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SAICHE ICHEME SPOTLIGHT
Michelle Low, SAIChE Council member, interviews Craig Sheridan, Associate Professor from
the University of the Witwatersrand
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
the behaviour of how the CW cleans the
wastewater.
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-
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
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:
Connect with Craig; LinkedIn:
Research gate: https: / Twitter: @csheridanwits; Email: