SECUNDA – Sasol was piloting a project on Wednesday, 26 November that will see it beneficiate sludge from its waste streams into environmentally friendly compost that has the potential to be used to rehabilitate old mine dumps, farmlands and ash heaps.
Sasol is reviewing its waste management processes, investing in research and development in the field of testing the biosludge and converting it into fertiliser.
Sasol investigated the technical feasibility of sludge streams in 2011 from refinery and considered the safety of the environment by the cleaning of the water streams.
The process uses a bulking agent and the compost that is being produced as a result, is then used to grow more bulking agent to be used in subsequent batches, completing the cycle.
Through research and development, Sola Fidei Manufacturing, a small business developed by Sasol’s enterprise and supplier development division, has developed a novel method to activate specialised microbial populations (heavy metal composting bacteria) to target, assimilate and biochemically transform the potentially harmful trace elements found in industrial waste sludges into an immobilised and environmentally friendly form.
Sola Fidei Manufacturing is harvesting sugar graze in 2 000 square metre in the Secunda area where 25 local people are employed to be trained and to improve their skills and by June 2015 they aim to increase the number to 150.
Sola Fidei Manufacturing specialises in the conversion of petro-chemically based by-products being continuously generated in large amounts by key industry players.
The results shows that Sasol has succeeded in producing compost that meets the stringent specifications of the Fertilisers, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act,” Dr Sarushen Pillay, Technology Manager Environment, Group Technology, Sasol said.
The by-products are converted into environmentally friendly products primarily formulated for wide range agricultural applications and their staff of specialists deploys processes derived from tried and tested field development initiatives to ensure a product of the highest quality.
“The project is currently undergoing a green house process to get registration of the compost becoming a product.”
“This is the legislation that regulates compost and fertiliser use in South Africa and is important in laying the foundation for the success of this project,” said Dr Pillay.
