SOUTHERN AFRICAN HYDROGEN AND FUEL CELL CONFERENCE 2023

BENEFITS OF ATTENDING

• Will include both inspiring technical talks as well as social networking events
• Participants will have the opportunity to directly engage with conference participants to discuss their research
• Engagement opportunities with fellow researchers, potential collaborators, industry, and potential investors.

TOPICS

• Fuel cell technologies & applications
• Performance, durability, design, and manufacturing (from components to systems)
  - Hydrogen storage technologies
  - Hydrogen generation technologies
• Hydrogen mobility – strategies, safety, roadmaps, transitioning to hydrogen refueling stations (HRS)
• Technology status in industry.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

The conference presents an attractive programme for researchers, industry players, academic institutions, government, investors, policy makers and potential users of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies. The focus is on building collective know-how and fostering engagement between business, government, science and academic institutions. Participants from all countries are invited and welcome to attend the event.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS AND PRESENTATIONS

Extended abstracts, presentations only or full papers can be submitted for this conference, please take note of the following deadline dates:

• Abstract Submission Deadline for Extended Abstracts and Presentations Only: 28 February 2023
• Submission Deadline for Extended Abstracts: 20 March 2023
• Abstract Submission Deadline for Full Papers: 9 January 2023
• Submission Deadline for Papers: 13 February 2023

The Conference is being organized by the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and individuals are invited to submit papers or presentations or posters for the Conference. Titles and short abstracts (no more than 500 words) on any relevant subject should be submitted in English to:
Head of Conferencing, Camielah Jardine
Enquiries may be made at:
Tel: +27 011 538-0237
E-mail: camielah@saimm.co.za
website: www.saimm.co.za

Keynote speakers

Fahmida Smith
Company: Principal Market Development, Anglo American

Fahmida is a Chemical Engineer by profession and has been in the PGM mining industry for 25 years. The last 14 years of her career has been focused on Market Development, particularly on the hydrogen and fuel cell sector where she was responsible for the development of the first hydrogen fuel cell forklift and refuelling station in South Africa.
Fahmida leads Anglo American’s Market Development work on the wider global hydrogen economy development, where she works closely with the South African Government as well as local and international industry players. Her current focus is on the development of a South African Hydrogen Valley and the first heavy-duty hydrogen freight corridor. Fahmida also leads PlatAfrica which is a flagship market development project in South Africa. In addition, she leads activities in the battery & storage as well as MedTech opportunity areas.

Ass. Prof. Ivan Tolj
University of Split

Ivan Tolj graduated in 2005 from Faculty of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and naval architecture (FESB), University of Split (Croatia). He started to work at the same Faculty in 2006 as a research/teaching assistant on a project financed by the Ministry of science, education and sports of Republic of Croatia entitled “Passive fuel cells to supply oxygen from the air by natural convection”. He has worked on both modelling and experimental aspects of fuel cells R&D. He also participates in teaching on “Thermodynamics I”, “Thermodynamics II”, “Heating and air conditioning”, “Metrology” and “Ship machinery and equipment.” As a NATO fellow, in 2007 he attended the summer school “Mini-Micro Fuel Cells-Fundamentals and Applications” in Cesme/Izmir Republic of Turkey. In 2012 he defended a doctoral thesis “Temperature field selection in order to improve membrane fuel cell performance” and was awarded a dr.sc (Doctor of Science) from the University of Split. From 2012 to 2014 he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at HySA Systems, SAIAMC (South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry), University of the Western Cape, South Africa in the field of hydrogen technologies. He is currently Ass. Professor at FESB in the Department of thermodynamics where he is doing research in the field of hydrogen technologies: fuel cells, hydrogen production, storage and compression, fuel cell hybrid system energy management and control etc. He also teaches several courses: ‘’Thermodynamics’’, ‘’Heat and mass transfer’’, “Heating and air conditioning’’, ‘’Metrology”, ‘’Fuel Cells’’ and ‘’Hydrogen energy systems’’. He acts as Assistant Editor in International journal of hydrogen energy (IF 5.816) and guest editor in Energies (IF 3.004). He published numerous scientific papers (with the h-index 17, more than 850 citation). He is member of the scientific committee of the several international conferences and the conference chair of 6th International Symposium on Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion (mESC-IS 2022). He published one book ‘’Heat and mass transfer’’ and several book chapters. He has extensive collaboration with industry and academy partners such as: University of the Western Cape, HySA Systems Competence Centre, IFE Norway, Helmholtz-Zentrum hereon GmbH, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Impala Platinum Ltd. etc. He leads (at FESB) HORIZON2020 project: Hydrogen Fuelled Utility Vehicles and Their Support Systems Utilising Metal Hydrides and he is involved in several other project dealing with green energy and mobility.

Francois van Schalkwyk
Operations & Engineering Manager, HyPlat (Pty) Ltd.

