Sasol commits to next-gen catalyst supply for eSAF pioneer Ineratec

Era One Frankfurt, Ineratec’s commercial-scale eFuel plant in Germany, is supplied with Sasol’s current Cobalt FT catalyst. (Photo: Ineratec)

Sasol Chemicals, a business of Sasol Ltd., and German startup Ineratec have signed a letter of intent (LOI) committing to the supply of Sasol’s next-generation catalyst as soon as the development cycle is completed in 2026.

Ineratec operates the largest power-to-liquid (PtL) facility worldwide—called Era One—for the production of eWaxes and eFuels.

The facility’s annual production target of up to 2,500 tons of sustainable eFuels is enabled by Sasol’s current state-of-the-art Cobalt FT catalyst.

The introduction of the next-generation catalyst will allow the facility to exceed the current capacity and improve the eKerosene yield by 15 percent.

“To date, the necessary feedstocks for eSAF, such as green hydrogen, are quite scarce,” said Dirk Uys, Sasol’s vice president of sales for South African chemicals. “That’s why improving yields is the most important lever we have at the moment to make large-scale commercialization feasible.”

From the earliest tests to the recent plant opening, Sasol Chemicals has provided Ineratec with its benchmark catalysts based on the company’s proprietary Fischer-Tropsch know-how.

The LOI marks another milestone in the two companies’ ongoing collaboration, which also extends to the German-South African CARE-O-SENE research project, where both are consortium partners.

The large-scale commercialization of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) is a cornerstone in defossilizing air transportation, with commitments from industry, politics and the scientific community to speed up development and commercialization.

“This is a fast-developing field,” said Tim Böltken, the founder and managing director of Ineratec. “The start-up of Era One in early June is an important signal from Ineratec and we aim to stay a key player in the growing eSAF market. Having an experienced partner like Sasol Chemicals is a hugely important aspect for our ambitions.”

The Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, on which Sasol’s benchmark catalysts are based, was discovered and patented in 1925 by German chemical scientists Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch.

Since the 1950s, Sasol has developed the process as proprietary technology, making the company a world leader in this field.

Proven over the past 30 years, Sasol’s Cobalt Fischer-Tropsch catalysts “are currently the most reliable and effective of their kind,” the company stated.