Sasol has started the Ziegler and Guerbet alcohols units at their Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP) in Louisiana.
Sasol said it “achieved beneficial operations on June 19, 2020. This follows three days after achieving beneficial operations on the Ziegler alcohol unit, bringing the online capacity of LCCP’s specialty chemicals units to 100% and LCCP’s total online nameplate capacity to 86%.”
The Ziegler and Guerbet alcohols expand Sasol’s position in having one of the broadest integrated alcohols and surfactants portfolio in the world.
The LCCP Ziegler unit is an extension of the existing Ziegler plant in Lake Charles and is the largest of its kind in the world adding nameplate capacity of 173,000 tons/year (173 ktpa) of alcohol and 32,000 tons/year (32 ktpa) of alumina.
“The startup of the LCCP facilities progresses Sasol’s seven-unit U Gulf Coast mega project to the cusp of completion,” said Sasol President and Chief Executive Officer, Fleetwood Grobler. “The additional capacity strengthens Sasol’s leadership position in the specialty alcohol and alumina markets, which is core to the company’s chemicals growth strategy.”
“Our investment in Lake Charles – including the additional ethoxylation capacity that began operation in January 2020 – combined with the startup of our new ethoxylation unit in Nanjing, China in 2019, strengthens our existing asset base,” said Sasol Executive Vice President: Chemicals Business, Brad Griffith.
The Ziegler unit supplements Sasol’s global production of alcohols and aluminas, adding to existing Ziegler capacity in both Lake Charles and Brunsbuettel, Germany. The unit is the most technically complex of the units in the LCCP and is based on Sasol’s proprietary technology, according to the company.
