The regular annual meeting of the EURAMET EMPIR project consortium called "New metrological methods for biofuel materials analysis - BIOFMET" was held in Prague on November 23 and 24, 2022. The host of the meeting was one of the project partners, the Czech Metrology Institute - ČMI. The general goal of the project is to develop and validate measurement methods for the analysis of solid and liquid biofuels, ensuring the metrological traceability of analytical results. Through three technical work packages, the project deals with the development of methods for the analysis of basic constituents and impurities in selected solid and liquid biofuels (pellets, woodchips, and biodiesel), and the measurement of physical quality parameters such as calorific value and moisture. Within the project, the Institute of Metrology of Bosnia and Herzegovina has developed methods for analyzing the content of metals and metal oxides in samples of biodiesel, pellets, and ash produced by burning pellets and other types of wood fuel using atomic emission spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, as well as the content of organic constituents of biodiesel by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry.

The basic importance of the project results is reflected in the realization of prerequisites for the implementation of improved quality control of liquid and solid biofuels for the purpose of assessing the conformity of these products primarily on the European market, ensuring traceability and comparability of measurement results, and more efficient and rational fuel consumption and reduction of harmful emissions.

In addition to the impact on industrial and other user communities, BIOFMET will also have a significant impact on the metrology and scientific communities, on relevant standards, as well as long-term impacts on the economy and the environment. Stakeholders in the project include the European standards organization CEN/CENELEC, representatives of the academic community, and partners from the biofuels industry.

This project brings together seven of the leading national metrology institutes (NMI) and designated institutes (DI) working in this field and having broad experience and expertise in physical and chemical metrology (DTI, PTB, CETIAT, TUBITAK, CMI, IMBiH, BRML). Two renowned universities (IST, CTU) participate, one specialist in photonics, electromagnetism, signal and image processing (AMU), and two biomass industrial partners (VERDO, PROMETEC).

You can read more about the project at the following link: http://www.biofmet.eu/