Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

COAL
Unlike traditional ethylene oligomerization, the
Fischer Tropsch process also yields odd carbon
number alpha-olefins, such as C_, C7 and C9 for
which there is said to be "considerable market
interest."
In addition to these areas under active develop
ment, many other lines of chemistry are being
explored, including propylene to acrylic acid and
acryiates, acetic acid to acetates, phenol and
acetone to bisphenol-A, acetone to methyl
methacrylate, olefins and syngas to oxo alcohols,
and alpha-olefins to polyalpha-olefins.
Sasol plans to recover other olefins, including
decene, which is in strong demand for producing
lubricants. A project is under way that will use
C10 and to make about C 90,000 tonnes per
year of polyalpha-olefins (PAO). The total world
demand for PAO is about 200,000 tonnes per
year.
A world-scale methanol plant is also on Sasol's
shopping
sumes only
list. The local South Africa market con
50,000-60,000 tonnes of methanol
per year; the rest would be exported. Sasol is al
ready converting an ammonia plant at Sasolburg
to produce 20,000 tonnes per year of methanol.
Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is also being
looked at. The company says that by the end of
the decade chemicals will contribute 50 percent
of the company's operating profits, compared
with about 17 percent at present.
Sasol supplies virtually all feedstocks for the
country's petrochemical industry. By the end of
the decade, however, South Africa will need
another ethylene plant. But the extra capacity
will be used by Polifin in its vinyl chloride
monomer plant, which is being converted to
ethylene feedstock. Sasol produces
320,000 tonnes per year of ethylene and could
increase that to a maximum of 420,000 tonnes
per year.
In December, Sasol and the German company
Schumann agreed to merge their wax and wax-
related activities into a joint venture that would be
4-18
the biggest worldwide supplier in the sector with
the widest range of applications.
Sasol's $75 million per year waxes business con
sists of high-value, low-cost Fischer Tropsch
paraffin waxes.
Family-owned Schumann is one of the top three
manufacturers of crude oil-derived paraffin
waxes, with more than 300,000 tonnes per year
of capacity at two refineries in Hamburg.
####
IGT NOTES PROGRESS IN COAL
CONVERSION TECHNOLOGIES
The 1994 Annual Report for the Institute of Gas
Technology (IGT) reviews progress in several
coal conversion areas.
After more than 50 years on the campus of the Il
linois Institute of Technology in Chicago, in 1994
IGT moved to facilities in Des Plaines, Illinois.
According to IGT chairman R. Cash, this move
will help IGT attain a major part of its mission and
vision statements and allow IGT to adapt to a
rapidly changing world economy. The next
25 years will see a dramatic global shift in
economic strength as countries in the developing
world and the former Soviet bloc introduce
market-oriented reforms and open up their
economies to trade and investment. While the
newly rich countries have many resources, includ
ing a large labor base, they will be unable to main
tain long-term growth or provide their citizens
with a desirable standard of living without the ap
plication of advanced technologies. The need for
technologies that improve the efficiency of
energy use, produce new energy sources, and
clean and protect the environment will become
as critical in the developing world as it already
has in the industrialized countries.
With a worldwide reputation for its international
consulting and educational programs, IGT is now
actively and successfully involved in marketing its
THE SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995