Zama Mthabela

Zama Mthabela serves as a Lecturer at the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, bringing ten years of academic experience including two and a half years as Senior Technician in the Coal Research Lab and seven years as Chemical Engineering Lecturer. She also possesses five years of industrial experience in the Ferrochrome Industry as an Engineer Metallurgist.

Her educational background includes a BTech and MSc(Eng) from the University of the Witwatersrand, and she is currently registered for a Doctor of Philosophy degree focused on biomass characterization and contaminated soil rehabilitation. Her research interests span biomass energy, soil rehabilitation, clean coal technologies, spontaneous combustion, and coal characterization, with recent work emphasizing bamboo species for phytoremediation of acid mine drainage-affected soils and sustainable biomass fuel development.

Publications from 2019-2022 presented at the European Biomass Conference demonstrate her focus on bamboo's dual role in environmental remediation and energy production, examining contaminant uptake, growth characteristics, chemical properties, and combustion capabilities under contaminated soil conditions. Her work validates thermogravimetric methods for coal analysis while transitioning toward biomass-dominated research.

No scientific awards were documented in the source material. Details regarding student advising and research grants were not provided in the available text. She maintains active association with the Coal Research Lab where she previously served as Senior Technician, supporting ongoing coal characterization studies alongside her biomass rehabilitation work.