| Ammonium nitrate: A colourless, crystalline compound derived from nitric acid and ammonia and used mostly for fertilisers and commercial explosives. |
| Autothermal reformer: A type of catalytic partial-oxidation reactor in which the endothermic heat needed for the reforming reactions is provided by combustion reactions of oxygen in the feed. |
Barrel (b): A standard international petroleum industry volumetric
measure equal to 42 US gallons, 35 imperial gallons or 159 litres. |
| Biodiesel: A form of diesel derived in part from renewable biotic sources such as soya beans. |
| Black products: In the context of Sasol’s South African operations, secondary products from coal gasification, tars and pitches that often contain coal dust. They are difficult and expensive to process, have little commercial value and may need to be stored at production sites. |
| Catalyst: Usually a metal or metal-containing material used to accelerate a reaction between two or more chemical elements or compounds. A catalyst is not generally changed in the process, although its efficacy may reduce with time. |
| Central processing facility: A petrochemical processing plant with support infrastructure used at or near natural gas fields to conduct several processing steps on natural gas from multiple wells before the gas is fed into a transmission pipeline. |
| Cetane number: This refers to the results of a standardised test conducted to measure the combustion properties of a diesel fuel. This is the equivalent of the octane testing conducted for petrol. Cetane is a colourless, liquid, straight-chain paraffin. |
| Comonomer: A chemical, such as 1-butene, 1-hexene or 1-octene, that is blended with a monomer such as ethylene to improve or modify certain properties such as impact strength, flexibility or clarity of a polymer such as polyethylene. |
| Continuous-miner: A large, remote-controlled vehicle used in an underground colliery to cut and remove coal from a coalface with the aid of a spiked, rotating cutting drum. |
| Cracker: Petrochemical term referring to a chemical reaction vessel used for decomposing (cracking) petrochemical compounds such as naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas or waxes. |
| Dieselisation: A description of the trend presently occurring in Europe (and elsewhere) where vehicles are increasingly being fuelled by diesel, primarily due to high fuel efficiencies, tax incentives and modern, effective diesel engines. |
| Ethylene: A colourless, flammable hydrocarbon gas of the alkene series derived through Sasol’s process and used principally in South Africa as feedstock for producing polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride. |
| Fischer-Tropsch process: A chemical process pioneered in Germany by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch in the 1920s and subsequently evolved by Sasol. It is used to convert synthesis gas, which is reacted under temperature in the presence of a catalyst to produce a diverse spectrum of hydrocarbons for downstream processing into liquid transportation fuels and chemicals. |
| FOB: Commercial abbreviation for “free on board”, a trade term requiring the seller to deliver goods on board a vessel designated by the buyer. The seller fulfils its obligations when the goods have passed over the ship’s rail. |
| Gas-to-liquids (GTL): A petrochemical term referring to a process technology, plant or venture that entails the conversion of natural gas or methane into a liquid transportation fuel and related hydrocarbons such as diesel, kerosene and naphtha. |
| Gasification: The process of converting coal in a gasifier into gases and co-products under high temperature and pressure in the presence of steam and oxygen. The purified gases and co-products are then converted into desired products. |
| Greenhouse gases: Gases, usually formed anthropogenically, that contribute to the Earth’s intensified greenhouse effect or global warming. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, ozone, methane and chlorofluorocarbons. |
| Hexene (1-hexene): An alpha olefin emanating from the Sasol Synthol™process. An alpha olefin is a straight-chain hydrocarbon molecule containing a single, terminal double-bond between atoms. Hexene is used mostly as a comonomer for producing certain plastics. |
| Hydroformylation: A type of carbonylation (ie, involving carbon monoxide) reaction that uses carbon monoxide and hydrogen with the aid of a catalyst to convert an olefin into an aldehyde or primary alcohol, depending on the selected reaction conditions such as pressure, temperature and catalyst type. |
| Ketones: Hydrocarbon compounds containing a carbonyl group (-CO-) in the molecule attached to two hydrocarbon radicals. Ketones include acetone, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and methyl iso-butyl ketone (MIBK). They are used mostly as solvents or chemical feedstock. |
| Linear alkylbenzene (LAB): An organic compound with an alkyl group bound to a benzene ring that is produced in a process involving benzene and long-chain paraffins. LAB is used as an intermediate for producing surfactants used in the detergent industry. |
| Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG): Gaseous petroleum gases such as propane, butane and pentane pressurised in liquefied form and used for heating applications. |
