in the Energy field, and was started during the Oil Crisis of 1973. Prof. Azzopardi will contact the EU to see whether they would be prepared to support such a scheme, and report back.

   Professor Azzopardi suggested two aims for the WP: "To encourage links across Europe" and "To cross disciplinary boundaries" (eg in the Power and Petroleum industries). He asked if we should organise our own conferences, like CAPE and CRE do. Prof. Olujic said that the Distillation WP used to do so, but mainly informal, one-day technical meetings.

   Joint meetings were discussed, and the question of participating in ECCE-3 in Nurnburg. As we had not supported ECCE-2, and as Prof. Bohnet was very much involved in the organisation of ECCE-3, it was agreed that we should participate. It might also improve attendance at the business meeting!

   Prof. Vogelholm suggested that WP chairmen should meet and set up a 10-year plan. Prof. Azzopardi said that this already happened to some extent.

4. Sustainability and the Working Party
   The Chairman explained that all WP chairmen had been asked to report on the activities and inputs of their Working Party to the SUSTECH initiative. We had circulated WP members for their ideas, as a result of which a document had been drawn up and sent to Prof. Carpenter, the person responsible for our group of WPs, and this was placed on the table (copy attached).

   Prof. Olujic was pleased with the emphasis on distillation. Professor Fogelholm wanted the inclusion of Process Integration, but it was agreed that this is not strictly within the realm of Multiphase Flow.

   As members were happy with the general tone of the document, Professor Azzopardi said he would tell Prof. Carpenter that it had been discussed and agreed.

5. Web Page and Catalogue of Current Research
   The Secretary reported that there had been no progress in the search for funding to develop our on-line catalogue of research, but that efforts were continuing. He suggested that we might like to incorporate the catalogue into a more general Web page. Of the 24 WPs in the EFCE, only 4 currently have their own web page, so we would be among the leaders. Maintenance of the Catalogue and other possible information sites would itself be among the Aims of the WP.

6. Membership
   The Secretary reported that we had two new members since last year: Prof. Boyadjiev from Bulgaria, and Prof. Mewes from Germany. Unfortunately, neither was able to be present at this meeting. He had also approached Frau Jost, at EFCE, regarding the problem of our "Sleeping members" who never attend meetings or reply to mailings. It appears that Austria is not at present a member of EFCE, but she promised to follow up the other cases with the national bodies. Prof. Azzopardi pointed out that we had several members who, although they almost never attended meetings, nevertheless communicated with us in other ways; we have no problem with them, but only with those who never communicate at all.

7. Chair of Working Party
   Prof. Azzopardi read out a formal proposal from Prof. Bohnet that Prof. Jiri Drahos, from the Czech Republic, should be the new Chairman of the WP, and this was agreed. Prof. Drahos would like to have one of his colleagues, Dr. Marek Ruzicka as secretary. The meeting was happy with this.

   It was felt that it would be a good idea to have written procedures for the running of the Working Party. This matter should be raised at the next meeting.

8. Future Events and Activities
   For 2001, Prof. Bohnet had suggested we might like to participate in ECCE-3, 26-28 June, in Nurnburg (see Item 3, above), and to hold our business meeting there. This suggestion was accepted.

   For 2002, it was suggested we might look to the North, after a series of meetings in the South of Europe. Another possibility was the CHISA meeting. It was agreed to leave this decision until our next meeting.

9. Any Other Business
   Professor Fogelholm thanked Professor Azzopardi for his work as Chairman over the past 9 years, and also Dr Hills for his work as Secretary.

10. There being no other business, Professor Azzopardi thanked the delegates, and declared the meeting closed.