Sasol Chemicals to provide startup Ineratec with free Fischer-Tropsch catalyst

Industrial power-to-liquid plant (Photo: Ineratec)

Sasol Chemicals announced Feb. 13 that it will deliver a first fill of its latest Fischer-Tropsch catalyst free of charge to Ineratec in one of several recent commitments to promising renewable projects.

The FT catalyst will be used in the lighthouse project the Karlsruhe, Germany-based clean-tech company is currently building at Industriepark Hoechst near Frankfurt.

The project is based on the company’s recent operational success at industrial demonstration scale.

According to Ineratec, the new facilities will become the largest production plant for paraffinic synthetic fuels in the world.

The plant’s output is estimated to reach up to 2,500 tons per year, starting as early as 2023.

The catalyst provided by Sasol Chemicals will make a significant contribution to produce high amounts of the target products, which is largely designated for refinement into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

“Synthetic fuels are a cornerstone in the global challenge to reach our climate goals,” said Philipp Engelkamp, Ineratec co-founder and general manager. “Our goal is to quickly build up production capacities. Together with our partners, we want to over-succeed the required quota for SAF in 2030.”

Ineratec plans to develop the technology on a global scale and will invest over 30 million euros in this first plant alone.

The German government also strongly supports the project and provides around 6 million euros within a funding program of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection.

“We are in the fortunate position to aid our partners in pushing the envelope when it comes to synthetic fuels,” said Dirk Schär, manager of technical marketing at Sasol Chemicals. “Sasol’s high-grade products are an integral part of many chemical processes. By making commitments such as this one, we are assisting others to realize what we ourselves have chosen as our mission for Sasol Chemicals—Innovating for a better world.”

Sasol continuously invests into research and development to further improve its products and is also a leading partner of the CARE-O-SENE project, a government-supported consortium of German and South-African organizations that aims to improve the performance of catalysts in the FT-synthesis to accelerate the large-scale production of SAF.

Ineratec and Sasol also partner in the CARE-O-SENE project.