Sasol, GE develop new water technology

In South Africa, Sasol and General Electric 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, will be further developed at a new demonstration plant at Sasol’s R&D Campus in Sasolburg.

One of the by-products from the Fischer-Tropsch) process is an effluent stream rich in organic acids and alcohols. Traditional aerobic treatment technologies treat this effluent by converting the organics to CO2. The benefit of the AnMBR is that the micro-organisms convert these organics into a bio-gas suitable for power generation, and produces almost 80% less waste biosolids.

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