A 344.5 t wax reactor has arrived at petrochemicals giant Sasol’s Fisher-Tropsch wax expansion project, in Sasolsburg, in the Free State, after five weeks of road travel from Richards Bay, in KwaZulu-Natal.
The reactor was transported through Pongola, in KwaZulu-Natal, and Piet Retief, in southern Mpumalanga, and “a short section” of Gauteng before reaching Sasolburg.
The load, classified as a super abnormal load, weighed 499 t once loaded onto a trailer and spanned 78 m in length. It travelled at a speed of between 5 km/h and 10 km/h and was escorted by supporting crew, an ambulance and provincial and local traffic police.
The facility was expected to double the production of hard waxes and increase the production of medium waxes, mostly used for the candle industry in South Africa, liquid paraffin, used in a variety of industrial applications such as adhesives, and bitumen used in road construction and printing ink.
“I would like to thank the people in affected communities for their patience as this important piece of equipment made its way to our factory in Sasolburg,” Sasol Wax MD Thomas Luedemann said in a statement on Wednesday.