Name: Jed Matangi
Address: Johannesburg, GT, ZA
Telephone: +27(0)79-302-4938

Engineer • Maker • Creator

Hi, I'm
Jed Matangi

A chemical engineer, maker, and naturally curious problem-solver. I enjoy building things that work, especially alongside people who like turning complex ideas into practical, affordable solutions. My approach is hands-on, rooted in prototyping, experimentation, and design iteration, which is how I learn best. I’m drawn to working with new systems and connecting ideas across disciplines to create outcomes that are both functional and meaningful. As a recent chemical engineering graduate, I’m excited to work with more teams that value curiosity, execution, and collaboration that leads to real impact.

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Resume

About Me

WHAT I DO

MY APPROACH

Much of my work usually begins with a question, which I explore through real projects or builds to understand how it behaves in practice. I often design within real constraints such as cost, materials, performance, and function, while refining ideas through testing and iteration. I approach most projects with a focus on efficiency, trade-offs, and optimisation, applying this lens across different types of experiments and builds. So far, each project I’ve worked on has strengthened my skills while contributing something practical and useful to the real world. In the long term, I aim to contribute to work that serves a broader purpose and creates meaningful impact.

FEATURED WORK

RECENT PROJECTS

A selection of projects I’m currently developing. These include engineering builds and functional systems, applied chemical synthesis and formulation, and physical prototypes based on established technologies and design principles.

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Biodiesel (From WCO)

This project is about building a small-scale biodiesel process that is clean, consistent, and actually usable outside of a research environment. The focus is on practical process design, how mixing, temperature control, reaction time, washing, and settling affect final fuel quality when you’re working with real waste oil and real constraints.

The current work is centred on improving fuel clarity and stability, minimising soap formation and glycerol carryover, and developing a repeatable production workflow. The fuel is being tested in simple real-world applications such as wick lamps, small generators, and basic agricultural equipment to validate combustion behaviour, reliability, and storage performance.

The long-term direction is a waste-to-value energy system that can be deployed in rural and peri-urban communities, particularly in South Africa and Zimbabwe, where access to reliable power is limited and grid or solar solutions are often impractical. The goal is a process that is technically sound, easy to reproduce, and simple enough to be taught and deployed at community scale.

3D Printed Wallet (Design)

I started making these wallets for a simple reason: I kept breaking and losing expensive ones. Most minimalist wallets look cool, but they’re overpriced, fragile, and a pain to fix when something goes wrong. So I built my own inspired by the Ridge-style form factor, but redesigned from first principles with durability, modularity, and affordability in mind. I wasn’t trying to reinvent the wallet. I just wanted a better one that I could actually maintain, modify, and improve myself.

The design uses 3D-printed plates and interchangeable elastic bands, so the wallet adapts to how you carry. More bands give a tighter, slimmer fit. Fewer bands stretch wider and hold more cards. The elastic is functional, adds colour, and gives the wallet its personality. If something wears out, I replace it. If my carry changes, I adjust it. It’s simple, modular, and built with real engineering thinking behind it

Wall-Mounted Toothbrush Holder (Aluminium Casting Design)

This is a toothbrush holder designed to hold one electric toothbrush and two standard manual toothbrushes. The form is symmetrical and built to feel solid without being bulky, and is intended to be made from a castable or CNC-machined metal such as aluminium. It can be wall-mounted or used as a standalone unit, making it easy to move, pack, and travel with. The design keeps brushes separated and off dirty surfaces, helping avoid grime, moisture buildup, and general bathroom germs. The open geometry allows airflow around the brushes so they dry faster and stay cleaner between uses.

Bioreactor (Modular Process Vessel)

This project is a modular bench-scale bioreactor built from an aluminium flask and repurposed into a controlled, isothermal process vessel. The system is designed for real experimentation with biological and chemical processes, including fermentation, wastewater treatment research, microbial growth (such as yeast or E. coli), and reaction-rate studies. The working volume is approximately 500 mL within a 750 mL vessel, giving enough headroom for mixing, foaming, and thermal stability.

The reactor uses a custom-designed impeller mounted on an 8 mm shaft, driven by a high-torque 775 motor operating below 10 V. After several iterations, the impeller geometry was optimised to achieve strong circulation with minimal reliance on baffles, allowing efficient mixing even in thicker broths. A 40 W heating element and a high-sensitivity thermocouple (0.01 °C resolution) provide accurate temperature monitoring and a foundation for future on–off or PID temperature control. Dual pumps with inlet and outlet ports allow for controlled inflow and outflow, thermal exchange, dilution, or reactant dosing.

The platform is intentionally open-ended. It can be adapted for fermentation studies, wastewater treatment experiments, biomass growth, and even integrated into downstream projects such as biodiesel processing. Future upgrades may include closed-loop temperature control, dissolved oxygen sensing, and internal camera monitoring. The goal is a low-cost, highly adaptable reactor that behaves like a real process vessel.

BEHIND THE SCENES

THE MAKERS

A space that captures the people, the projects, and the process behind the work, showcasing some fun lab days, early builds, collaborations, equipment and community initiatives. It’s our look at engineering as it happens: in real time, with real people, building real things.

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