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Turning waste into value through chemistry

25 August 2025 | Story Martinette Brits | Photo Stephen Collett

Prof Elizabeth Erasmus during her inaugural lecture, Molecules of Change: Chemistry for a Better Tomorrow, on 20 August, highlighting how innovative chemistry can turn waste into value and promote sustainable solutions.

With climate change, resource scarcity, and environmental pollution among the most pressing challenges of our time, Prof Elizabeth (Lizette) Erasmus used her inaugural lecture on Wednesday, 20 August to show how chemistry can provide powerful, practical answers. In her lecture, Molecules of Change: Chemistry for a Better Tomorrow, she traced her journey from fundamental research to pioneering innovations that turn waste into value, protect ecosystems, and improve food security.

During her talk, Prof Erasmus – Researcher in the Department of Chemistry – recalled a moment in 2018 that reshaped her career trajectory. While preparing a Sasol research grant on copper oxide nanoparticles, an entrepreneur assisting with the proposal posed a deceptively simple challenge: “So what?” “Although upsetting at first, those two words completely reshaped my outlook,” she explained. “They inspired my journey from purely academic chemistry towards more applied, impactful research – with the mission of not only advancing science, but of also improving society and the environment.”

From fundamental science to global solutions

Prof Erasmus began her career in organometallic chemistry, preparing and characterising complex molecules to understand their reactivity and physical properties. Later, her focus shifted to heterogeneous catalysis, where she explored nanomaterials and surface chemistry.

Her research has since evolved towards developing sustainable technologies that address urgent global challenges. One example is agricultural innovation: using green solvents to extract cellulose from wattle tree bark to create biodegradable superabsorbent polymers. “Unlike the polyacrylates in baby diapers, these SAPs degrade into nutrients for soil microbes and plants,” she explained. “By loading them with fertiliser, we develop slow-release, water-retaining materials that improve agricultural sustainability.”

Other projects include producing biochar to restore degraded soils, creating natural growth enhancers such as wood vinegar, and designing an ‘ultimate fertiliser’ that combines these products for long-term soil health. Her group also works on environmental remediation, developing hydrophobic sponges to absorb oil spills, repurposing building waste to clean polluted water, and using innovative chemistry to convert carbon dioxide into valuable products.

“We are even looking at one of the fastest-growing waste streams: e-waste,” Prof Erasmus noted. “With more gold per ton than natural ore, e-waste represents both a challenge and an opportunity. By developing porous absorbent materials, we can selectively capture and reduce gold ions directly to metallic gold – recovering a precious resource from waste.”

She concluded by crediting her team and collaborators: “This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. The bulk of the work lies beneath the surface, carried out by dedicated students, collaborators, mentors, colleagues, friends, and family. I owe them my deepest gratitude, for they are the ones who truly sustain this journey of transforming chemistry into solutions for a better world.”

About Prof Erasmus

Prof Elizabeth (Lizette) Erasmus obtained all her degrees at the University of the Free State: a BSc (2001), BSc Honours in Chemistry (2002), MSc in Chemistry (2003), and a PhD in Chemistry (2005). She has published more than 80 research papers, holds an H-index of 21, and has extensive experience in supervising MSc and PhD students.

After serving as a senior researcher at the CSIR, she returned to academia at the UFS, where her international collaborations in the Netherlands and at UC Davis broadened her focus from organometallic chemistry to heterogeneous catalysis and nanochemistry. Her expertise spans organometallic chemistry, electrochemistry, surface characterisation, and nanomaterials.

News Archive

Launch of the Africa office of the IIDE

2006-05-25

Attending the launch of the Africa office of the IIDE were from the left Prof Sytse Strijbos (Chairperson of IIDE Europe), Rev Kiepie Jaftha (Chairperson of the IIDE in Africa’s Board of Directors and Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS) and Prof Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS).

Attending the launch were from the left Prof Lucius Botes (Director: Centre of Development Support at the UFS), Dr Samuel Kareithi (Head: Community Development at the Cornerstone Christian College, Cape Town), Rev Kiepie Jaftha (Chairperson of the IIDE in Africa’s Board of Directors and Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS), Prof Sytse Strijbos (Chairperson of IIDE Europe) and Dr Ezekiel Moraka (Vice-Rector: Student Affairs at the UFS).

Africa office of IIDE launched on UFS main campus

The Africa office of the International Institute for Development and Ethics (IIDE) was today (26 May 2006) launched on the Main Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.

“The IIDE specialises in the studying and research of general questions of developmental theory and practices and provides services and support in education, strategic planning, policy formulation, advocacy and capacity building of development agencies,” said Rev Kiepie Jaftha, Chairperson of the IIDE in Africa’s Board of Directors and Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS.

According to Rev Jaftha the IIDE in Africa will focus on the conceptual and normative aspects of developmental processes in Sub-Saharan Africa. “We want to foster local and international partnerships with various relevant role-players in civil society, the private sector and public sector in the SACD region and later expand our operations to the rest of Africa,” said Rev Jaftha.

The IIDE in Africa cooperates with a similar foundation in Europe, functioning as the IIDE Europe. This institute was founded in 2003 and its head office is situated in the Netherlands. The UFS is a funder of the IIDE in Africa together with the Paul Foundation and private sponsors from the Netherlands.

“We have already started with various projects which are in various stages of implementation,” said Rev Jaftha. Some of these projects include, among others, the broadening of the master’s degree in Christian Studies of Science and Society (MACSSS) which is currently housed at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam to tertiary institutions in South Africa such as the UFS, the University of Stellenbosch and the Potchefstroom Campus of the Northwest University.

“Another project is an investigation into the possibility of initiating a broad development initiative in the poverty stricken Qwaqwa area. This initiative will attempt to concentrate on issues like the training and empowerment of prospective entrepreneurs in the region, the identification of prospective entrepreneurs for the rendering of development support and the monitoring of the impact of information and communication technology on local communities during the implementation of sustainable development initiatives,” said Rev Jaftha.

“The establishment of the Africa office of the IIDE on the UFS Main Campus is an indication of one of the aims of the UFS to play a role in South Africa and Africa. It also signifies our aim to contribute meaningfully to research and development and to establish links between the academe and practice,” said Rev Jaftha.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
26 May 2006

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