BYEFOULING
Low-toxic cost-efficient environment-friendly antifouling materials
The global focus on the negative effects of increasing emission of Green House Gases
(GHG) is one of the key issues on the agenda for the International Maritime Organisation
(IMO). Consequently, the whole marine value chain has started to develop solutions aiming
at reducing GHG emissions. This will have positive impacts on the ship transport sector,
on the fishing industry in Europe (the fourth largest in the world) and on the aquaculture
sector, which is an important source of quality protein in Europe. |
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The BYEFOULING project addresses high volume
production of low toxic and environmentally
friendly antifouling coatings for mobile and stationary
maritime applications. The technology
will fulfil the coating requirements as a result
of the incorporation of novel antifouling agents
and a new set of binders into coating formulations
for maritime transportation and fishing
vessels, floating devices and aquaculture. The
main goal of BYEFOULING is to design, develop
and upscale antifouling coatings with enhanced
performance compared to current available
products. The approach in BYEFOULING is to
tackle the different stages of the biofouling | process using innovative antifouling agents,
covering surface-structured materials, protein
adsorption inhibitors, quorum sensing inhibitors,
natural biocides and microorganisms with antifouling
properties. Encapsulation of the innovative
compounds in smart nanostructured materials
will be implemented to optimize coating
performance and cost all along their life cycle.
A proof-of-concept for the most promising candidates
will be developed and demonstrators
will be produced and tested on fields. |
Active
dissemination of the results will be communicated
to a large public through the maintenance
of a homepage and a series of workshops at international level, involving scientific community,
industry and standardization organisations.
BYEFOULING will provide the means for industrial,
cost-effective and robust manufacturing
of antifouling coatings in Europe. It involves key
EU industry players and SMEs as coating components
developers and production technology
providers. A set of procedures, guidelines and
fabrication tools will be developed, enabling
short time to market for new coating concepts.
Readily available low toxic and cost-effective
antifouling coatings will increase the efficiency
of maritime industry and be the enabling technology
to realize new products. BYEFOULING will
contribute to the objectives of European policies
as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive,
REACH regulation of production and use of
chemicals directive, the Roadmap to a Single
European Transport Area, the implementation of
the Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) and EU's
Lead Market Initiatives (LMIs). |
BYEFOULING is a four-year project which will
achieve its objectives by implementing interdependencies
between RTD activities of innovative
development of antifouling materials and
coating technologies and between testing, demonstration
and validation of developed technologies
led by industrial partners. Theoretical
studies will also be carried out in a close relationship
between industry and academia. |
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