In the first stage of project 946288 SulPure, an entire SulPure R&D exhaust gas cleaning prototype was built, installed, tested, and optimized. The prototype demonstrated >98% reduction of SO2 (exceeding the initial goal) and 72% reduction of NOx from exhaust gas. External evaluation from classification society Lloyd’s Register resulted in a hazard assessment of the equipment and processes integral to SulPure, which indicated that Daphne’s proposed SulPure system would be able to be piloted on a vessel and/or land-based testing facility. After completing the R&D SulPure prototype, DAPHNE first pursued attempts to implement a SulPure alpha release according to class and flag recommendations onboard a commercial ship. In consideration of the feedback from the discussions with several ship owners (including Briese Shiffahrt/Valartis Group and CMB), DAPHNE provided the alpha SulPure release as a standalone and autonomous exhaust gas cleaning system that could be installed on any vessel. DAPHNE named this SulPure alpha release the Containerized SulPure Prototype (CSP) due to the system being provided in 3 ISO containers. Over a period of 2 years, DAPHNE did not reach an agreement to install the CSP on a vessel as a result of the disruptions to the maritime industry and worldwide economy caused by the COVID-19 epidemic and the Russian-Ukraine war. As a result of this, DAPHNE then pursued to validate the CSP on a land-based pilot. A signed Technical Testing Agreement from the Maritime Centre at Flensburg University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Flensburg) located in Flensburg, Germany was executed to install the CSP on their land-based testing facility that has a marine engine burning HFO. DAPHNE then installed the CSP at the Maritime Center and the CSP was tested with Classification Society Bureau Veritas (BV). The CSP demonstrated SOx air emissions in compliance with MARPOL Annex VI Regulation 14. The compliant SOx emissions results were signed and stamped by Mr Hajo Gerkens, and a Certificate of Compliance was issued, thereby achieving the overall objections of project 946288 SulPure.
Extensive dissemination and communication activities were performed during the project. A project website (
https://daphnetechnology.com/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) was updated to provide information about the SulPure product and assure an information base for networking activities with the relevant stakeholders. Daphne Technology also created a significant following on their established LinkedIn (
https://www.linkedin.com/company/daphne-technology/mycompany/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) and Twitter (@DaphneTech) pages. Daphne provided 32 press releases on their website, published 15 non-scientific and non peer-reviewed publications, attended 1 exhibition (NorShipping 2022), produced 1 flyer, posted +160 social media posts (on LinkedIn and Twitter), executed 2 communication campaigns (as part of a crowdfunding/PR digital campaign), participated in 8 conferences (including online), produced 3 videos (technical demonstrations and company presentations), and pitched at 25 events (in-person and online). In terms of number of persons reached, in the context of all dissemination and communication activities, 1725 were from the Scientific Community, 2739 were from Industry, 2917 were from Civil Society, +100,000 were from General Public, 632 were Policy Makers, 605 were Media, 1250 were Investors, and 1236 were potential customers. In 2022, DAPHNE won 10th place in the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards 2022 (fifth year in a row of being in the TOP 100 Swiss startups).
