Dirty Little Secret

Of course, nothing's ever that simple in the energy business. Sasol's end product is cleaner than the average diesel fuel or gasoline, emitting less sulfur and less nitrogen when it burns, says Barrows. Coal-to-liquid plants can also be used to clean up the mountains of coal left over at old mines. But in terms of carbon emissions, Fischer-Tropsch is dirty. A sliding scale of emissions from fossil fuels, goes: coal, petroleum, methane. Coal emits the most carbon dioxide per unit of energy obtained. The resultant fuel also emits more carbon dioxide when burned. "It's a double whammy," says Barrows. Ricketts cautions that Sasol's Secunda plant, which produces 150,000 bbl. of fuel a day, is "the world's largest single-point source of carbon dioxide." Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, the U.S. green lobby group, wrote to President George W. Bush in 2007, urging him not to support coal-to-liquid-fuel technology in the U.S. without a national carbon-emissions cap. Krupp now believes that with all U.S. presidential candidates vaunting their green credentials, worldwide restriction on greenhouse-gas emissions are inevitable. "It's not that we have it in for this particular technology," he says. "It's just that we don't see Sasol prospering in a world of carbon caps." One way to cut emissions is to capture the carbon dioxide. Davies says Sasol currently captures about 50% of the CO2 emitted during the conversion process and is experimenting with algae that absorb the gas, possibly allowing the company to raise that figure and introduce refinements of Fischer-Tropsch that will help it emit less. But for now, 50% of the CO2 will be released into the atmosphere, and there is still the problem of where to store or use the 50% that is captured.

For an energy company like Sasol to thrive using current technology, "public opinion would have to decide carbon emissions are a necessary evil to bring down the cost of fuel in the short term until more sustainable sources of fuel are discovered," says Barrows. Krupp is blunter. "In order for Sasol to have a profitable future, we have to be cynical about the world's ability to save itself," he says. But Sasol is used to these kinds of dilemmas. "There is a tension here," Davies acknowledges. "All development makes pollution. But China and India want what the West has, so they want energy, and we offer an energy solution." The trick, of course, is to somehow also "address the climate-change challenge," he says, adding that he believes this is where Sasol's history offers an advantage. After all, this is a company that has remade itself once before. "We are an innovative company," says Davies. "We can be part of this solution too." There's that die-hard optimism again.

Capturing Energy To see more of Benedicte Kurzen's photos of Sasol operations, go to time.com/sasol