Commercial coal-to-liquids (Sasol)
Combustibles líquidos del carbón a escala comercial (Sasol)
- Date
- 1955 · confidence high
- Place
- Sasolburg, Free State, South Africa
- Credited to
- South African Coal, Oil and Gas Corporation (Sasol)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
The first lasting commercial plant to convert coal into petrol, diesel and chemical products by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, using fluidised-bed Synthol reactors. South Africa maintained the technology for decades and scaled it up worldwide.
Fischer-Tropsch synthesis was invented in Mülheim (Germany) in 1925 and used in the Second World War; Sasol industrialised it for the long term.
What it led to
- South African energy independence during the embargo
- fluidised-bed Fischer-Tropsch reactors
- gas-to-liquids technology (Qatar, 2006)