Sasol Ltd.’s (Johannesburg, South Africa; www.sasol.co.za) Inorganics and Catalyst division announced the completion of its alumina capacity expansion at Sasol’s Brunsbüttel site in Germany.
The expansion will increase Sasol’s alumina hydrate production capacity in Brunsbüttel by approximately 15,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr), 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 Brunsbüttel site is also being considered.”
Sasol also recently completed the extensive FTWEP program to increase wax production capacity in South Africa.