South African Co sasol avantium to collaborate on ctl gtl technology

South African Co. Sasol, Avantium to collaborate on CTL, GTL technology

SASOL 04-20-2007

Petrochemicals and chemicals firm Sasol announced that it had entered into a strategic research collaboration in the area of making liquid fuels from coal and gas with experimental methodologies firm Avantium Technologies.

Under the collaboration scientists of Sasol and Avantium Technologies would work together to develop new catalyst technologies to optimise Sasol’s production of liquid fuels from coal or natural gas, the two firms said in a joint statement.

“Avantium specialises in experimental methodologies that enables scientists to conduct parallel experiments on a very small scale and at a very high speed,” the statement reported. “This increases productivity and allows scientists to explore and compare a myriad of experimental conditions.”

Statistical techniques were applied to direct the experimental program into the most promising areas and to extract knowledge from the data that could be used to optimise industrial processes.

“We are confident that the combined efforts of both teams in these research programs will add value and lead to innovative new catalyst technologies for Sasol. Our skills set significantly reduces the time-to-market of new products and processes and also improves the economics and success rates of research," commented Avantium Technologies CEO Tom van Aken.

Sasol Technology Research and Development MD Dr. Chris Reinecke said that this collaboration was aligned with Sasol’s strategic intent to be a world leader in Fischer-Tropsch chemistry.