Sasol and ArcelorMittal SA form green hydrogen hub partnership
The Saldanha Bay Municipality, which suffered a huge blow when ArcelorMittal South Africa shut down its Saldanha Steel plant in 2020, will see a welcome boost with the announcement of a partnership between Sasol and ArcelorMittal SA to develop a green hydrogen hub in the area.
The two powerhouses, which are both chasing a goal of net zero emissions by 2050, plan to advance studies into two potential projects: the Saldanha green hydrogen and derivatives study, which will explore the region’s potential as an export hub for green hydrogen and derivatives, as well as green steel production; and a Vaal carbon capture and utilisation study aimed at the use of renewable electricity and green hydrogen to convert captured carbon from ArcelorMittal SA’s Vanderbijlpark steel plant into sustainable fuels and chemicals.
“We are very excited to be leading the pre-feasibility and feasibility studies on these two potential projects that hold promise to unlock [SA’s] potential to be a global green hydrogen and derivatives player,” says Priscillah Mabelane, executive vice-president for Sasol’s Energy Business.
Kobus Verster, CEO of ArcelorMittal SA, says the two projects will kick-start the group’s decarbonisation journey, and “by maximising the utilisation of our installed assets, we will also be stimulating economic growth in our host communities”.
Both initiatives hold potential for ArcelorMittal to be the first African green flatsteel producer using green hydrogen to produce direct reduced iron via the Midrex facility at its Saldanha Works, while reducing the carbon footprint of its flagship Vanderbijlpark Works.
Sasol is already leading the Boegoebaai green hydrogen development project in the Namakwa Special Economic Zone in the Northern Cape, which will include the construction of a deep-water port, the use of 30GW of wind and solar, and a battery park to power 10GW of electrolysers by 2030.
In the Western Cape, the Freeport Saldanha Industrial Development Zone will collaborate with Sasol on the project identification, preparation, pre-feasibility and feasibility assessments. The area’s favourable renewables endowment, a growing local renewables industry, established worldscale industrial companies and a developed, operational freeport and deep-water port are some of the reasons Saldanha is a sensible investment location for this new market.
Freeport Saldanha is SA’s first freeport, a special economic zone and customs-controlled area dedicated to the maritime, energy, logistics and engineering industries.
The Vaal study will explore the use of up to 1.5 million tonnes a year of unavoidable industrial carbon dioxide captured from ArcelorMittal SA’s Vanderbijlpark Works.
The carbon dioxide will be transported to the Sasolburg and Ekandustria operating facilities in Sasolburg and, together with green hydrogen, will eventually replace natural gas as a feedstock to produce sustainable chemical products.