Sasol has become the first company globally to register a nitrous oxide (N2O) abatement project that converts greenhouse gas N2O into harmless nitrogen and oxygen gases, the company announced on Monday.
”This project reflects our continuous drive to decrease the impact of our operations on the environment through the use of innovative technologies. It offers significant environmental benefits for Sasol, our local communities and South Africa,” Sasol chemical businesses group general manager Reiner Groh said in a statement.
The project, commissioned in the first quarter of 2007, is expected to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions equivalent to about a million tons of carbon dioxide a year.
One ton of N2O has the greenhouse-gas impact equivalent to 310 tons of carbon dioxide.
The project will reduce emissions from its two nitric acid plants based at Sasolburg and Secunda, said the company.
Sasol said the project was also expected to earn significant income through sales of the resulting carbon credits.
Carbon credits are a tradable permit scheme that act as an incentive for countries and businesses to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions into the air.
Countries that ratified the Kyoto Protocol set quotas on the levels of greenhouse-gas emissions.
Businesses that exceed their allowed quotas must buy carbon credits, while those that operate below quotas can sell the remaining credits.
A share of Sasol’s carbon credits would be invested to benefit local community-based sustainable development projects, said the company. — Sapa