MechChem Africa November-December 2021

⎪ Minerals processing and materials handling ⎪

under-structures professionally designed by consultants and the ill-effects of trig- gering professional indemnity on failures. Pilot Crushtec includes an additional five year/10 000 hour warranty on the sale of this product, which is an added benefit when compared to its competitors,” says Govender. According to Sampie Kruth, AfriSam engi- neeringmanager forKwaZulu-Natal, theplant needed a proven solution to ensure that the crusher’s dynamic forces would not damage the sub-structure. “Many equipment suppliers in this field are developing their concepts in this direction; however, Metso is one of the few companies that already has tried-and-tested models available in the market” says Kruth. AfriSam regards health and safety as a key priority and in line with its protocols relating to equipment safety, the Metso C120 has an hydraulically adjusted gap setting, allowing for safe and easy adjustment. Further, the jaw liners also have their own hooking points to facilitate liner changes, reducing the practice

technology in South Africa. For decades, Sasol has been using its Fischer Tropsch (FT) technology to convert low-grade coal and gas into synthetic fuels and chemicals. The largest scaleexampleof the commercial application of this technology is its Secunda plant in Mpumalanga, which converts syn- thesis gas – a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H 2 ) – derived from coal gasification and supplemented by reformed natural gas into 160 000 bbl of products per day. With its announced intention to leverage its existingFT technologyand skillset to lead thedevelopment of SouthAfrica’s hydrogen economy, Sasol and UCT have been work- ing on finding innovative ways to use this chemistry to convert CO 2 and hydrogen into a range of useful and green products. Now they have. “Conversionof greenhydrogen together with CO 2 , a process called CO 2 hydrogena- tion, isgainingsignificant interestworldwide and is a promising way to produce sustain- able aviation fuels and chemicals that have a significantly lower carbon footprint,” says Cathy Dwyer, vice president for Science Research at Sasol Research & Technology. The collaborationwithUCThas revealed that Sasol’s iron catalyst can achieve CO 2 conversions greater than 40%, producing ethylene and light olefins that can be used of adding welding lugs for removal. Working closely with Pilot Crushtec on the specifications, AfriSam will also be ap- plying a specific designed quarry liner for better continuous grading ofmaterial passing through the first crushing stage. With a feed size opening of 1.2 mwide by 870 mm deep, the crusher’s throughput is expected to range between 200 and 300 t/h. Pi lot Crushtec Sales and sold jaw crushers globally, and says that, beingwell knownfor itsreliabil- ityandperformance, therearemany units operating in southern Africa. “Their robust and rugged characteristics make this one of our most popular units, and replacement parts are readily available,” says Marais. The order also marks another step in the company’s partnership with AfriSam, with Pilot Crushtec playing an important Marketing Director Francois Marais notes that the Metso C120 is one of themostwidely

role in providing OEM-quality support and maintenance. www.pilotcrushtec.com

The C120 crusher height gives the steepest possible cavity cross-section, and the nip angle high up in the cavity, together with an aggressive well-aligned stroke at the bottom, ensuring high throughput capacity.

Sasol and UCT collaborate to produce green jet fuel Sasol and UCT researchers are collaborating on the use of commercial iron catalysts to convert hydrogen and CO 2 into green jet fuel and chemicals.

A team of researchers from Sasol and the Catalysis Institute at theUniversity of Cape Town (UCT) has made advancements in the use of commercial iron catalyst, produced cheaply andat large scale at Sasol’s Secunda plant, which enable conversion of unavoid- able or biogenically-derived carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and green hydrogen directly to a variety of green chemicals and jet fuel. This development is a significant step towards the implementation of CO 2 hydrogenation

as chemical feedstocks, with significant quantities of kerosene-range hydrocarbons (jet fuel). There are twoways to convertCO 2 intoa useful rangeof products usingFT chemistry. In the indirect pathway, CO 2 and green hy- drogen are first converted to synthesis gas, either by co-electrolysis or over a catalyst. The synthesis gas is then reactedover a suit- able FT catalyst to produce hydrocarbons and water. Sasol’s suite of cobalt catalysts is highly efficient for the latter process. Alternatively, hydrogen and CO 2 can be converted directly over a single catalyst to a useful range of products, using a ‘tandem’ catalysis, and this iswhere the iron catalysts have been found to be advantageous. UCT’s Professor Michael Claeys said Sasol and UCT have a longstanding col- laboration on the fundamental aspects of FT technology, on both commercial cobalt and iron catalysts, which provide workable solutions for operating plants. The partner- ship brings together Sasol’s established expertise around FT catalysis and synthesis gas conversion andUCT’s modelling and in- situ characterisation capabilities. In recent years, the university has also beenworkingonCO 2 conversiontechnology andhas built upextensiveexperience inCO 2 hydrogenation. www.sasol.com

Sasol Research & Technology in collaboration with the University of Cape Town (UCT) is using commercial iron catalyst for the conversion of CO 2 and green hydrogen into green chemicals and jet fuel.

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