The integrated energy and chemical company based in Johannesburg, South Africa, commissioned the world’s first ethylene tetramerization unit at its Lake Charles, Louisiana chemical complex back in 2011. The facility began operations in February of this year, and uses Sasol-developed technology to convert ethylene to higher-value comonomers 1-octene and 1-hexene. It is currently in start-up mode with the first product already produced, although it is expected that the plant will be fully operational by the middle of this year and will be able to produce 100,000-tonnes per year.
Sasol is also continuing to move ahead with the front-end engineering and design phase of an integrated ethane cracker and downstream derivatives complex and adjacent GTL plant in Westlake, Louisiana. The final investment decision is due at yearend with the FID for the GTL plant expected to follow within 18 to 24 months.