Pollution pall over Mpumalanga town: Sasol’s air quality reaction

The recently released Air Quality Index of 2022 states that eMbalenhle outside Secunda in Mpumalanga is the second highest on the list of towns with the worst air quality in South Africa.

This has raised concerns among residents in the area, prompting Ridge Times to see answers from Sasol, the global company that runs a large coal-to-fuels plant in the town.

Secunda was established in the 1970s when Sasol Two was built in the area. The town’s Latin name means second and it was the second town established by Sasol, following Sasolburg.

Sasol’s media and communications manager Nomia Machebe told the publication that the company remains relentless in its commitment to legal compliance and ambient air quality improvement.

According to her, by 2014, the company already complied largely with the minimum emission standards (Mes) that were gazetted in the Government Gazette No R 893 of November 13, 2013. She says that 98% of the plant’s emission sources are currently compliant.

“While the majority of the Secunda operations processes complied with the Mes limits from the outset, there were selected activities for which the Secunda operations was unable to comply timeously,” said Machebe.

“For these specific cases, the Secunda operations had previously applied for and were granted a postponement of the compliance timeframes to allow for the implementation of the necessary abatement technology to enable compliance.

“The Secunda operations are on track with their air quality compliance roadmaps to achieve compliance with the new plant standards by April 1, 2025, under its atmospheric emission licence conditions that incorporate the postponement decisions.

“The exception to this is sulphur dioxide (SO²) emissions from the boilers at our steam plant. To improve the SO² emissions footprint, Sasol identified a feasible compliance approach through an integrated Greenhouse Gas and boiler SO² reduction roadmap.

“This roadmap involves the turning down of boilers to not only reduce SO² emissions, but to have a favourable impact on the reduction of other pollutants emitted. This is the subject of a pending application before the national air quality officer.”

Asked what Sasol is doing to minimise air pollution, Machebe said the company’s approach to air quality management and ambient air quality improvement is reflected in its group safety, health and environmental policy.

“This includes our ongoing efforts to prevent pollution and air quality degradation through legal compliance and the application of our duty of care. We follow a risk-based approach to mitigate and improve our atmospheric footprint.”

About eMbalenhle being noted as the second-highest air-polluted town in the country, Machebe said assuming this refers to the 2022 world air-quality report compiled by IQAir, it should be noted that Sasol is not privy to the process followed and data used in compiling the report.

“We can, therefore, not comment on the accuracy of the data.”

She said the State of the Air Report issued annually by the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries contains the official view on air quality in South Africa.