The main objectives of PRONICARE are (i) to develop an eco-friendly, cost-efficient, thin hybrid sol-gel coating with functional additives to provide a combination of corrosion and biofouling protection for metal surfaces in niche areas relevant to shipping and offshore aquaculture; (ii) to establish testing methods and a mobile test unit to evaluate the new coating with respect to marine growth protection, corrosion, competitiveness and eco-friendliness. The goals of PRONICARE will be achieved by
- Investigating a wide range of copper free sol-gel based green coating formulations with functional additives
- Applying the novel coating to a set of modular prototypes of heat exchanger/box cooler and sea chests
- Developing a new mobile test unit and methodology to validate the effectiveness of the coating on the prototypes mimicking real ship conditions creating a new standard procedure
- Conducting environmental impact and life cycle analysis of the coating
We expect the following major outcomes:
- New coating formulations able to protect metal surfaces from corrosion and marine growth, with less environmental impact compared to the current SOA technology
- New test methodology and test unit
- Improving understanding of biofouling propagation and protection of niche areas
PRONICARE is a collaborative effort by six partners including industries (ANKRON, ABT, Funzionano, Kelvion) and research institutions (SINTEF, AWI) from three different countries (Norway, Germany and Malta). This cross-cutting perspective will result in innovations capable of benefiting multiple sectors of high potential for a sustainable marine economy, like transport and aquaculture. This strategy will increase the competitive strength of European maritime industries, secure and create jobs, and improve sustainability. It will provide a significant added value against the spread of marine invasive species, as it offers a new solution to test antifouling systems under real life conditions and to detect their design limitations.
Coordinator
Dr Juan Yang, SINTEF AS, Norway
Consortium
SINTEF AS, Norway
Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Germany
AquaBioTech Group, Malta
Ankron Water Services GmbH, Germany
Funzionano AS, Norway
Kelvion Machine Cooling Systems GmbH, Germany