14/05/2026
From lecture halls to live plant operations โ๏ธ๐ทโโ๏ธ
This semester, second-year Chemical Engineering students from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stellenbosch University stepped into industry through visits to manufacturing and processing plants.
One of the visits included a field trip on Friday, 8 May, where students from the Chemical Engineering CE 224 Principles class toured the Heineken Waste Water Treatment facility in Stellenbosch, operated by Veolia Services Southern Africa. Students had the opportunity to see first-hand the processing unit operations, valves, fittings and plant layouts usually discussed during lectures.
The students also visited Membratek in Paarl and Myplas in Bellville as part of their industry exposure. Membratek, part of the water-treatment manufacturing operations associated with Veolia Water Technologies South Africa, produces membrane modules for reverse osmosis and tubular ultra-filtration membrane elements used in industrial and wastewater treatment applications. Myplas specialises in recycling and processing plastic waste, converting approximately 1 600 tonnes of post-consumer plastic waste each month into high-quality products.
A big thank you to everyone who supported the visits: Kobus van Niekerk (Veolia Services Southern Africa), Berthold Willemse (Membratek), and Leana Weidemann (Myplas).
