EU-funded researchers develop new antifouling technology

European Union (EU)-funded researchers have developed an innovative aluminium-based coating designed to offer environmentally friendly protection to offshore energy installations. The coating, developed by the €1.3M ACORN project is now being commercialised for clients in the offshore oil rigs, wave and tidal energy plant or wind farms sectors. A European Commission note on the project said that the resulting product is based on thermally sprayed aluminium enhanced with active antifouling substances that are not released into the water. Instead, said the Commission, "they act locally from within the coating to prevent the attachment of biofouling organisms. The substances are added in very small concentrations, allowing them to be gradually exposed at the active surface of the coating as the TSA corrodes (typically at a rate of <10µm/year)”.
Structures with this coating have a virtually maintenance-free lifespan of more than 20 years, boosting offshore client competitiveness, it said. Project partners include UK-based Alphatek Hyperformance Coatings Ltd, coatings researchers TWI Ltd and Spain-based cavitation resistant coatings specialists Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Cantabria. See http://www.acorn-project.eu/about/

• Meanwhile, the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has said it is working with 20 international laboratories to devise better ways of measuring the shell thickness and chemistry of nanoparticle coatings through x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and low energy ion scattering techniques. The goal of this work is to devise precise measurements of nanocoatings for high tech applications "because quantitative measurements are difficult to perform in-situ and require the use of specialised instruments that are not widely available or easy to use and understand”, said a JRC note. The project has been organised by the UK National Physical Laboratory. See http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC104239

• A €4.5M EU-funded research project has developed new methods boosting the efficiency and sustainability of polymer production and they are now commercially available, according to the European Commission. A note from the EU executive said that the Coopol project has created a predictive control system to assess polymer reactor chemical reactions, being sold by Estonia-based Cybernetica. Its work is also being developed by a new EU €5.9M research project called Recoba, which is developing batch processes to produce emulsion polymers. See http://www.coopol.eu and http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/193424_en.html

• The European Chemical Agency’s (ECHA) biocidal products committee (BPC) has recommended the EU permits the use of two biocide active substances that could be used in coatings. These are MIT, for use in slimicides; and Fludioxonil, which can be used in film, construction material and polymerised materials preservatives. More details – https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/23012100/bpc19_na_annex/69b8e9dc-f838-57f4-5343-3990d535f315