Methods & Concepts

Sasol’s 2050 Net Zero target has enormous implications for its current business operations, effectively requiring a full transition of its fossil-based product slate to green products. This transition will depend on the sourcing of cost-effective green hydrogen and sustainable carbon sources as feedstocks for production.

Sasol’s ‘stepwise approach’ publicised at their Capital Markets Day 2021 provides some indication of how Sasol’s feedstocks and hence product slate could change over time to progress it towards Net Zero emissions:

• By 2030  ~6% of Sasol’s product slate is anticipated to be comprised of ‘sustainable products’ resulting from ~10% of hydrogen input being green hydrogen, and ~2% of carbon being from sustainable carbon sources. (It is unclear whether these percentages refers to volume, mass or revenue).
• By 2040, >25% of products are anticipated to be green products, as a result of 40% of hydrogen input being green, and 5-10% of carbon requirements being sustainable.
• By 2050, Sasol aims for a 100% green product slate, through a total changeover to green hydrogen and sustainable carbon supply.

Sasol has already commenced with a green hydrogen production pilot project at Sasolburg using a 60 MW electrolyser, and is targeting first delivery of 6 tonnes per day of green hydrogen in 2023, as a first step to meeting the targets.

STEPWISE APPROACH TOWARDS SHIFTING OF SASOL’s PRODUCT SLATE

Green hydrogen and sustainable carbon feedstocks are critical to the ongoing operation of the facilities in a decarbonised future. The adjacent figure illustrates a potential feedstock transition path for Secunda, as modelled by IHS Markit.

At the same time, if the economy is to decarbonise, markets for their products are likely to transform, with a shift away from liquid fuels with the widespread electrification of transport, and a potential increasing focus on meeting demand for green chemicals.