International. AkzoNobel reported that it has joined Seafront (Synergistic Scale Control Technologies) a project included within the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme to develop environmental scale control coatings on vessels, ships, tidal power plants and other aquatic facilities.
The coatings will be designed to improve operational efficiency, substantially reduce CO2 emissions and not generate any negative impact on the marine ecosystem. The Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) is the other main contractor for the project.
The coatings to be developed in the project will not allow chemicals or other non-biodegradable substances in the marine environment. In addition, the coatings will reduce the hydrodynamic resistance of ships and vessels, fuel consumption and therefore substantially decrease CO2 emissions.
Finally, AkzoNobel argues that the new coatings will result in considerable savings in operating costs, by improving the efficiency of tidal power facilities and reducing the frequency of maintenance and cleaning in infrastructure and offshore aquaculture applications.
