EU round up – EU-funded research develops coatings for wind power and anti-fouling

A European Union (EU)-funded research project is developing new water-repelling coatings and application processes for Europe’s expanding wind power sector.

The €4.2M Hydrobond project has created metal and ceramic-based coatings applied by cold gas blasting process, which propels nano-scale powder particles on to a surface at three times the speed of sound, compressing and strengthening the resulting coating. They will be light and durable said researcher José María Guilemany, at the University of Barcelona, Spain: "We estimate it could be possible to reduce the costs of maintenance by 25% and to increase the lifespan of a wind turbine blade by 20-30%.”

The project also includes researchers from Finland, Germany, Italy and Denmark, and should be completed by December 2016. See http://hydro-bond.eu/

Other EU regulatory news affecting the paints and coatings sector:
The European Commission has praised another EU-funded research project called SEACOAT for developing new environment-friendly marine anti-fouling coatings, by examining the physical and chemical properties of sub-sea surfaces at nano- and micro-scale to see how they influenced the adhesion of fouling organisms.
This information was used to create smart coatings that made it harder for marine bacteria, seaweed spores and barnacle larvae to attach in the first place and weaken their grip if they did manage to stick to a surface, said the Commission note. SEACOAT Co-ordinator James Callow, of the UK’s University of Birmingham, said: "Organic growth can increase the roughness of ship hulls, affecting manoeuvrability, increasing drag and raising a ship’s fuel consumption by up to 30%.” http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/ generic/seacoat/index.aspx

• Meanwhile, another EU-funded research project has developed a polymer designing system that should help manufacturers make customised polymers for specific industrial requirements, a European Commission briefing note has stressed.

The EU-funded NANOPOLY project has created a software tool that can model polymer molecules on a nano-scale, helping manufacturers predict how industrial processes might affect a polymer’s internal structure. http://www.biocomputing-berlin.de/nanopoly/en/

• The EU has to cut import duties for bio feedstock, such as sugar and bioethanol imported from the USA to allow for a bio-polymer industry to grow in Europe, the Executive Director for industrial policy at the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) has said.

Speaking to interest groups impacted by the ongoing negotiations between the EU and the USA for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), René van Sloten said that the import duties in Europe are as high as 40 to 60% and need to disappear to allow more EU manufacturing of this key paint ingredient.