Sasol, GE Develop New Water Technology, Boosting Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) Value Proposition

Sasolburg, South Africa (ots/PRNewswire) -

Sasol and General Electric 's GE Power & Water have together
developed new water technology that will clean waste water, while
also providing biogas as a by-product for power generation. This new
technology, known as Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Technology
(AnMBR), will be further developed at a new demonstration plant at
Sasol's R&D Campus at its Sasol One Site in Sasolburg.

"This is another exciting technological innovation that will
further entrench our position as a world-leader in gas-to-liquids
(GTL) technology and synthetic fuels production. While sophisticated
water treatment technologies are already employed at Sasol's major
operations, this particular development will enhance our efficiency
even further," said Ernst Obersholster, Sasol Group Executive for
International Energy, New Business Development and Technology.

"GE is excited to be partnering with Sasol on this initiative that
further outlines our commitment to supporting the sustainable
development of South Africa with advanced infrastructure
technologies, services and solutions. This partnership demonstrates
what the private sector can achieve by working together for the
benefit of growing the economy and making the economy competitive,"
said Tim Schweikert President and CEO for GE South Africa.

AnMBR involves anaerobic micro-organisms that are able to live in
environments devoid of oxygen, such as sediment layers on floors of
lakes, dams and the ocean. These organisms are almost ubiquitous -
found in the human digestive system, under the earth surface, deserts
and mountain peaks, to name a few.

Sasol currently uses aerobic microbes to treat GTL and
coal-to-liquids (CTL) effluents in ORYX GTL, Qatar and Synfuels,
Secunda facilities.

One of the by-products from the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process is an
effluent stream rich in organic acids and alcohols. Traditional
(aerobic) treatment technologies treat this effluent by converting
the organics to carbon dioxide. The benefit of the AnMBR is that the
micro-organisms convert these organics into a methane rich bio-gas
which can then be used for power generation. This then results in an
overall efficiency improvement in the GTL process. By converting the
effluents to a valuable product (power) there is a resulting
improvement in the GTL value proposition. Another benefit of the
AnMBR is that it produces almost 80% less waste biosolids than the
previous generation process.

The treatment of GTL derived effluents is complex and challenging.
Sasol pioneered the treatment of effluents from the GTL process in
Ras Laffan, Qatar, where effluents are treated and recycled for use
as irrigation water in the city of Ras Laffan.

Sasol's second generation offering, which is currently being
designed for the US GTL facility, is the aerobic Membrane Bioreactor
(MBR). The AnMBR helps maintain Sasol's leadership position in this
field by converting wastes into value-adding products.

Micro-organisms break down complex organics, such as proteins and
carbohydrates through a process called hydrolysis, to simpler
building blocks, such as sugars that provide food to the
micro-organisms. The waste produced is bio-gas, which can be used as
feedstock to generate power.

"The organics in waste water generated from our operations have
proven to be the ideal food, or substrate, for Anaerobic
micro-organisms," said Thulani Dlamini, Executive Manager Research
and Development at Sasol Technology. "We will now continue to explore
and develop this technology further with the potential for commercial
application to our future GTL facilities."

Sasol has been developing the technology for a number of years
with promising results. The partnership with GE is aimed at
leveraging GE's ecomagination qualified ZeeWeed 500 membrane and
decades of membrane bioreactor experience and Sasol's expertise in
biological treatment of FT derived effluents.

"The new AnMBR is one of the many solutions that can be developed
in the Petrochemical and Refining environment to benefit all other
industries," says Daniele Scenarelli, GE Account Executive for Sasol.
"This strategic partnership, which was signed in 2010, symbolizes a
new way of doing business between Customers and Suppliers. It is a
collaborative approach and a mutual commitment to technology
development and innovation aimed to accelerate the commercialization
of this new technology."

Bench scale test work has been on-going for the past year with
promising results and with the construction of a pilot plant at
Sasol's R&D facilities this improves the potential for
commercialization of this technology.

It is anticipated that the technology will be commercially ready
early in 2015. Sasol will have exclusive rights to apply this
technology to FT based plants whilst GE will have the right to market
the technology for other industrial uses.

About Sasol:

Committed to excellence in all we do, Sasol is an international
integrated energy and chemical company that leverages the talent and
expertise of our more than 35 000 people working in 37 countries. We
develop and commercialise technologies, and build and operate
world-scale facilities to produce a range of product streams,
including liquid fuels, high-value chemicals and low-carbon
electricity.

While remaining committed to our home-base of South Africa, Sasol
is expanding internationally based on a unique value proposition.

About GE Power & Water

GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power
generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve
their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the
energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar;
biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear
energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help
solve the world's most complex challenges related to water
availability and quality. Power & Water's six business units include
Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power
Generation Services, Renewable Energy and Water & Process
Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is
GE's largest industrial business.

About GE:

GE is an advanced technology, services and capital company with
the scale, resources and expertise to take on the world's toughest
challenges. Dedicated to innovation in the areas of energy, health,
transportation and infrastructure, GE is committed to leadership,
partnership and human progress.

GE has more than 300 000 employees globally, of which over 1 500
are in Sub-Saharan Africa. GE is committed to growing its Africa
leadership base by investing in young leaders.

Forward-looking statements: Sasol may, in this document, make
certain statements that are not historical facts and relate to
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"anticipate", "expect", "intend", "seek", "will", "plan", "could",
"may", "endeavour" and "project" and similar expressions are intended
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forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties,
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forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not
be achieved. If one or more of these risks materialise, or should
underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may differ
materially from those anticipated. You should understand that a
number of important factors could cause actual results to differ
materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and
intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These
factors are discussed more fully in our most recent annual report
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on Form 20-F filed on 9
October 2013 and in other filings with the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission. The list of factors discussed therein is not
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Contacts

For Sasol:

Alex Anderson, Group Media Manager
Direct telephone +27(11)441-3295; Mobile +27(0)71-600-9605;
alex.anderson@sasol.com

Jacqui O'Sullivan, GM: Group Communication
Direct telephone +27(11)441-3252; Mobile +27(0)82-883-9697;
jacqui.osullivan@sasol.com

For GE:

Thulisile Phiri
Communications Manager - Southern Africa
GE Corporate Africa
Tel: +27-11-237-0019
M: +27-79-885-0530
thulisile.phiri@ge.com
Follow GE Power & Water and GE's water business on Twitter @GE_PowerWater and
@GE_Water.

ots Originaltext: Sasol and General Electric
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