Sasol selects Foster Wheeler

Foster Wheeler South Africa has been chosen by Sasol Technology to perform a pre-feasibility study for Project Mafutha, a proposed new coal-to-liquids (CTL) facility in South Africa.

The planned stand-alone greenfield coal-to-liquids facility would produce approximately 80,000 barrels per day of synthetic fuel. A potential location for the facility will be evaluated as part of the study.

Project Mafutha will involve an integrated CTL process comprising three key process steps for the conversion of coal into primary fuel products (petrol and diesel); gasification of coal to synthesis gas; Sasol's proprietary low and/or high temperature Fischer-Tropsch processes; and refinery technology for converting the Fischer-Tropsch products into fuel products.

The project will also include other processing units, utilities and offsite facilities necessary to support the development.

‘The project demonstrates Foster Wheeler's ability to dynamically combine expertise from multiple offices into a high-quality execution plan,’ commented Steve Scott, managing director of Foster Wheeler South Africa. ‘In this instance, our UK Operation's Midstream Technology Group has extensive experience in coal-to-liquids and Fischer-Tropsch technologies. The combination of that experience with the local project execution track record of our South African operation will deliver high quality assistance to Sasol in establishing a sound basis for the techno-economic assessment of this project.’