Methods & Concepts

The Secunda and Sasolburg facilities are located in the Mpumalanga and Free State provinces respectively. Secunda is the largest coal liquefaction plant and the biggest single emitter of greenhouse gas in the world. The two facilities jointly account for 11% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The Sasolburg facility was built in 1954 to produce liquid fuels from coal. The Secunda facility, built in the 1980s together with large tied coal mines, took over the primary role of liquid fuel production, with Sasolburg, whose coalfields were depleting, increasingly focused on producing chemicals.

The two facilities are closely interlinked from both a materials flow and an economic perspective, with Secunda supplying a number of the chemical feedstocks and utilities (gas) for the Sasolburg facility. Secunda also supplies liquid fuel components to Natref.

Today, these facilities jointly produce a wide range of outputs upon which the economy depends, and represent critical points in nationally significant value chains. Secunda produces a material proportion of South Africa’s inland liquid fuels supply, and jointly the two facilities sit at the core of the country’s chemicals sector, supplying a range of products to both the South African and export markets.

Socially, politically, environmentally and legally the facilities have additional interlinkages and dependencies. The company as a whole provides employment to over 22 000 people in South Africa and supports research and innovation.