Dr Athanasios Kotsiopoulos
Assistant Lecturer
Centre for Bioprocess Engineering and Research (CeBER)
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Cape Town
Email: athanasios.Kotsiopoulos@uct.ac.za

Thanos Kotsiopoulos completed his undergraduate studies in chemical engineering at the University of Cape Town. He furthered his studies to obtain a masters degree for research into the hydrocracking of Fischer-Tropsch wax for high mid-distillate recovery. He later obtained his PhD in chemical engineering for developing unsteady state continuous flow reactor models for the tank bioleaching of sulfidic ores. He has since undertaken a post-doctoral research fellowship at CeBER where his research focusses primary on the development and application of a modified population balance model, to predict bioreactor performance and system dynamics. His research extends to mitigating potential ARD from abandoned mines using permeable reactive barriers to inhibit naturally occurring oxidation reactions. He is further involved in the application of tomographic techniques to evaluate the mixing efficiency of stirred tank bioreactors to minimise microbial stress and to improve overall suspension quality during industrial scale-up. In the c*change Paraffins Activation Programme, he investigates various process options from proof of concept to industrial application using process flow sheeting and techno-economic feasibility studies to design and optimise competing technologies.

 QUALIFICATIONS
PhD, “Development of an unsteady state model for the tank bioleaching of sulphide mineral concentrates in flow reactor systems.” Supervisors: Dr. R Rawatal, Emm. Prof GS Hansford, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town

MSc, “The Hydrocracking of Fischer-Tropsch Wax Using n-Tetradecane as a Model Compound.” Supervisors: Prof JCQ Fletcher, Mr W Böhringer, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town

PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
2013 – 2015:
NRF Innovation Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Centre for Bioprocess Engineering Research (CeBER), Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town

2015 – present:
Assistant lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town

2014 – present:
Assistant lecturer – postgraduate course in Bioprocess Engineering Principles in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town