Dr Kalala Jalama
Chemical Engineering Department
Senior Lecturer
Research Profile:
Dr Jalama’s main research interests include nano-materials and heterogeneous catalysis, coal/gas/biomass to liquid via Fischer-Tropsch processes and biofuel synthesis. He supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students, and has published some of the work in these areas of interest.
Current and recent research projects:
• February 2010 – December 2011: Synthesis and properties of carbon nanotubes coated tin oxide for gas sensing applications (Masters Project, Supervisor – CSIR funded);
• June 2010 to date: Soybean oil transesterification over TiO2 supported nano-MgO (Masters project, Supervisor, University of Johannesburg Research Committee funded )
• June 2010 to date: Soybean oil transesterification over TiO2 supported nano-ZnO (Masters project, Supervisor, University of Johannesburg Research Committee funded )
• June 2010 to date: Soybean oil transesterification over TiO2 supported nano-SnO2 (Masters project, Supervisor, University of Johannesburg Research Committee funded )
• August 2010 to date: Waste oils to biodiesel over solid catalysts (Masters project, Supervisor)
• January 2011 to date: Effect of coal beneficiation on IGCC (PhD project, Supervisor)
• March 2011 to date: Effect of liquid products on supported Fischer-Tropsch catalysts (Masters and PhD projects, Supervisor).
Professor Edison Muzenda
Chemical Engineering Department
Senior Lecturer
Research Profile:
Edison Muzenda’s main research interests are in phase equilibrium measurement and computation, gas scrubbing, the environment, green energy as well as waste management and utilization. He supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students, and has published more than 85 international peer reviewed papers as scientific journals, books chapters and conferences articles. He is an active reviewer, external examiner and member of professional associations. He has also chaired several sessions at International Conferences and led research projects. From 2010, his research has focused on waste utilization aimed at contributing towards energy poverty reduction, capacity building, the green economy as well as job creation.
Current Research Projects:
• Phase Equilibrium Measurement, Modelling and Computation
• Waste Utilization and Minimisation
• Waste to Energy
Doctor Robert Huberts
Chemical Engineering Department
Senior Lecturer
Research Profile:
After four years after the start of his stint at UJ, Robert Huberts initiated research using Formative Assessment to ensure that learners become competent in all outcomes of a given course. At present, the assessments are being transferred to software (Blackboard’s Edulink) to improve the efficiency of the process. He also supervised a master’s study on the effect of temperature on the steam extraction of essential oils from plant material. A pilot plant has been bought for UJ, and now needs to be connected and commissioned, so that it can be used to optimize process parameters. More recently, he has become involved areas that involved biotechnology. For Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), he is focusing on a method which could prevent the problem. For biogas production, he is working with UJ and German partners for implementation in South Africa. In a related project, he is looking at developing a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) as an alternative way to produce green energy, also with UJ and overseas partners.
Current and recent research projects:
• October 2007 to date: Applying Formative Assessment to increase throughput rates of students on a ND- and BTech level.
• March 2007 to December 2008: Effect of temperature on the extraction of essential oils from plant material (Supervisor of the MTech study).
• October 2010 to date: Conducted theoretical study on the effect of time on the production and treatment of AMD, currently working on a suggestion how to prevent AMD (Supervisor of the MTech study).
• July 2008 to date: Several BTech Biogas projects were supervised and in 2011 he joined UJ and German partners to investigate the implementation of biogas for waste in South Africa.
• June 2011 to date: A study on MFC was started in collaboration with UJ and overseas partners.
Dr. Tumisang Seodigeng
Chemical Engineering Department
Senior Lecturer
Research Profile:
Tumi has years of industrial research experience from Sasol Technology Research and Development where he continued to model and develop innovative computational tools for complex chemical engineering systems such as reaction and separation processes. He also worked in the commissioning, start-up and operation of petrochemical processes at Sasol.
Research Projects:
Tumisang Seodigeng’s research areas cover most aspects of chemical engineering and include following:
• Process Systems Engineering
Process synthesis and modelling, Process de-bottlenecking and Optimization
• Computational and Applied Mathematics, Numerical Modelling and Optimization
• Clean Coal Energy Process
Tumi has experience working with the following computational tools and computer programming languages:
• Rockwell Arena Simulation Software (Business Modelling and Analysis)
• AspenOne (Engineering, Manufacturing and Supply Chain)
• AIMMS (Discrete Numerical Modelling and Optimization)
• AMPL (Numerical Modelling and Optimization)
• MATLAB (Math, Statistics and Optimization; Simulink)
• ProSim (Chemical Engineering Modelling and Simulation)
• ProMax (Chemical Engineering Modelling and Simulation)
Computer programming languages:
• Delphi
• C++
• C#
• Visual Basic
Professor Freeman Ntuli
Chemical Engineering Department
Senior Lecturer
Research Profile:
His main areas of research are in hydrometallurgy, crystallization and environmental process engineering. His specific research activities involve gaseous reduction processes, leaching processes, reduction crystallization, modeling of particulate processes, wastewater characterization and treatment.
Dr. Ntuli has authored more than 35 articles in international scientific journals and conferences and a number of technical research reports to industry. He is a member of the International Association of Engineers (IAENG), an associate member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and currently serves as a member of the editorial board for the Environment and Pollution Journal.