Sasol picks Honeywell to maintain control systems for Africa coal-to-liquids

Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) today announced a five-year agreement to provide comprehensive services and support for the control systems of the world's largest coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant through its new Assurance 360 Services program.

HPS will support Sasol's synthetic fuels and chemicals complex in Secunda, South Africa, providing diagnostic system monitoring, automated incident management, technical assistance, parts management, site-based support and ongoing system upgrades for the facility.

The Secunda facility converts coal into synthetic crude oil to produce fuels and a broad range of chemicals. It is one of the largest users of Honeywell automation technologies, which are used to control and monitor operations.

"Assurance 360 is a game-changer for services support in the industrial processing industry," said John Rudolph, vice president of Honeywell Process Solutions. 

"Performance metrics are defined at the beginning of the program and the results directly impact the contract. In essence, the plant's success is our success," he added. "Assurance 360 will give Sasol peace of mind knowing that its critical control systems will not only be maintained as with traditional service agreements, but also keep them updated and supported."

Honeywell's Assurance 360 services are multi-year cooperative service arrangements to maintain, support and optimize the performance of Honeywell control systems regardless of the industry or size of operations. 

These services transform how plant assets are managed, focusing on system performance and outcomes while allowing users to focus on operations, according to company officials. 

Honeywell performance specialists help reduce unplanned events, resolve problems faster, and improve performance to help create a more efficient plant. Industrial customers, such as Sasol's Secunda plant, are able to customize the level of service they need or want, based on their requirements.

HPS has provided process automation technology and field equipment to many of Sasol's facilities for more than 35 years, including the initial installations at the then Sasol II and Sasol III complexes in Secunda, South Africa.