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Ecoslops, a company that upgrades ship-generated hydrocarbon residue (also known as 'slops') into marine fuels, has announced that it has won the Future Programme's Worldwide Innovation Challenge, awarded by the French Government.

The award was won in the "Collection, Sorting and Recycling" category for the company's "P2R-MDO" project for the desulphurisation of Marine Diesel Oil (MDO). The project aims to reduce the amount of sulphur in MDO by upgrading ship-generated slops to under 0.1% in accordance with the most stringent MARPOL Annex VI regulations, which stipulates that vessels within Emission Control Areas (ECAs) must burn fuel oil with a sulphur content of less than 0.1%. As part of the award, Ecoslops has been granted a EUR 200,000 subsidy, aimed at financing a major part of the PR2-MDO project.

Commenting on the news, Vincent Favier, CEO at Ecoslops, said: "Innovation is the only way to provide ship owners and port authorities with an effective environmental and technical solution for the sustainable disposal of slops. This is the principle that Ecoslops was founded upon, and this prestigious award and financial subsidy demonstrates the viability of our technology, and the significant and positive impact that it can have within shipping as the industry looks to further improve its sustainability credentials."

The competition is organised by the 'Innovation 2030' Commission, an initiative launched in 2013 by the President of the French Republic to tackle the major challenges that may face the world in 2030, and identify opportunities which present a significant opportunity for the French economy. The initiative is supported by the Minister for the Economy, Industry and the Digital Sector, and the Minister Delegate with the responsibility for SMEs, Innovation and the Digital Economy. It is financed within the framework of the Investing in the Future Programme (Programme d'Investissements d'Avenir).

Favier added: "The selection of our project for the award and the financial support we have received will enable us to further accelerate the development of our technology. It is a great honour for Ecoslops to have been chosen by this prestigious programme and its panel of experts."

Since Ecoslops' first micro-refinery in Sines, Portugal, commenced industrial production in 2015, the company says it has successfully regenerated over 10,000 tonnes of slops into marine fuel oil, which have been then sold back into the marine fuel supply chain.

Ecoslops says it is on target to run the refinery at full production capacity of 2,500 tonnes per month (30,000 tonnes per year) by the end of 2016.

The slops fuel specialist is also developing further projects in the Black Sea port of Constantza, and in Abidjan, West Africa. It is also working on two new sites in the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam (ARA) region and in the Mediterranean, and initiated talks for new facilities in Egypt, The Middle East and South Africa.

Ecoslops has stated that it aims to sign three new projects by the end of 2017.