Francois is a Chemical Engineer by profession and has more than 10 years of experience in the PEMFC industry, specialising in fuel cell components (MEA),
material design, product development and process engineering. He is a co-inventor of several fuel cell catalyst and -MEA technologies currently commercialised by HyPlat. As Operations and Engineering Manager, at HyPlat, he directs MEA manufacturing, quality control and product development – making him the lead technical contact at the company. Prior to joining HyPlat, he contributed to HySA Catalysis’ co-host: the South African Council for Mineral Technologies’ (Mintek) fuel cell objectives as Research Engineer. Francois is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt improvement practitioner, holds an MSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and is currently working towards his doctorate degree in the same engineering discipline.

Dr Sivakumar Pasupathi
Director: HySA Systems
Associate Professor, University of Western Cape

Sivakumar Pasupathi (Siva) is the Director for HySA systems competence centre, one of three centres under Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) national frontier programme. He has over 20 years experience in hydrogen and fuel cell technology covering from component development up to system integration.

Siva obtained his PhD from the University of Pisa, Italy in the field of fuel cells and has worked in renowned laboratories globally, including SAIAMC since 2005.

Siva is driving the development of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies at HySA Systems with a focus on the commercialization of the products emanating from the RDI, having demonstrated various prototypes in this area.
He has organized various conferences/workshops/seminars including a National South African Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Supply Chain Workshop with the participation of over 30 companies and SMMEs and chaired and organised the first international conference on Hydrogen and Fuel cells in South Africa, with participation from leading researchers and businesses globally.

He has published over 100 publications including high impact factor journals and 13 patents and counting. He was an invited speaker at several conferences and workshops.

Dr. Rhiyaad Mohamed
Key Technology Specialist/Senior Research Officer,
University of Cape Town

Dr. Rhiyaad Mohamed is a Key Technology Specialist at the HySA Catalysis Centre of Competence, hosted by the Catalysis Institute at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He one of the first PhD graduates from the Centre, where he obtained his doctoral degree in 2016, with expertise in electrocatalysis and electrochemical engineering for low temperature fuel cell and electrolyser applications. After a short postdoctoral fellowship, he established the electrolysis research group at the centre in 2017, with the aim of developing commercially relevant platinum group metal catalyst-based technologies for low temperature polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyser applications. His research is focused on understanding the critical electrochemical processes associated with the oxygen evolution reaction, to facilitate the rational design of the next-generation materials and has led to several peer reviewed publications, prototypes and intellectual property for scalable catalyst synthesis and catalyst coated membrane fabrication methods. He has also played a key role in establishing the electrocatalyst preparation capabilities as well as physical and electrochemical characterisation competencies for the centre. In addition to his research, he is committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists and engineers and currently supervises numerous postgraduate students and staff in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCT.

Accommodation

The Vine Guest House
www.vineguesthouse.co.za
7 minutes' drive
info@vineguesthouse.co.za
12 Rooms
+27 21 865 2233

Devonvale Golf Estate
www.devonvaleestate.co.za
7 minutes' drive
info@devonvale.co.za
Up to 40 Rooms
+27 21 865 2080

Devon Valley Hotel
www.devonvalleyhotel.com
12 minutes' drive
reservations@devonvalleyhotel.com
Up to 40 Rooms'
+27 21 865 2012

The Jewel 5* B&B
www.thejewelcpt.com
20 minutes' drive
jewel@slabproperty.co
7 Five-Star Suites
+27 21 007 3794

Kunjani Wines
www.kunjaniwines.co.za
10 minutes' drive
info@kunjaniwines.co.za
4 Villas'
+27 74 116 9029

Spier Wine Farm
www.spier.co.za
25 minutes' drive
reservations@spier.co.za
Up to 80 Rooms
+27 74 116 9029

Technical Visits

The following visits will take place on 25 April 2023 from 13h00 to 15h00. These visits will take place concurrently. Please select one option when registering.

Visit 1: HySA Systems is hosted by the South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry (SAIAMC) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). HYSA Systems is a world-class hydrogen and fuel cell research and innovation facility, which has state of the art laboratories to conduct hydrogen research. The visitors will be able to see the labs with fuel cell testing stations, membrane electrode assembly manufacturing facility, bipolar plate manufacturing for fuel cell stacks using CNC milling and etching facilities, hydrogen storage including materials synthesis and compressors using metal hydride technology, fuel cell vehicle testing platform etc. The tour will be about 30 minutes long, starting with a brief of the technology and site visit.

Visit 2: HySA Catalysis University of Cape Town (UCT). The Hydrogen Catalysis (HySA Catalysis) Centre of Competence (CoC) is co-hosted by the University of Cape Town (UCT)’s Catalysis Institute (primary hub) and Mintek (secondary hub). HySA Catalysis’ mandate is to develop materials, components and units in the early part of the fuel cell and hydrogen generation value chain (fuel cell electrocatalysts, membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) and stacks as well as electrolyser catalysts and MEAs. It is also responsible for delivering commercially viable prototypes and products up to 5 kW per unit (Key Programme 2: Portable Power). UCT Department of Chemical Engineering will provide a tour of facilities for catalyst evaluation, MEA preparation and testing.

CONTACT

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Camielah Jardine,
Head of Conferencing
E-mail: camielah@saimm.co.za
Tel: +27 11 538 0237