SNOX Sulnox Group PLC

21 January 2025               

SulNOx Group Plc

(the "Company" or "SulNOx")

Nigeria patent granted for fuel oil reclamation

(Aquis Stock Exchange: SNOX)

SulNOx, the green decarbonisation company helping industry reduce emissions, lower fuel costs and meet sustainability targets, is pleased to announce that it has secured an important patent in Nigeria, its first in the significant fuel oil reclamation market.

The new patent protects an improved oil / water separation methodology developed by SulNOx, incorporating its already patented Berol 6446 product.  This development has considerable potential for supporting the maritime industry in tackling its perennial problem of "ships' slops", a hydrocarbon-rich industrial waste produced in various parts of a ship's operations, including tank cleaning, purifying fuels and use of ballast water.

Slops typically contain around 70% water in what would otherwise be useful heavy fuel oil (HFO). Traditional separation processes often require high heating temperatures and long separation times to allow gravity to drag out the water from the oil in a separation tank. Often, the HFO that is recovered can still contain significant amounts of water (5% and above) which reduce its value and usefulness. 

Augmenting an existing separation plant with the SulNOx process brings the following outcomes: 

·      Separation is accelerated with a typical process of around 10-12 hours reduced to approximately three, allowing higher processing capability for an existing plant

·      Lower temperatures are required, leading to savings on heating and a lower on CO₂ footprint

·      Water recovered is cleaner and may be disposed of easily

·      Oil recovered has typically less than 1.5% water content which means added value and saleability

Slops are a feature of ship operations in ports worldwide. Growth in the wider market for eco-friendly demulsifiers, used to separate water from fuel oil, is supported by environmental regulation and a corporate imperative to adopt more sustainable practices. The global demulsifier market is estimated to grow from US$2.4bn in 2024 to approximately US$3.2bn by 2031 (Source: VMR).

SulNOX's growing portfolio of patents already includes the US, Europe, Eurasia, Georgia, South Africa, China, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. They cover a range of formulation versions which includes both the Berol® 6446 Heavy Sulphur Fuel Oils (HSFO) emulsifiers and SulNOxEco™ Fuel Conditioners which enhance all diesel, petrol/gasoline and biofuels, and marine fuels including Marine Gas Oil (MGO) and Marine Diesel Oil (MDO), Very and Ultra Low Sulphur Fuel Oils (VLSFO/ULSFO) and HSFO. 

Ben Richardson, CEO of SulNOx, commented: 

"This new patent and its different scope mark three important advances for SulNOx: our first intellectual property gained in fuel reclamation; an opportunity in the global maritime industry for tackling the specific area of slops; and greater recognition in Nigeria, which remains a key element of our strategy for Africa, and where we recently began collaborating with a distributor to deploy our products across a range of industries. All of these improve SulNOx's prospects for revenue development.  We look forward to announcing further expansion of our patent portfolio as we target new sectors and markets worldwide."

ENDS

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