In March 2017, after 40 years of service, the massive aircraft carrier USS Independence took its final voyage—sailing from the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington State, around the tip of South America, to a ship-breaking yard in Texas, where it would be dismantled. To reduce the risk that the ship would transport invasive marine species, underwater divers spent 2 months before the trip scraping the surface of the more than 300 m long hull. The hull of the Independence , like those of all US Navy ships and almost every commercial and recreational vessel around the globe, was coated in antifouling paint to reduce the growth of algae, mussels, barnacles, and other marine life on its surface. That antifouling paint, as most do, contained copper and zinc as its active ingredients. Such coatings help the environment by reducing drag and improving fuel economy, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At
Zwitterionic compounds might help mitigate the centuries-old problem of ship fouling
10.1021/cen-09847-feature1-coastguard-gr1
Biofouling by barnacles, mussels, and other organisms is a constant problem for marine vessels, requiring their hulls to be regularly scraped. (Credit: Ross Ruddell/US Coast Guard)
Seeking nontoxic coatings to keep ship hulls clean
Chemical & Engineering News ; 98 , 47 ; 16-20
2020-12-07
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
Unknown
Coatings , paint , barnacles , biofouling , antifouling , mussels , water pollution , marine fouling
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