Agriculture and Science

Abdul Samad (Sam) Mahomed obtained his undergraduate, Honours and Masters (Natural Products Chemistry) degrees in Chemistry at the former University of Durban-Westville. He obtained his PhD degree (Catalysis) in 2005 from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He then was employed at Sasol Technology R&D, the research arm of Sasol Ltd where he worked for 10 years in various roles including managing research groups for business support and in areas of fundamental research.  He was also the technical manager for the Analytical Laboratories for the Sasol Solvents business unit for plants located in Secunda and Sasolburg. This included a large portfolio of about 15 production facilities and required daily scrutiny of various analytical procedures, methods of analysis and customer support. 

He has been at UKZN since 2014 and his research interests include materials synthesis and analysis for applications to new technology developments, such as catalysts and adsorbents. From an environmental perspective, he is involved in projects that include alternative (greener) routes to hydrogen production, CO₂ mitigation (e.g. CO₂ to methanol and DME) and reuse/regeneration of catalysts to reduce waste. He has supervised and co-supervised over 30 Honours, Masters and PhD students and to date he has extensively published in accredited, peer-reviewed journals and also presented at international and national conferences. His future plans include development and analysis of new materials to understand their macro- and micro-structure for applications in CO₂ mitigation, analytical separations, oxidation/reduction catalysis and CO degradation for automotive fuel cell applications.