Sulnox, the greentech company delivering lower fuel costs and emissions with zero capex, is pleased to announce the grant of a patent in Algeria covering its fuel oil reclamation technology – extending the Company's intellectual property (IP) into a strategically significant North African and Mediterranean market.
The intellectual property protects an improved oil/water separation, or 'demulsification', methodology developed by Sulnox, incorporating its patented Berol 6446 product. This development has considerable potential for supporting the maritime industry in tackling its perennial problem of "ship slops", a hydrocarbon-rich industrial waste produced across various parts of a ship's operations, including tank cleaning, fuel purification and ballast water operations.
Slops typically contain around 70% water in what would otherwise be useful heavy fuel oil (HFO). Managing and recovering value from this material is both a regulatory requirement and a commercial opportunity for port operators and shipping companies worldwide.
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. Even then, the recovered HFO frequently retains water content above 5%, reducing its market value and appeal.
Augmenting an existing separation plant with the Sulnox process brings the following outcomes:
Accelerated separation, significantly reducing processing times and increasing plant capacity
Lower heating temperatures required, reducing energy consumption and CO2 footprint
Water recovered is less contaminated and may be disposed of easily and safely
Oil recovered has typically around 1.5% (or less) water content, materially improving its value and saleability
The global demulsifier market is estimated to grow from approximately US$2.5 billion in 2025 to around US$3.3 billion by 2032, driven by tightening environmental regulation and increasing pressure on operators to adopt more sustainable waste management practices (Source: VMR).
Algeria, the largest country in Africa and its third-largest economy, has substantial petroleum and natural gas reserves, ranked approximately 16th and 10th globally respectively (Source: US Energy Information Administration). Its national oil company, Sonatrach, is a top five company in Africa by revenue and a dominant operator across upstream, midstream and downstream hydrocarbon activities.
The country’s major Mediterranean ports, including Algiers, Oran and Skikda, together handle more than 50 million tonnes of cargo annually and several thousand vessels. This scale of port activity represents a substantial slops management opportunity, underpinned by stringent local requirements for proper collection, treatment, and disposal of marine pollutants under international conventions such as MARPOL (Source: PtX Hub International; Safety4Sea).
This patent is the latest in a series of grants covering Sulnox’s reclamation technology, extending a portfolio that now spans more than 100 markets across both fuel conditioning and fuel oil reclamation.
Ben Richardson, CEO of Sulnox, commented:
"This latest patent for Algeria is an important extension of our intellectual property, both in a strategically significant western Mediterranean location and more broadly in Africa, where Sulnox is gaining traction in key countries and industries. Algeria’s position as a major oil and gas producer, combined with its extensive refining and export infrastructure, creates a substantial opportunity for both Sulnox’s oil reclamation and emulsification solutions. As we continue to expand our global patent portfolio, we are increasingly well positioned to support maritime and energy sector operators across the supply chain in reducing costs, improving fuel quality and addressing emissions."
