Aquarius Marine Coatings Ltd. (AMC) (Shillingstone, United Kingdom) announced the launch of its Coppercoat-Commercial antifouling coating for the offshore oil and gas sector.
The coating—which contains exceptionally high levels of copper, a natural antimicrobial agent—protects subsea infrastructure against layers of plant, animal, and microbe growth while meeting environmental and safety standards. According to AMC, it ensures that underwater infrastructure can meet expected performance levels, contributes to the integrity of structures, and helps reduce maintenance costs.
The launch follows the completion of a five-year trial funded by EDF Energy and undertaken by Plymouth Marine Labs (PML) in the United Kingdom, which the company says concluded that Coppercoat-Commercial is the best protective antifouling solution for underwater turbines.
Although the trial was carried out with a view to supporting wave and hydropower facilities, AMC says the coating can be applied equally to any static or dynamic subsea structure to enhance the longevity and efficiency of both fixed and floating platforms, particularly in areas of significant marine flow.
Further research examined the loss of paint thickness over time and showed that the coating was also the most effective antifouling solution in terms of longevity, losing just 4.3% over the five-year trial period.
“We developed Coppercoat for the marine industry 30 years ago,” says AMC’s Jayson Kenny. “Since then, we have perfected our products and gained plenty of first-hand experience of what happens to vessel’s hulls, and subsea equipment when left unprotected.”
“Even after just two years in benign harbor waters, there can be up to 25 cm of growth that becomes home to an entire ecosystem of marine life, all facilitated by microbial action,” Kenny adds. “Apply that principle to a 1,000-ton floating platform, with 100 square meters of surface area in far deeper waters, and within a few months that platform will weigh 1,200 tons, with a surface area closer to 200 square meters because of foul. That creates serious drag, and strains tethers and anchorage points. A heavier and clogged-up asset soon becomes a major problem for maintenance, transportation, and logistics teams.”
According to AMC, the launch of Coppercoat-Commercial for the offshore oil and gas sector comes as operators and oilfield services providers look to exploit opportunities in deeper waters where lifting, cleaning, and replacing subsea assets becomes significantly more difficult. It can form an important component of integrity strategies for wells while providing protection against forms of degradation that are not prevented by standard anticorrosion and antierosion products.
The company says its experience in the marine sector has demonstrated that the coating can last for 20 to 30 years, depending on usage and conditions. The hard-wearing, densely copper-filled resin is suitable for both cold and tropical waters, and can be applied by roller or spray and can be used on all surfaces including steel, concrete, aluminum, glass-reinforced plastic, and various polymers. The water-based coating does not contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which makes it an environmentally safe solution, according to the company.
Source: Aquarius Marine Coatings Ltd., www.coppercoat.com.