1 Introduction

    The International Federation of Measurement and Control of Granular Materials (here- after as the Federation, or IFMCGM) is a non-beneficial international academic organization which is voluntarily composed by scholars, engineers and technicians from various countries (or area) in the field of Measurement and Control of Granular Materials.
    The registration organ of the Federation is Ministry of Civil Affairs, People’s Republic of China. The direct management organ of the Federation is China Association for Science and Technology (CAST).
    The mission of the Federation is to organize scholars, engineers and technicians to carry out international academic exchanges, and to promote technical development and friendship in various countries.
    The secretariat of the Federation is set in Northeast University, China. The official ad- dress of the secretariat is located in College of Information Science and Technology, Northeast University.

2 Business scope

    The Federation’s businesses includes:
    (1) Holding academic conferences;
    (2) Conducting related Exhibitions in the field of ”Measurement and Control of Granular Materials” (MCGM) , according to the commission of the government departments or market and industrial needs;
    (3) Promoting academic and the technical achievements in the field of field;
    (4) Providing information in the field of MCGM to the members.

3 Development history

    In September 1988, at the initiative of Northeastern University, ”The First International Conference on Measurement and Control of Granular Materials” (MCGM’88) was held in Shenyang, China. The participated countries included the United Kingdom, the United States, the former Soviet Union, Japan, Italy, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and France.
    Many important papers were published In the conference of MCGM’88. Some examples were:
    - "Powder Technology in Japan", by Professor Koichi Iinoya, the founder of the Japanese Powder Industry Association, the first president of the Japanese Powder Industry As- sociation, and the internationally renowned particle expert.
    - "Particle Production from the Vapor-phase Process", by M.B. Ranade, a scholar of the American Particle Technology Company.
　　
    At this meeting, the participating countries jointly proposed to establish the Standing Committee of International Conference on Measurement and Control of Granular Materials, which was attended by scholars from 15 countries. The Standing Committee of International Conference on Measurement and Control of Granular Materials held the second and the third International Conference in Chengde, China (August 1991) and Shenyang, China (October 1993), respectively.
    The academic papers of the three international conferences focused on the most cutting- edge research results in the field of Measurement and Control of Granular Materials (MCGM) at that time, and put forward some key issues that global scientists and entrepreneurs were most concerned about. For example, the energy conservation issues of pulverized coal in- jection measurement and control and the two-phase flow measurement and control issues in industrial processes, which are of common concern to the United Nations and European countries. The publication of these papers had promoted the development of academic ex- changes and scientific research in the field of MCGM.
    In order to make the international academic exchange activities in the field of MCGM carried out in a planned and organized way, Northeast University, together with scholars and experts from relevant countries, made an application to the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) to establish the ”International Federation of Measurement and Control of Granular Materials in 1991. In May 1995, the State Council approved the establishment of the ”International Federation of Measurement and Control of Granular Materials” (GBT [1995] No. 9), and registered at the Ministry of Civil Affairs in June 1996. In 2002, the Federation was re-registered by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and was under the leadership of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology.
    In September 1997, the first council meeting of International Federation of Measurement and Control of Granular Materials was held in Shenyang, China, and the Constitution of the Federation was adopted, announcing the formal establishment of IFMCGM. At the same time, the fourth ”International Conference on Measurement and Control of Granular Materials” (MCGM’97) was held. The first council of the Federation was composed of 18 members from 17 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Egypt, Tunisia, Nigeria, Chile, Azerbaijan. It gathered many international famous experts and scholars in the field of MCGM.

4 Scientific and engineering topics

4.1 Measurement and control of characteristics of granular/paticulate materials

    - Particle size measurement;
    - Characterization and its effect of particle shape;
    - Measurement and control of mass flow rate of particle flows;
    - Measurement and control of powder electrostatics;
    - Dust concentration measurement;
    - Measurement of other characteristics of powder, fibre, and aerosol.

4.2 Industrial applications of powder technology

    - Powder production by different processes;
    - Additive manufacturing;
    - Particle size reduction;
    - Drying theory and technology including fluid bed drying, spray drying;
    - Pneumatic conveying;
    - Theory and technology of dust collection and filtering, especially for supper-fine particles.

4.3 Explosion prevention and protection of combustible materials

    - Fire and explosion characteristics test of combustible dusts;
    - Fire and explosion prevention including dust concentration control, oxygen reduction, and ignition source detection;
    - Explosion protection including venting, explosion suppression and explosion isolation.

4.4 New energy and environmental protection

    - Battery materials;
    - Energy storage materials;
    - Air pollution chemistry;
    - Air pollution control theory and technology;
    - Catalyzer for environmental protection.