A treatment system developed by a team of innovators at CPUT’s Flow Process and Rheology Centre is set to boost the textile industry by significantly reducing the amount of potable water the industry uses.

“We are developing a one-step treatment reactor using locally developed nanopowders for treating textile wastewater. This treatment system offers an almost instantaneous removal of the colour from the water,” says the Centre’s Prof Veruscha Fester.

“This treatment system will not only be able to treat wastewater for disposal to municipal treatment systems, but to a standard suitable for re-use. If the water can be re-used, millions of litres of potable water will be saved.”

Fester is developing the treatment reactor with the Centre’s Dr Mahabubur Chowdhury and Gunnar Visser.

The laboratory prototype has already been upscaled from 6 L/hour to 72 L/hour.

Fester says R4.8 million has been received from the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) Technology Development Fund to upscale the reactor to a 1 000 L/hour industrial prototype in the next year.

“The textile industry is really coming on board. Some of the companies use about 2 million litres of water a month so if we can save at least 75 percent of that water to be recycled and re-used on site – that will make a huge difference.”

The initial research was also started from TIA seed funding administered by CPUT’s Technology Transfer Office (TTO).

The TTO has subsequently filed a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application. It is hoped that a spin-off company will be formed in South Africa that will provide further social benefits beyond water treatment, including the creation of jobs.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Dr Reinhardt Kotzé, a member of the Flow-Viz spin-out project, has secured a coveted place on the shortlist of The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for Innovation.

The prize recognizes innovators who are using their engineering skills to address problems in sub-Saharan Africa.

Kotzé, who is based at CPUT’s Flow Process and Rheology Centre, is one of the inventors of Flow-Viz, a highly specialised industrial fluids characterization system that improves process and quality control within a fluid production line.

The industrial system have an international patent pending and was co-developed between CPUT and SIK – The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology, which is part of SP – Technical Research Institute of Sweden. Prof Haldenwang from CPUT and Dr Wiklund from SIK are co-inventors.

“Its aim is to replace time-consuming off-line measurements in the quality control laboratory with continuous real-time and non-invasive process monitoring of industrial fluids that takes place directly in the production line,” says Kotzé.

“Currently, operators take fluid samples and conduct time-consuming lab tests to monitor product quality. Flow-Viz is unique, there is no similar product that currently exists in the world for opaque non-Newtonian fluids.”

Pilot tests have been conducted on a wide-range of products such as food products and even cement grouts and two systems have already been set up in pilot plants inAmerica and Europe.

“We have successfully verified that our prototype systems work well on a pilot plant scale and it is now ready for upscaling trials, aiming at process monitoring and control applications in industry”, he says.

The competition comes at an ideal time, with Kotzé and his colleagues set to soon launch an international company with headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. Flow-Viz has already received considerable media exposure and Dr Kotzé was recently interviewed by RSG and KykNet. The achievement was also printed in a local newspaper (The Argus) and posted on several websites.

“This competition is a good platform to market and expose the technology to a wider audience,” he says.

As part of the competition, Kotzé, along with the 11 shortlisted candidates, will receive six months of mentoring and training from top business and engineering experts. This will also be a good opportunity to link the product to industry and obtain new customers.

They will then submit a revised business plan for their innovation, with three finalists tasked to present their final product to a judging panel at an event held in Africa next May.

The winner will receive 25,000 GBP (around R455,000) and two runners-up 10,000 GBP each (around R182,000).

Find out more here

Written by CPUT News
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An innovative study focusing on ultrasound sensor technology could give rise to the development of new technology.

John Shamu, a doctoral student who is based at the Flow Process and Rheology Centre (FPRC), recently completed advanced studies related to ultrasound sensor technology on Flow-Viz, an industrial system invented by CPUT and SP - Technical Research Institute of Sweden.

Flow-Viz is a highly specialised industrial fluids characterization system that improves process and quality control within a fluid production line.

Developed by CPUT inventors, Dr Reinhardt Kotzé and Prof Rainer Haldenwang, along with Swedish co-inventor, Dr Johan Wiklund, the industrial system is based on a pulsed ultrasound technology platform including non-invasive sensors.

Thanks to funding from the CPUT Research and Innovation Fund and the Research Directorate, John recently completed two recent stints at SP in Sweden.

Whilst in Sweden, John says he completed tests on novel ultrasound sensor technology that can measure Doppler profiles through high grade stainless steel pipes.

“This information is critical for advanced sensor development,” says John.

With access to high tech equipment, John says he was able to successfully acoustically characterise several industrial sensors with different configurations, using various coupling technologies.

“The research trip was quite enlightening and I got to learn about advanced research methods within my subject area as well as using sophisticated equipment in a different working environment,” says John.

Dr Kotzé, who is one of the inventors of Flow-Viz, says the results of John’s work will be used to develop the next generation of sensors where the ultrasound beam is more optimised for industrial applications and accurate measurements.

Dr Kotzé says John’s research activities are part of the centre’s plan to build infrastructure, develop new skills and ensure sustainability within the Flow-Viz innovation project.

*Students who would like to join the Flow-Viz team, both in SA and in Sweden, can contact Dr Reinhardt Kotzé at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Written by Candes Keating
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