Sasol Chemicals Expands Alumina Production Capacity to Meet Growing Market Demand

          Sasol Chemicals' Inorganics and Catalyst division announced the completion of its alumina capacity expansion at Sasol's Brunsbuettel site in Germany.

          The expansion will increase Sasol's alumina hydrate production capacity in Brunsbuettel by approximately 15,000 tons per annum, enabling the company to meet growing global demand for its alumina products.

          The expansion involved debottlenecking the alumina slurry feed capacity by installing an additional on-purpose alumina unit and constructing two new drum dryers, as well as a new spray dryer.

          The new units were commissioned and started up over the past six months, with the last unit reaching beneficial operation during October 2017.

          "This expansion is an important milestone in the development of our production capabilities for high-purity and dispersible aluminas that are sold into a variety of applications worldwide," said Dr. Cronje Grove, Vice President: Sasol Inorganics and Catalyst.

          "We plan to start up additional alumina production in Lake Charles in the US as part of the Lake Charles Chemical Project at the end of 2019 to continue to meet the escalating demands of our customers. Further expansion of our alumina capacity from the Brunsbuettel site is also being considered." 

          The products from the new plants will be sold into a number of markets and will be used in various end markets, including abrasives and selected catalyst applications.

          Vice President: Operations in Brunsbuettel, Dr. Kay Luttmann, said: "The construction phase was extremely challenging due to the tight schedule driven by the high demand for Sasol's alumina products in the market. We managed to complete the alumina capacity expansion in a record time in order to satisfy the growing demand of our customers. Exemplary collaboration across various teams and exceptional personal commitment from all members of the project team were key to achieving success."

          About Sasol:

          Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company. Through our talented people, we use selected technologies to safely and sustainably source, produce and market chemical and energy products competitively to create superior value for our customers, shareholders and other stakeholders.