Sasol, GE Develop New Water Technology, Boosting Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) Value Proposition

Sasolburg, South Africa (ots/PRNewswire) -

Sasol and General Electric 's GE Power & Water have together
developed new water technology that will clean waste water, while
also providing biogas as a by-product for power generation. This new
technology, known as Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Technology
(AnMBR), will be further developed at a new demonstration plant at
Sasol's R&D Campus at its Sasol One Site in Sasolburg.

"This is another exciting technological innovation that will further
entrench our position as a world-leader in gas-to-liquids (GTL)
technology and synthetic fuels production. While sophisticated water
treatment technologies are already employed at Sasol's major
operations, this particular development will enhance our efficiency
even further," said Ernst Obersholster, Sasol Group Executive for
International Energy, New Business Development and Technology.

"GE is excited to be partnering with Sasol on this initiative that
further outlines our commitment to supporting the sustainable
development of South Africa with advanced infrastructure
technologies, services and solutions. This partnership demonstrates
what the private sector can achieve by working together for the
benefit of growing the economy and making the economy competitive,"
said Tim Schweikert President and CEO for GE South Africa.

AnMBR involves anaerobic micro-organisms that are able to live in
environments devoid of oxygen, such as sediment layers on floors of
lakes, dams and the ocean. These organisms are almost ubiquitous -
found in the human digestive system, under the earth surface, deserts
and mountain peaks, to name a few.

Sasol currently uses aerobic microbes to treat GTL and
coal-to-liquids (CTL) effluents in ORYX GTL, Qatar and Synfuels,
Secunda facilities.

One of the by-products from the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process is an
effluent stream rich in organic acids and alcohols. Traditional
(aerobic) treatment technologies treat this effluent by converting
the organics to carbon dioxide. The benefit of the AnMBR is that the
micro-organisms convert these organics into a methane rich bio-gas
which can then be used for power generation. This then results in an
overall efficiency improvement in the GTL process. By converting the
effluents to a valuable product (power) there is a resulting
improvement in the GTL value proposition. Another benefit of the
AnMBR is that it produces almost 80% less waste biosolids than the
previous generation process.

The treatment of GTL derived effluents is complex and challenging.
Sasol pioneered the treatment of effluents from the GTL process in
Ras Laffan, Qatar, where effluents are treated and recycled for use
as irrigation water in the city of Ras Laffan.

Sasol's second generation offering, which is currently being designed
for the US GTL facility, is the aerobic Membrane Bioreactor (MBR).
The AnMBR helps maintain Sasol's leadership position in this field by
converting wastes into value-adding products.

Micro-organisms break down complex organics, such as proteins and
carbohydrates through a process called hydrolysis, to simpler
building blocks, such as sugars that provide food to the
micro-organisms. The waste produced is bio-gas, which can be used as
feedstock to generate power.

"The organics in waste water generated from our operations have
proven to be the ideal food, or substrate, for Anaerobic
micro-organisms," said Thulani Dlamini, Executive Manager Research
and Development at Sasol Technology. "We will now continue to explore
and develop this technology further with the potential for commercial
application to our future GTL facilities."

Sasol has been developing the technology for a number of years with
promising results. The partnership with GE is aimed at leveraging
GE's ecomagination qualified ZeeWeed 500 membrane and decades of
membrane bioreactor experience and Sasol's expertise in biological
treatment of FT derived effluents.

"The new AnMBR is one of the many solutions that can be developed in
the Petrochemical and Refining environment to benefit all other
industries," says Daniele Scenarelli, GE Account Executive for Sasol.
"This strategic partnership, which was signed in 2010, symbolizes a
new way of doing business between Customers and Suppliers. It is a
collaborative approach and a mutual commitment to technology
development and innovation aimed to accelerate the commercialization
of this new technology."

Bench scale test work has been on-going for the past year with
promising results and with the construction of a pilot plant at
Sasol's R&D facilities this improves the potential for
commercialization of this technology.

It is anticipated that the technology will be commercially ready
early in 2015. Sasol will have exclusive rights to apply this
technology to FT based plants whilst GE will have the right to market
the technology for other industrial uses.

About Sasol:

Committed to excellence in all we do, Sasol is an international
integrated energy and chemical company that leverages the talent and
expertise of our more than 35 000 people working in 37 countries. We
develop and commercialise technologies, and build and operate
world-scale facilities to produce a range of product streams,
including liquid fuels, high-value chemicals and low-carbon
electricity.

While remaining committed to our home-base of South Africa, Sasol is
expanding internationally based on a unique value proposition.

About GE Power & Water

GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power
generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve
their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the
energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar;
biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear
energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help
solve the world's most complex challenges related to water
availability and quality. Power & Water's six business units include
Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power
Generation Services, Renewable Energy and Water & Process
Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is
GE's largest industrial business.

About GE:

GE is an advanced technology, services and capital company with the
scale, resources and expertise to take on the world's toughest
challenges. Dedicated to innovation in the areas of energy, health,
transportation and infrastructure, GE is committed to leadership,
partnership and human progress.

GE has more than 300 000 employees globally, of which over 1 500 are
in Sub-Saharan Africa. GE is committed to growing its Africa
leadership base by investing in young leaders.

Forward-looking statements: Sasol may, in this document, make certain
statements that are not historical facts and relate to analyses and
other information which are based on forecasts of future results and
estimates of amounts not yet determinable. These statements may also
relate to our future prospects, developments and business strategies.
Examples of such forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to, statements regarding exchange rate fluctuations, volume
growth, increases in market share, total shareholder return and cost
reductions. Words such as "believe", "anticipate", "expect",
"intend", "seek", "will", "plan", "could", "may", "endeavour" and
"project" and similar expressions are intended to identify such
forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of
identifying such statements. By their very nature, forward-looking
statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and
specific, and there are risks that the predictions, forecasts,
projections and other forward-looking statements will not be
achieved. If one or more of these risks materialise, or should
underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may differ
materially from those anticipated. You should understand that a
number of important factors could cause actual results to differ
materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and
intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These
factors are discussed more fully in our most recent annual report
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on Form 20-F filed on 9
October 2013 and in other filings with the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission. The list of factors discussed therein is not
exhaustive; when relying on forward-looking statements to make
investment decisions, you should carefully consider both these
factors and other uncertainties and events. Forward-looking
statements apply only as of the date on which they are made, and we
do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any of them,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts

For Sasol:

Alex Anderson, Group Media Manager
Direct telephone +27(11)441-3295; Mobile +27(0)71-600-9605;
[email protected]

Jacqui O'Sullivan, GM: Group Communication
Direct telephone +27(11)441-3252; Mobile +27(0)82-883-9697;
[email protected]

For GE:

Thulisile Phiri
Communications Manager - Southern Africa
GE Corporate Africa
Tel: +27-11-237-0019
M: +27-79-885-0530
[email protected]
Follow GE Power & Water and GE's water business on Twitter 
@GE_PowerWater and
 @GE_Water.

ORIGINAL APA-OTS TEXT - THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE IS SUBJECT TO THE EXCLUSIVE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ISSUER | PRN

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