Chemical Technology May 2016

Michelle Low, SAIChE Council member, interviews Craig Sheridan, Associate Professor from the University of the Witwatersrand

the behaviour of how the CW cleans the wastewater.

ent, for example, they had breakdancing as a form of entertain- ment. Even though it is a global event, I did not knowmany people there. There were a

Last monthwe featured VeeashOomardath (AMIChemE) who was shortlisted for the Young Chemical Engineer in Industry cat- egory. This month we chat with Associate Professor Craig Sheridan (AMIChemE) from the University of theWitwatersrand, Johan- nesburg. He was shortlisted in 2015 for the IChemE Food and Drink Award for the project titled ‘Winery effluent constructed wetlands’. IChemE receivedmany nomina- tions from over 40 countries and therefore it is an excellent accomplishment to be shortlisted in the top six of his category. ML: What was this project about? CS: The project was based on my PhD thesis. It was about cleaning wastewater from small wineries as not many of them have access to sophisticated equipment to clean the effluent. Therefore, in my study, to treat the wastewater, I used con- structed wetlands (CW), which contained indigenous plants. As a consequence, I could gather experimental data from the CW and therefore apply them to the advanced chemical reactor theory models. This was in order to determine which model could accurately predict

ML: What made you choose chemical engineering and research? CS: I was an eleven-year-old boy in the 1980s and I could choose to either be an astronaut or a chemical engineer. I chose to be a chemical engineer. What made me choose research was my early encounter with it. I was lucky enough to fail thermodynamics in my third year of study, that was when I came into contact with research for the first time. Since I had spare time, I undertook a research project, which involved building and studying the behaviour of an essential oil extraction system. Additionally, I had spent time connecting the underlying of theory with the experimental work. This project carried on into my 4 th year project and in total I had spent 18 months work- ing on it. I really enjoyed the experience. ML: Did you attend the awards ceremony in November, and if so how was the experience? CS: Yes I did. The culture is very differ-

SAICHE ICHEME SPOTLIGHT

lot of talented chemical engineers from around the world attending. There were 14 categories, each with about 5 - 14 shortlisted entrants, so you can imagine how many people attended. ML: Any advice for chemical engineers who want to go into academia? CS: You need to have a curiosity for how things work. There are not enough research institutes in South Africa and therefore we do need more masters and PhD candidates. “Think about what drives you. What can carry you. What can sustain you.” The IChemE Global Awards opened for entries on Tuesday 1 March 2016. The closing date is Friday 24 June 2016. Visit the following website for more information: http://www.icheme.org/awards

Connect with Craig; LinkedIn: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/craig-sheridan/11/360/604#sthash.nizSqR79.dpuf Research gate: https: //www.researchgate.net/profile/Craig_Sheridan2; Twitter: @csheridanwits; Email: craig.sheridan@wits.ac.za