Dr. Thandazile Moyo is an assistant professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering (EME) at the Pennsylvania State University and a co-funded faculty in the Materials Research Institute (MRI). She is experienced in the hydrometallurgical processing of gold and base metals. Her research interests are developing flowsheets and testing green technology for metal recovery from primary and secondary resources. Some of her research employs the use of electrochemistry and electroanalytical tools to study surface reactions in mineral dissolution. Beyond the purely technical, Thandazile is passionate about the sustainable development of mineral resources and conducts research on the long-term impacts of mineral extraction. She researches on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), looking at the technological challenges and the contributions of the sector to sustainable development.
Before she joined Penn State University, Moyo completed her Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Cape Town. She worked as a researcher, focused on flowsheet development and testing for metal recovery from waste PCBs and co-developed and taught courses on sustainability in minerals extraction at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
- Flow sheet development, testing and associated LCA analysis, for material recovery from end-of-life/end-of-use Li-ion batteries
- Metal recovery from, and CO2 sequestration in Blast Furnace slags
- Metal recovery from waste printed circuit boards
- Copper hydrometallurgy; extraction from chalcopyrite and from electronic waste