Michael is a professor at the Catalysis Institute at University of Cape Town (UCT) since 2010. Here he was instrumental in establishing a large research activity with focus on Fischer-Tropsch catalysis, a technology, which lies at the heart of South Africa’s synthetic fuels and chemicals industry and which is playing an increasingly important role in the production of green future fuels via Power-to-X processes.
Professor
Director of the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Catalysis (c*change)
University of Cape Town (UCT)
Michael obtained his PhD (with distinction) in Fischer-Tropsch catalysis at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1997. Further research interests include the preparation and characterisation of nano materials and their use in catalytic applications, as well as the development of catalysts and novel instrumentation for characterisation of catalysts at working conditions. He has published extensively on these topics, holds a number of patents and has been awarded an A-rating by the National Research Foundation of South Africa.
A large portion of his research is conducted in conjunction with industrial partners, in particular a longstanding industrial collaboration with Sasol R&D. Michael is the Director of the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Catalysis, c*change, a large virtual and multidisciplinary Centre, where he also acts as the Manager of the Scientific Synthesis Gas Programme, which includes processes of catalytic valorization of CO2.
English 
German