Gauteng Business 2023-24

OVERVIEW
Energy
Carbon capture research could transform industry.
SECTOR INSIGHT
BMW will make hybrids
from 2024.
If carbon captured from the steel-making process could be
repurposed, the energy transition could happen more quickly.
One way of cleaning up the energy landscape is to switch
fuel sources from fossil fuels to renewables such as solar
and wind. And the world is doing a lot of that.
Another way is to use renewable energy to clean up
or repurpose the emissions coming from fossil fuels. That’s what
Sasol and ArcelorMittal South Africa are looking into in Gauteng.
Two of South Africa’s biggest and most successful companies are
joining forces to try to convert captured carbon from ArcelorMittal
South Africa’s Vanderbijlpark’s steel plant into sustainable fuels
and chemicals using renewable energy. The carbon capture and
utilisation (CCU) study supplements work being done by the
Council for Geoscience in Mpumalanga.
Both industrial operators have a stated ambition to achieve
net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Sasol is also working with the
steel producer in the Western Cape on a green steel and green
hydrogen and derivatives study.
“We are very excited to be leading the pre-feasibility and
feasibility studies on these two potential projects that hold
promise to unlock South Africa’s potential to be a global green
hydrogen and derivatives player. These studies are anchored by
the local need for green hydrogen and sustainable products,
cementing Sasol as the leading contributor to the development
of Southern Africa’s green hydrogen economy,” says Priscillah
Mabelane, Executive Vice President for Sasol’s Energy Business.
The Vaal CCU study will explore transporting up to 1.5-million tons
a year of industrial CO2 captured
from the Vanderbijlpark
Works to the Sasolburg and
Ekandustria operating facilities
in Sasolburg which will then,
together with green hydrogen,
eventually replace natural
gas as a feedstock to produce
sustainable chemicals products.
The Vaal Triangle has been
home to fossil fuel-based
industrial operations that have
been vital to the country’s
economic development over
many decades. It is believed
that many of the assets in these
operations can be repurposed
in such a way as they become
more sustainable, leading to a
revitalisation of the region.
The Industrial Development
Corporation (IDC), as the
driver of the state’s hydrogen
economy and commercialisation
programmes, came out strongly
in support of the Sasol and
ArcelorMittal partnership. “The
IDC supports sector linkages like
this that are critical to realising
South Africa’s ambition to
develop the green hydrogen
economy,” said Joanne Bate, Chief
Operating Officer for the IDC.
Sasol is simultaneously
exploring export markets for
the hydrogen and ammonia
that it expects to produce in
large quantities. With both
products being an important
GAUTENG BUSINESS 2023/24
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PHOTO: ArcelorMittal