Chemistry International
Vol. 21, No.3, May 1999

1999, Vol. 21
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Chemistry International
Vol. 21, No. 3
May 1999

News from Other Societies and Unions

 

Historical Overview of the South African Chemical Industry: 1896 - 1998

Introduction
AECI's Predecessors
African Explosives and Industries
African Explosives and Chemical Industries (AECI)
SASOL's Predecessors
SASOL One
SASOL Two and Three
Sentrachem's Predecessors
National Chemical Products (NCP)
Industrial Development Corporation (IDC)/Federal Volksbeleggings (FVB)
Sentrachem Group
Conclusion

Introduction
In a limited sense, a chemical industry has been in existence in South Africa for many centuries. Dyes, fragrances, flavorings, and medicinals were extracted from plants, and animal fats were used in soap making and leather preserving. These activities were carried out on a limited scale; just enough was made to meet the immediate needs of small groups of people. As time passed, some substances, particularly fragrances, dyes, and medicinals, became articles of trade and, when in short supply, commanded high prices. However, it was not until the Industrial Revolution that chemicals were manufactured in sufficient quantities to talk about a chemical industry as we know it today.

Between 1780 and 1840, Great Britain was transformed from a predominantly agricultural to a predominantly industrial country. Rapid growth in population and urbanization was accompanied by increased literacy and the need for better housing, clothing, health, food, and transport. These changes led to an unprecedented demand for paper, glass, cotton textiles, soap, fertilizers, and explosives. Chemists and engineers responded imaginatively to meet these demands, and it was not long before a range of chemicals was being produced. So great, however, was the demand for sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide that the fledgling chemical industry was often called the "alkali trade". The structure of the chemical industry around 1875 is shown in Figure 1.

The chemical industry in South Africa came into being in 1896, about 100 years after the first lead chamber and Leblanc plants were built in Great Britain. The discovery of diamonds near Kimberley in 1868, gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886, and coalfields around Witbank and Vryheid, led to a burgeoning mining industry and a rapidly growing demand for explosives. For the first 40 years of its existence, the South African chemical industry could well have been called the "explosives trade".

In this article, the development of the chemical industry is discussed around three major companies, African Explosives and Chemical Industries (AECI), South African Coal, Oil, and Gas Corporation Ltd., (SASOL), and Sentrachem.

AECI's Predecessors
Alfred Nobel's discovery of dynamite had made the transportation of nitroglycerine a reality, and increasingly large quantities of the explosive were imported into South Africa in the early 1890s. To ensure a regular supply and to improve blasting efficiency, required for mining the hard quartzitic gold-bearing rock of the Witwatersrand, the Nobel Dynamite Trust decided to produce the required explosives locally.


Click here for a larger image (168K)
Paul Kruger opens "The Dynamite Company" in 1896.

On 22 October 1896, President Paul Kruger traveled from Pretoria to the farm Modderfontein, east of Johannesburg, to open De Zuid Africaansche Fabrieken voor Ontplofbare Stoffen. With a name like this, it is not surprising that the factory was called simply "The Dynamite Company". After the Anglo Boer War of 1899-1902, management of the company passed into the hands of the British South Africa Explosives Company, with the Nobel Dynamite Trust retaining a controlling interest.

For some years, Cecil John Rhodes, founder of De Beers Consolidated Mines, was concerned about the monopoly on explosives manufacture held by the Dynamite Company. In 1903, one year after his death, the Cape Explosives Works, at Somerset West near Cape Town, started producing dynamite, principally for the De Beers diamond mines around Kimberley. By 1907, this company's annual production of 340 000 cases (each of 50 lb) had exceeded that of Modderfontein (230 000 cases).

In the United Kingdom, Kynoch and Company, Nobel's chief competitor, had its eye on the rapidly growing explosives market in South Africa. Arthur Chamberlain, who had taken over from the founder, George Kynoch, started negotiations with the Natal government in 1907. In an amazingly short period of time, Kynoch established a third dynamite factory at Umbogintwini, south of Durban, in 1909.

By 1911, the explosives industry was by far the largest manufacturing industry in the country, with an investment of over �2 million and more than 3000 employees. But three companies-all importing the same raw materials, all making the same product, and all using the same process-were finding it difficult to make a profit. Their problems were compounded by the rising price of glycerine; only exports during World War I saved the three companies from bankruptcy.

After the war, both Somerset West and Umbogintwini diversified into fertilizer manufacture using locally manufactured sulfuric acid and phosphatic rock, most of which was imported from Morocco. The benefits of this development were short-lived; overproduction of superphosphate in Holland led to dumping in South Africa. The postwar slump only added to the woes of the industry. Rationalization was the only answer.

African Explosives and Industries
In 1923, Sir Harry McGowan, chairman of Nobel Industries, arranged a merger of their Modderfontein company with that of Kynoch's at Umbogintwini. Getting De Beers to come on board required more protracted negotiations, but success was finally achieved in December 1923 when a new company, African Explosives and Industries, was registered. Mr. Ross Frames of De Beers was appointed chairman and Sir Harry McGowan, deputy chairman. A young Ernest Oppenheimer, chairman of Anglo American Corporation, joined the board to represent the mining industry and retained a close association with the company for the rest of his life.

Two successful mergers in South Africa apparently whetted McGowan's appetite for more in the UK. By 1926, he had formed Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) from the merger of Nobel Industries; the British Dyestuffs Company; the United Alkali Company; and Brunner, Mond Limited. ICI acquired Nobel Industries' 50% holding in African Explosives and Industries, establishing a partnership that lasted until 1998. This partnership resulted in a steady flow of technical expertise, information, and personnel that was to be of incalculable benefit in the development of the local chemical industry.

The great depression of the early 1930s adversely affected the chemical industry, but the board of African Explosives and Industries was looking adventurously to the future. A technical mission from ICI was sent to investigate erecting a synthetic ammonia plant at Modderfontein. In 1932, less than two years later and at a cost of �300�000, the ammonia plant went into full production-5000 tons per annum! With an associated oxidation plant, it was possible to produce nitric acid, and research started into the substitution of ammonium nitrate for nitroglycerine, ultimately with considerable cost savings to the mines.

The boom in gold mining meant that expansion of the ammonia plant was inevitable. By 1936, annual capacity had been increased to 25,000 tons. In 1938, Modderfontein and Somerset West together produced 2,348,987 cases of explosives, bringing the total production since 1896 to over 30,000,000 cases.

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