The value of chemicals production is estimated to grow to $720-billion in the European Union, $565-billion in the US and $605-billion in China by 2020, petrochemicals group Sasol executive manager for research and technology Sven Godorr told a South African Institution of Chemical Engineers conference last month.

He added that chemicals production in the rest of the world was expected to follow suit.

“As people across the globe seek higher living standards for themselves and those they leave behind, more plastic and energy will have to be produced.

“Hopefully, we, as chemical engineers, can develop solutions to [meet] these needs,” he stated.

Further, Godorr asserted that sustainability would be integral to the planet’s future and that, according to statistics presented by business school the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, in 2012, the organisational interest in sustain- ability had increased globally from 15% in 2009 to 59% in 2010 and to 68% in 2011.

“What does all of this mean for a company like Sasol? We are focusing on efficiency and [environmental] compliance in our existing operations and we will continue to look at improving [our operational practices].

“If Sasol can make a 10% improvement in its carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from its facilities in South Africa, it will make a significant difference.”

Powering Mobility
Godorr stated that Sasol currently produced about 30% of South Africa’s fuel and its gas-to-liquids (GTL) facilities achieved a thermal efficiency of about 60%.

“Sasol continuously focuses on GTL growth, supported by shale gas and associated lower gas prices, to lower CO2 _{emissions and capital expenditure on plants.”}

He added that, if a breakthrough occurred in making electric vehicles a [viable] reality, the responsible thing to do would be not to convert coal into liquids but rather into electricity to charge the battery of a car.

“A battery technology breakthrough will be a game changer,” Godorr said, adding, however, that hydrocarbons were here to stay for quite a while longer and would remain important for aircraft, ships, trucks and heavy machinery.

He noted, for instance, that the shipping industry was moving from using heavy bunker oils to using lighter fuels to power the ships, such as a diesel-type product, owing to the amount of emissions generated by ships.

Electric Cars Can Compete

Electric cars can, in principle, compete with cars that use petrol and diesel, Godorr asserted.

“Looking at the costs of an electric car and depending on what Eskom charges for electricity, South Africa’s energy costs, based on a 100 km distance with a lithium-ion battery, are between R3 and R29, compared with a diesel car, which is about R60/100 km.

“Electric cars can compete with diesel- and fuel-driven cars, as the energy costs are halved,” Godorr stated, adding, however, that there were challenges that needed to be overcome first.

“The realisation of electric cars will require solutions to [improve] the range electric cars [can reach on a single charge] and the reliability of the battery pack itself, which impacts on the resell value of the car,” he explained.

A battery pack with fewer than 1 000 to 2 000 recharges left, which translated into three years if you recharged it on a daily basis, was not viable for the resale of an electric car and would cost the owner R100 000 in lost value.

“The [battery pack-dictated] resell value is a huge issue,” Godorr stressed. Therefore, companies, such as electric vehicle companies SK Energy, of South Korea, and international energy company Better Place, are looking to develop solutions to make it more viable to replace batteries than to recharge them.

Another issue with electric cars was safety, Godorr pointed out, stating that battery packs were not as safe as the industry needed them to be and that incidents where electric car batteries had burst into flames spontaneously or after an accident had been reported.

“We have identified lithium-sulphur battery technology as one of the potential winning technologies,” Godorr stated.

In September, Sasol announced a strategic investment of £15-million, through Sasol New Energy (SNE), in UK-based OXIS Energy.

OXIS Energy has developed next-generation battery technology, which it says is inherently safe and offers superior energy density to current lithium-ion batteries. It marks another addition to SNE’s expanding port- folio of new energy technologies required for a growing low-carbon economy.

Successful commercialisation of the poly- mer lithium-sulphur battery technology developed by OXIS Energy could allow for the production of safer and more cost- effective rechargeable batteries, with substantially higher capacity than the technologies currently available, stated Sasol.

OXIS Energy’s technology had applications in several areas, including electrically powered transportation, such as electric bikes and electric scooters, as well as electric vehicles.

“The strategic investment in OXIS Energy will enable Sasol to apply its extensive experience in commercialising and scaling up chemical processes to assist OXIS Energy in realising the full potential of the technology it has developed. We believe that energy storage will be a critical link in the success of a low-carbon mobility value chain,” said SNE MD Henri Loubser.

Godorr added that, while battery solutions were available, energy was still needed to power the batteries and Sasol had, therefore, started to consider concentrated solar power.

“We are exploring the establishment of a 100 MWe to 125 MWe facility with energy company Brightsource.

“Sasol likes power technologies and concentrated thermal systems because they allow for the thermal storage of energy, so electricity can be generated for extended periods – 16 to 20 hours a day,” he stated.