EU Life project confirms benefits of Ecospeed

The project was divided into several project tasks which were all carried out under the supervision and organization of Hydrex NV. The experimental findings of the ECOTEC-STC project were then brought together to estimate the economical and environmental impact of Ecospeed in comparison to a foul release and a copper-based self polishing copolymer (spc) scheme.

The total economical impact was compared on several aspects including the application costs and increased fuel costs. It was then estimated for a 1,000 TEU container vessel which was to have its Ecospeed coating regularly treated.

There may be a higher initial cost to use and apply Ecospeed but, when taken over a period of 10 years which is the warranty period for Ecospeed, the final cost will be much lower. This is because Ecospeed claims it will only require minor touch-ups whereas a spc or a foul release will require reapplication at regular intervals.

Increased fuel costs are due to the added resistance characteristics of each coating system. Towing tank experiments have allowed to estimate the inherent added drag levels and the rate of increase over time is estimated roughly from data available in various reports. Ecospeed’s decreased resistance is higher than for other coatings as regular underwater treatment is used preventatively to keep added drag caused by marine fouling under control. Moreover, at the same time it will improve its surface texture and hence increase its hydrodynamic efficiency. As a result, by adjusting the treatment interval, the increased fuel costs are minimized to significantly lower levels than would be the case for a spc or foul release.

When all the costs aspects are taken together, it is estimated that the overall economical impact of Ecospeed is about half of a spc and about 3/4 of a foul release for a 1,000-TEU container vessel over 10 years.

On a global scale the potential for the reduction in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions is claimed to be enormous. The IMO currently estimates the annual fuel consumption by the world fleet at 310-350 million tonnes, implying an annual CO2 output of approximately 850 million, i.e. 1.1 billion tonnes. If 80% of the world fleet would switch from biocidal antifouling to Ecospeed, this would save an estimated 28.5 million tonnes in annual fuel consumption and 90 million tonnes in annual CO2 output.

The project ECOTEC-STC claims to have shown that Ecospeed as a surface treated coating is a valuable alternative technology to the biocidal copper based antifoulings that are currently on the market. From the project tasks that were carried out, it has been demonstrated that Ecospeed exhibits the following environmental and economical benefits:

• There is no need for full re-application in drydock. After supervised application,

Ecospeed comes with a guaranteed lifetime of 10 years and an expected lifetime of 25

years.

• Ecospeed has low VOC contents and in comparison with foul release coatings or

copper-based antifoulings, far fewer VOCs are emitted with each application.

• Effluent analysis has shown that Ecospeed is 100% free of biocides and therefore

environmentally safe.

• Regular underwater treatment of Ecospeed is put forward as a best available

technology to minimize the risk of transferring non-indigenous marine species (NIS).

• Advanced maintenance tools have been developed to clean and condition

simultaneously.

• The analysis of the roughness characteristics has demonstrated an optimization of

surface characteristics by underwater treatment.

• Towing tank experiments have shown that conditioned Ecospeed exhibits nearly 2%

less drag than a newly applied copper-based spc.

Proof of increased interest in Ecospeed as an alternative to antifouling is given by the number of applications since the beginning of the project. Over 100 applications were carried out since December 1, 2006, of which more than 50 were full hull applications.

The collection of fuel consumption data is being continued in order to further demonstrate that the surface texture of Ecospeed keeps improving with each underwater treatment of combined cleaning and conditioning and therefore, contrary to traditional coatings, ship performance keeps improving all through the service life of the vessel.

Another important outcome of the project was the submission of the experimental results to port authorities and environmental agencies worldwide in order to allow the underwater treatment of Ecospeed. Several ports and countries have banned underwater cleaning out of concerns of pulsed release of biocides or an increased risk of transferring NIS. The experimental results and the derived criteria for environmentally safe underwater cleaning have already convinced several economically important ports to overturn the ban.

The ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp, Copenhagen, Oslo and Barcelona, which maintained a ban on underwater cleaning, have all decided between mid 2009 and March 2010 to allow the underwater cleaning of hulls coated with Ecospeed. It is expected that the list will expand in the future. All these ports recognize the negative impact of biocidal paints and want to support environmentally safe solutions.