| Methane: The simplest alkane, methane is a gas that occurs naturally in petroleum wells, natural-gas fields and as marsh gas. Coal gas also contains a large proportion of methane. |
| Methanol: A toxic, colourless alcohol produced from various sources, including the destructive distillation of wood, the catalytic oxidisation of methane and the synthesis of carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst. In it is an important intermediate chemical and it is often used as a versatile solvent. |
| Monomer: A chemical such as ethylene or propylene capable of being converted into a long-chain polymer or a synthetic resin by combining with itself or other similar molecules or compounds. |
| Naphtha: A generic term for a flammable, light distillate or hydrocarbon feedstock, or a mixture of light hydrocarbons, used for gas or petrochemical manufacture. |
| Natural gas: A mixture of hydrocarbon gases in the Earth’s crust containing methane, as well as ethane, propane, butane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and sulphur compounds such as hydrogen sulphide. |
| Nitric acid: A colourless, corrosive, fuming and unstable liquid, which Sasol derives by oxidising some of its ammonia production. It is an important intermediate for producing ammonium nitrate and its derivatives. |
| Octene (1-octene): An alpha olefin emanating from the Sasol Synthol™process, 1-octene is a straight-chain C8 hydrocarbon molecule that contains a single, terminal double-bond between atoms. It is used mostly as a comonomer for producing certain plastics. |
| Pentene (1-pentene): An alpha olefin emanating from the Sasol Synthol™process, 1-pentene is a straight-chain C5 hydrocarbon molecule that contains a single, terminal double-bond between atoms. It is used for producing certain plastics and agrochemicals. |
| Polyethylene: A common plastic that has a macromolecule comprising long-chain ethylene molecules. Polyethylene is mostly used to produce packaging materials, pipe and moulded fittings and sheath wire and cable. |
| Polymer: A compound whose molecule is formed from a large number of repeated units of one or more compounds of low molecular-weight (monomers). Synthetic polymers are used extensively in plastics. Polymers do not have a definite formula because they consist of many chains of different lengths. |
| Polypropylene: Another common plastic, this versatile material with many end-applications is derived from the polymerisation of propylene. It is used for automotive components, furniture, self-hinged containers, medical equipment, carpet backings and woven bags. |
| Polyvinyl chloride (PVC): PVC is a tough, white, solid thermoplastic that can be softened with plasticisers. Sasol produces PVC by polymerising vinyl chloride monomer derived from ethylene and chlorine. It is used for sheathing cables, moulding footwear and for moulding bottles and other packaging forms. |
| Propanol: A colourless and volatile alcohol existing in two isomers (iso-propanol and normal-propanol) used mainly as a solvent and to prepare esters such as propyl acetate. |
| Propylene: A colourless, gaseous hydrocarbon (olefin) obtained from petroleum by cracking alkanes, among other petrochemical processes. In the case of Sasol’s operations, it is a co-product of the Synthol™process that is refined before being converted downstream into polypropylene and butanol. |
| Recordable case rate: The recordable case rate (RCR) is a standard international measure for reporting work-related injuries and illnesses and other safety incidents resulting in injury. The RCR is the number of fatalities, lost workday cases, restricted work cases, medical treatments beyond first-aid cases and accepted illnesses, for every 200 000 employee hours worked, reported on a 12-month moving average basis. |
| Reforming: A generic term referring to petrochemical processes that radically change the feed molecules. For example, reforming of naphtha is used to create high-octane petrol components from the low-value naphtha. The term is also used to refer to the process of converting methane or natural gas into synthesis gas. |
| Sasol Advanced Synthol™(SAS™) reactor: The proprietary Sasol reactor at the heart of the SAS™process, the high-temperature version of Sasol’s Fischer-Tropsch process used at Secunda to produce a synthetic form of crude oil and chemical feedstock. |
| Sasol Slurry Phase Distillate™(Sasol SPD™) process: A proprietary version of Sasol’s low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch process used to convert synthesis gas into waxes and related petrochemical streams for the end-production and marketing of waxes and/or diesel. |
| Solvent: A liquid that dissolves another substance or substances to form a solution. |
| Surfactant (surface active agent): A soluble chemical compound such as a detergent or soap that is added to a liquid to increase its spreading or wetting properties by reducing its surface tension. |
| Synthesis: The formation of more complex chemical compounds or molecules from simpler compounds or molecules, as in the Fischer-Tropsch process. |
| Synthesis gas (syngas): A mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen used to produce certain petrochemicals in downstream processes. |
| Wax: A liquid or solid long-chain paraffinic compound used for hot-melt adhesives, bitumen additives, construction board, tyres, extrusion of polymers, printing inks, cosmetics and candles, among other applications. |
