As a Mechanical Plant Support Engineer my responsibilities include: • Giving technical input into the inspection strategies for different equipment types and participate in RBI’s as required• Shutdown planning and scoping• Technical support during Shutdowns• Breakdown assistance by providing cost effective engineering recommendations and repair procedures on different types of pressure equipment with the aim of minimising equipment downtime without sacrificing equipment integrity. While ensuring compliance to our National Health and Safety Standards and Design Codes• Conducting failure investigations and participating in RCA’s• Driving Continuous Improvement Initiatives• Plant monitoring by establishing critical parameters• Delivery on approved renewals and projects• Ensure adherence to Sasol Specifications throughout day-to-day operations as well as in the project space where I enforce proper governance• Give coaching to Young Engineers, EIT’s, Technicians and maintenance artisans. • Sharing of knowledge within the larger Mechanical Engineering Fraternity• Project managing responsibilities on single discipline projects As the Technical Track Lead and Mechanical Engineer, I was responsible for a critical alcohol-water splitter distillation column replacement project. The project aimed to urgently replace a severely corroded 56-meter-tall distillation column to reduce the risk of equipment failure. I obtained an approved level III Fitness For Service analysis for the continued operation of the column until it could be replaced. We successfully replaced the column on schedule and within budget using new materials of construction that are not susceptible to the same degradation mechanisms that caused the corrosion on the initial column.The success of this project was crucial, as without it, a failure would have resulted in production losses of at least $65 million for Sasol Secunda operations.

As the Technical Track Lead and Mechanical Engineer on a critical environmental compliance project at Sasol's Secunda Operations, I led a team of six technical professionals to implement a new technology solution that reduced VOC emissions and improved equipment availability in the Vapour Recovery Unit (VRU) of the Road and Rail Loading Units. This unit was responsible for shipping out all the products produced in Sasol's Secunda factories and was seeing average equipment availabilities of 23% over a thirteen-year period, well below the regulatory requirement of 95%. This posed a significant risk to the company's license to transport inventory and could have cost Sasol billions of dollars.I proposed and implemented a solution that replaced inefficient, highly sensitive vacuum screw compressors with more efficient, easier-to-operate, and maintain rotary vane vacuum pumps. This new technology not only improved equipment availability from 23% to 99.7% (Three-year average), far surpassing the legal requirement, but also reduced the complexity and cost of operating the VRU. Benchmarking our systems to industry-leading sites in the fuels and chemicals logistics field, ensured that our solution met the highest standards of performance, compliance and running cost. We implemented design changes significantly reducing the number of equipment required on the unit.During the five-month project, I managed various service providers and collaborated with stakeholders from different departments, including operations, maintenance, and safety, to ensure a smooth transition to the new equipment. I also worked closely with regulatory agencies ensuring compliance with regulations and mitigating potential risks to the company's license and reputation.Overall, this project demonstrated my ability to lead a complex technical project, work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders and partners, manage risks and compliance, and achieve measurable environmental and financial benefits.

I completed the Graduate Development Program at Sasol, Secunda Operations and was exposed to a wide variety of functions within Sasol which enabled me to build a substantial network and gain experience in the following fields:• Production• Statutory and Manufacturing Inspections• Rotating equipment• Pressure Vessel Fabrication• Reliability Engineering• Metallurgy• Pressure Vessel Design• Projects• Plant Support As a participant in the graduate development program, I provided technical support to the Polymers Monomers business units and supported various shutdowns and projects. I facilitated failure investigations and root cause analyses, participated in PFD and P&ID reviews as well as model reviews and Isometric drawing squad checking. One of my most notable achievements was serving as a project leader during an emergency inspection and repair outage after a distillation column was exposed to a significant over-pressurization. With downtime costing the unit roughly $1 Million per day in production losses, I applied critical thinking, logic, and problem-solving to focus our efforts on the most pressure susceptible components of the system. Through identification of these critical components, I eliminated large portions of the inspection scope. This enabled us to reduce the accepted 35-day inspection schedule to only 16 days, saving the company $19 Million in avoided production losses. Additionally, I identified opportunities for increased efficiency and improved process safety during the repair process, resulting in long-term benefits for the company.

Investigation into causes of failure of pump servicing a sulfuric acid pit, recommending plan of action.Compiling a heat map of Steam Boiler failures.

Investigation into refurbishment or replacement of Pressure Safety Valves at Gasification plant.Replacement strategy was suggested and implemented.