Sasol, Anglo American and De Beers to pilot renewable diesel in South Africa

Sasol

04/02/2025 09:04

By Nqobile Dludla
       CAPE TOWN, Feb 4 (Reuters) - South African
petrochemicals company Sasol  SOLJ.J , mining group Anglo
American  AAL.L  and its diamond business De Beers entered into
a joint development agreement on Tuesday to pilot the production
of renewable diesel from vegetable oil. 
    Under the terms of the deal signed at the annual African
Mining Indaba in Cape Town, the partners will assess the
technical and commercial viability of feedstock production,
company officials told reporters. 
    De Beers is providing the more than 20-hectare tracts of
land on which the crops for the trial vegetable oil feedstock -
initially the Solaris and Moringa plants - will be grown, Anglo
American's Director of Projects and Development Alison Atkinson
said. 
    Atkinson said pre-feasibility studies have been approved and
renewable diesel production trials have been initiated. The
resulting fuel will be used at De Beers operations. 
        Biofuels, derived from plant material or animal waste,
are among the alternative fuels promoted to reduce carbon
emissions.
    Although renewable diesel production in South Africa is not
yet at a commercial scale, customer demand and decarbonisation
targets indicate that the country's renewable fuels market is
promising, according to Sasol.
    "Renewable diesel is transformative. It meets the technical
standards of conventional diesel while significantly reducing
greenhouse gas emissions," Sarushen Pillay, executive vice
president of Sasol's Business Building, Strategy and Technology
portfolio, said at the signing ceremony.

 (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Jan Harvey)
 ((nqobile.dludla@thomsonreuters.com; +27103461066;))