• South Africa to test the development of a local renewable fuels market.
• This agreement aims to lower GHG emissions and create a local supply chain for sustainable fuel in the African nation.

Sasol, Anglo American, and De Beers have signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to pilot the production of feedstock for renewable diesel in South Africa.

The companies signed the pact during the Investing in African Mining Indaba event in Cape Town, which focuses on studying and testing the viability of growing crops like Solaris and Moringa to extract vegetable oil, which, in turn, can be processed into renewable diesel.

Sasol is ready with its existing infrastructure to handle different feedstocks, which is a much quicker and more cost-effective transition to renewable diesel than constructing new facilities. If proven viable, this fuel can be used as the best alternative to conventional diesel in existing equipment. This will help businesses reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions without major changes in their current systems.

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De Beers will provide land for growing the test crop in several locations like Blouberg, Messina, Marble Hall in Limpopo, and Voorspoed in the Free State.

In South Africa, renewable diesel production is still in its early stages, but there is a growing demand from businesses to reduce their carbon footprint. This pilot has the potential to steer the development of a local renewable fuel market in South Africa and help hard-to-abate industries like oil and gas reduce their carbon emissions and operate sustainably.

Dr Sarushen Pillay, Executive Vice President of Sasol’s Business Building, Strategy and Technology portfolio, said: “Renewable diesel is transformative. It meets the technical standards of conventional diesel while significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Our customers can therefore, use it as a “drop-in” fuel in their existing equipment and machinery to meet their greenhouse gas reduction commitments.

"Partnering with Anglo American, we're investigating the development of a local and cost-effective supply chain for sustainable feedstock, utilising vegetable oil to produce renewable diesel in our facilities. As we innovate for a better world, Sasol’s ambition is clear — to help our customers navigate the energy transition while delivering high-quality, sustainable solutions for a low-carbon future."

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Anglo American’s Projects and Development Director, Alison Atkinson added: “This is an important initiative to strengthen our commitment to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. It is an innovation that contributes to our sustainability journey as a business and our quest to maintain a healthy environment by creating carbon-neutral operations.

“We worked closely with our De Beers colleagues to conceive this partnership given their pre-feasibility studies on renewable diesel production trials within their mining operations and host communities. De Beers is also providing the more than 20-hectare pieces of land on which the trial feedstock will be grown, in Blouberg, Messina; Marble Hall in Limpopo; and the Voorspoed mine closure site in the Free State."

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Source: Sasol