PANEL SESSION

Water-Energy Independence

Prof. Toshko Zhelev
University of Limerick, Ireland
toshko.zhelev@ul.ie

Prof. Thoko Majozi
University of Pretoria, South Africa
thoko.majozi@up.ac.za

Abstract

Statistics shows that more than 60% of water used by industry is lost through evaporation. This signals not only inefficient water use, but also unwise energy management. Problems of water management and energy management often go hand in hand, and, because of the vital importance of these resources, their solution as one problem should not wait the time of crises. Today, access to fresh water is one of the most severe challenges faced throughout Africa. While the current energy crises is diverting scientific attention away from issues of water management, the two problems should be addressed not as two separate issues, but as a single integrated social and scientific problem. The study of principles of integration of water and energy resources supported by the system approach is the only way that we will find a successful resolution to these issues. Central to this approach is the knowledge that energy conservation is the fastest and cheapest way to increase energy efficiency, and that energy conservation is often a byproduct of better water management and water conservation.

Tutorial Materials

Freshwater, wastewater, industrial cooling water, wash-water, desalination water, water/moisture content in gases, flue gases, latent heat of condensation/evaporation are only few of water-related issues the panel may discuss, accounting for the link between water and energy conservation.

Biographies of the Panelists

Toshko Zhelev is a professor at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Sciences, at the University of Limerick, Ireland. He earned his primary degree in chemical engineering and his Masters in chemical cybernetics from the Moscow University of Chemical Technology. Dr. Zhelev completed his PhD at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, where his research focused on energy conservation. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Surrey, UK, and holds the position of Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Dr. Zhelev is member of the CAPE Working party – a branch of the European Federation of Chemical Engineers – and a member of the Executive board of its educational branch EURECHA. At his home university, he is the director of the Graduate Diploma in Chemical Engineering program. Dr. Zhelev is a member of the executive board of the Charles Parsons Institute in Energy and Sustainable Environment. He also leads the Centre for Efficient Use of Energy, Conservation and Sustainable Management of Industrial Resources. His research interests are in the areas of process systems engineering, process integration, sustainable industrial resources management, and virtual teaching.

Thokozani Majozi is a full professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Pretoria (UP). His main research interests lie in batch process integration. Prof. Majozi's major contributions to research include the development of a continuous-time framework for the synthesis of batch plants, and a novel technique for near zero-effluent batch chemical facilities, both of which have been adopted by industry. Prof. Majozi began his professional career as a junior process engineer at Unilever in 1994, and in 1996 was appointed as a senior process engineer and competency improvement specialist at Dow AgroSciences. In 2002 he joined Sasol Technology as a technology leader for optimization and integration. Prof. Majozi was appointed as an associate professor at UP in 2004 and promoted to full professor at the end of 2008. He has also been an associate professor of computer science at the University of Pannonia in Hungary since 2005. Prof Majozi completed his BScEng in 1994 and his MScEng degree in 1998 at the University of Natal, both in the area of chemical engineering. In 2002 he completed his PhD in process integration at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in the United Kingdom. Prof. Majozi is a member of numerous scientific committees and organizations, including the European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering (ESCAPE), the Process Systems Engineering (PSE) conference, the Professional Advisory Committee, where he is the Vice Chairman of the Engineering Council of South Africa, as well as being a member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa (ASSAf). He is also a fellow of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Water Institution of Southern Africa and South African Academy of Engineering (SAAE). Prof. Majozi has received numerous awards for his research, including the Italian Zdenek Burianec Memorial Award in 2005, the National Science and Technology Forum Award for Distinguished Researcher in the Last Five to Ten Years in 2006, and the National Research Foundation (NRF) President's Award in 2007. Recently he won the prestigious Silver S2A3 British Association Medal, becoming the first black individual to receive the award since it was established in 1932. Prof. Majozi is author or co-author of more than 100 publications in refereed scientific publications, including the textbook, ‘Batch Chemical Process Integration,' recently published by Springer.