Sasol (Johannesburg / South Africa; www.sasol.com) has announced plans to build an ethylene tetramerisation unit for the production of 1-octene and 1-hexene at its site in Lake Charles, Louisiana / USA. The plant will be capable of producing more than 100,000 t/y of combined 1-octene and 1-hexene, for use as comonomers in the manufacture of LLDPE, HDPE and elastomers.

Sasol said this will be the world’s first commercial ethylene tetramerisation unit, and will use the company’s proprietary technology to convert ethylene into the alpha olefins 1-octene and 1-hexene. Construction will begin in 2011 and the plant is expected to reach beneficial operation in mid-2013.

Sasol currently produces more than 350,000 t/y of alpha olefins. The new investment at Lake Charles will help the company’s global customer base achieve its long-term polymer and elastomer growth targets, said André de Ruyter, senior group executive for operations of Sasol.

The project also supports Sasol’s strategy to add value to the ethylene it produces at the site, “and is in line with our view to develop our integrated multi asset sites”, he added.