Who We Are
Chemicals Southern Africa is responsible for the global marketing, sales, customer service, and outbound logistics for all chemical products produced by Sasol’s Southern African value chains. Our production assets are fully integrated into Sasol’s South African operations. Outside South Africa, our global sales and distribution network continues to collaborate seamlessly with our sister business, Sasol International Chemicals, to ensure world-class service for all our customers.
Anchored in South Africa, CSA is a global business selling about 3.5 million ton of chemicals to thousands of customers in more than 100 countries. Our customers are served by our global sales force and reliably supplied from inventory points located in most major markets. A brief summary of our products and markets is provided below, and more detailed information can be found on our dedicated Industry, Application, and Focus Product pages.
Please be aware that the geographical availability of our products varies; please refer to our product pages for more detail.
Market | Organic chemicals | Inorganic chemicals |
|---|---|---|
Basic | Ethylene, Propylene, Methanol | Ammonia, Carbon dioxide |
Differentialed | Phenolics, FT Wax | Carbon, Catalyst |
Industrial | Solvents: Alcohols, Esters, Ketones, Mineral spirits, Paraffins, Acrylates | Chlor-Alkali chemicals: Caustic soda, Chlorine, Calcium chloride, Hydrochloric acid |
Intermediate | Comonomers, Fatty alcohols | |
Materials | Polymers: LDPE, LLDPE, PVC, PP | Nitrates: LAN/CAN, ANS, Nitric acid Sulfur & Sulphuric acid |
Differentialed
Industrial
Monomers: Ethylene and propylene are crucial building blocks in the petrochemical industry, serving as primary feedstocks for a diverse range of plastics and chemical intermediates.
Polymers: Polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are versatile plastic raw materials used to manufacture packaging, construction, and consumer goods.
Chlor-alkali Chemicals: Caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, calcium chloride, and chlorine find applications in water treatment, chemical manufacturing, and pulp & paper production.
Mining Chemicals and Reagents: Frothers are used in mineral processing, aiding in the separation of valuable minerals from ores, while sodium cyanide is a key reagent for the extraction of gold.
Sulfur: Sulfur (granular or molten) and sulfuric acid are raw materials and reactants for many industrial and metallurgical processes, e.g., leaching of metals like copper, manufacturing of fertilizers, detergents, paper, and batteries, and for controlling fly ash emissions from stack gases.
Gases: Sasol provides a platform for gas companies to capture CO₂ from high-purity streams (>95% CO₂). The captured CO₂ is further processed and utilized across various industries, including food & beverage, water purification, and other industrial applications.
Ammonia: A basic building block used in the production of nitrogen-containing derivatives, most of which end up in agricultural and mining applications.
Fertilizers: Limestone ammonium nitrate, ammonium nitrate solution, and nitric acid play a pivotal role in enhancing soil fertility, promoting plant growth, increasing agricultural crop yields, and promoting food security.
Solvents: Oxygenated and hydrocarbon solvents, including alcohols (C1 – C6), esters, ketones (C3 – C6), mineral spirits, and liquid paraffins (C5 – C20), are used in the production of inks, paints, coatings, adhesives, cleaning and personal care products, and also as building blocks or process solvents in the chemical process industry.
Acrylates: Acrylic acid, ethyl acrylate, and butyl acrylate are used as monomers in the production of polymers and latexes for use in coatings, adhesives, water treatment, and personal care applications.
Cononomers: Sasol is a leading provider of 1-pentene, 1-hexene, and 1-octene, mainly used in the production of polyethylene, polyalphaolefins (PAO), as well as elastomers and plastomers.
Fatty Alcohols: Safol is a fully synthetic, high-purity, narrow-cut fatty alcohol derived from Sasol’s Fischer-Tropsch process. Its low degree of branching enhances solubility and surfactant performance while maintaining functionality similar to linear mid-cut alcohols.
Wax: Sasol’s unique Fischer-Tropsch waxes are used in over 80 countries in various applications including hot melt adhesives, asphalt additives, and polymer additives. Furthermore, Sasol produces fully synthetic linear paraffins (C5-C20). Applications include paints, cleaning agents, and degreasers.
Phenolics: Phenolics, including phenol, o-cresol, mp-cresols, and mixed xylenols, are essential for the production of resins, metal enamel coatings, phenoxy herbicides, disinfectants, and specialty chemicals.
Carbon: Sasol’s ultra-low sulfur, medium temperature pitch coke is used in applications like cathode blocks for aluminium production, recarburiser to strengthen steel, and specialty graphite applications like Li-ion battery anodes.
Catalyst: Sasol’s low temperature Fischer-Tropsch cobalt catalyst is tailor-made for Sasol’s licensed gas-to-liquids facilities. These catalysts are also being sold to other smaller GTL customers in the power-to-liquids space. The latest G4L catalyst is being commercialized and is expected to support the manufacturers of sustainable aviation fuels.