Emeritus Professor

Short Bio

Education
PhD (Eng), Stellenbosch University, 1990
BEng (Chemical Engineering), Stellenbosch University, 1977

Professional experience

Emeritus Professor
Department of Process Engineering, Stellenbosch
2019 – Present

Dean
Faculty of Engineering,Stellenbosch
2012 to 2017

Vice-Dean (Teaching)
Faculty of Engineering,Stellenbosch
2011 to 2012

Acting Dean of Engineering
Faculty of Engineering,Stellenbosch
2009

Deputy-Dean (Teaching)
Faculty of Engineering,Stellenbosch
2006 to 2008

Professor
Department of Process Engineering, Stellenbosch
1998 to 2018

Departmental Chairman
Department of Process Engineering, Stellenbosch
1997 and 2002 to 2004

Associate Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering, Stellenbosch
1994 to 1998

Senior Lecturer
Department of Chemical Engineering, Stellenbosch
1983 to 1994

Senior Engineer; Section Head: Double-Base Propellants and Project Manager: Ground-to-air missiles
Kentron-South
1981 to 1983

Engineer; Group Head: Double-Base Propellants
Kentron-South
1979 to 1981

Engineer-in-Training
Kentron-South
1978 to 1979

Honours and awards
Rector’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Stellenbosch, 2008
Elected fellow of South African Academy of Engineers, 2007
Lecturer of the Year award, Faculty of Engineering, University of Stellenbosch, 2004
Rector’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Stellenbosch, 1998

Research Interests

Separation technology
Distillation
Supercritical extraction
Thermodynamics
Rocket propulsion
Biofuels
Process modelling
Thermal processing of biomass
Coatings

Selected Publications

Rousseau C.W., Knoetze J.H.(2010). “Calculating an Admittance Function from Pulsed Tubular Grain Motor Tests.” Journal of Propulsion and Power 26(5) (2010) 998-1005.

Carrier, M.,Hugo, T., Gorgens, J.F. and Knoetze J.H., “Comparison of slow and vacuum pyrolysis of sugar cane bagasse,” Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis 90 (2011) 18–26

Leibbrandt N.H., Knoetze J.H., Görgens J.F. “Comparing biological and thermochemical processing of sugarcane bagasse: An energy balance perspective” Biomass and Bioenergy 35 (5), p.2117, May 2011

G.J.K. Bonthuys, C.E. Schwarz, A.J. Burger, J.H. Knoetze, Separation of alkanes and alcohols with supercritical fluids. Part I. Phase equilibria and viability study, J. Supercrit. Fluids, 57 (2011) 101-111.

M. Zamudio, C.E. Schwarz, J.H. Knoetze, Phase Equilibria of Branched Isomers of C10-alcohols and C10 alkanes in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide, J. Supercrit. Fluids 59 (2011) 14-26.