Alternative coating application on commercial vessels has been given a boost by the need for shipping to decarbonise, as witnessed by Stolt Tankers’ application of graphene on one of its vessels propellers
In a paper published in The Journal of Bioadhesion and Biofilm Research*, David S Sanz, Sergio Garcia and Alfredo Trueba of the University of Cantabria and Hafizul Islam and C Guedes Soares of the University of Lisbon compared the performance of ceramic glazes with two silicone-based coatings.
The ceramic glazes were supplied by Vitrinor, which is famous is Spain for producing a ceramic coating on kitchenware that is 99% efficient against bacteria.
The application of such a coating on the hull of vessels has significant potential to reduce fouling, but by how much?
In the paper, Prediction of biological development effects on drag forces of ceramic hull coating using Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes-based solver, the authors investigated the feasibility of three types of ceramic coatings as eco-friendly, efficient and long-lasting substitutes for traditional silicone-based marine coatings.
The abstract of the study reported, “The developed approach shows the drag in hulls coated with conventional paint is 19% greater than that in hulls with ceramic coating.”
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