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Slime-Dispensing Hulls Could Reduce Ship Fouling
Slime ships ahoy! A vessel that oozes a continual slick layer of slime from its hull could shed barnacles and other marine life forms, and possibly cut its fuel consumption by up to 20 percent.
Such a novel idea tackles the problem of removing marine plants, barnacles and tube worms from ship hulls every year, lest the buildup cut into both speed and fuel efficiency. The fuel savings in particular may look especially tempting for the U.S. Department of Defense, which has backed the project and previously invested in hull-cleaning bots.
in full
Such a novel idea tackles the problem of removing marine plants, barnacles and tube worms from ship hulls every year, lest the buildup cut into both speed and fuel efficiency. The fuel savings in particular may look especially tempting for the U.S. Department of Defense, which has backed the project and previously invested in hull-cleaning bots.
in full
Comment
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Comment by Daniel Kane on February 13, 2010 at 3:51pm - There have been many novel ideas regarding hull coatings over the past half decade, owing to the ban on TBT coatings. Few of these have resulted in any significant progress in the industry and it seems difficult for any new coating companies to compete with the big companies who have enormous market share, captured markets and learning curve on new coatings. For example the so called 'shark skin coating' has been in development for years without any major applications on ocean going vessels. The idea of a coating that oozes slime sounds nice but slime itself is a cause for increased ship resistance. I hope that any new coating companies do succeed but they will have quite a challenge from Jotun, Hempel, Sigma, Int'l Paints, Chugoku, etc.
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