Kiel University at the Hannover Messe 2019

Biocorrosion-resistant and environmentally-friendly alternative to anti-fouling paints for ships

TECH SOLUTIONS
lecture: 25.4.2018, Hannover Messe, Hall 2, CAU booth C07
time: 2:00 pm & 4:30 pm
language: English
with week exhibit


It is one of the shipping industry’s major problems: marine organisms like barnacles, algae or mussels quickly cover the hulls of ships and damage their paintwork. This so-called “biofouling” increases the ship’s weight and its flow resistance, causing greater fuel consumption and more CO2 emissions. In order to avoid this growth, protective paints are mainly used around the world which contain and release pollutants into the oceans. A research team at Kiel University and Phi-Stone AG, one of its spin-offs located in Kiel, have closely cooperated to develop an environmentally-friendly coating. This coating makes it harder for marine organisms to grow on the hulls and makes cleaning the ships easier. The development combines environmental friendliness with durability, and thus the product does not contain solvents or environmentally-harmful substances, is resistant to biocorrosion, and is easy to clean. Press release: "From the lab on to the ship: environmentally-friendly removal of biofouling"
 

BiofoulingBarnacles and muscles stuck to the ship’s hull can be brushed off easily from the new coating. The paintwork is not damaged. 
Photo/credit: Dr Martina Baum

 

Speaker Dr. Martina Baum

Kaiserstraße 2, R. F-129
Phone: +49 431 880-6195
Telefax: +49 431 880-6124
marb@tf.uni-kiel.de

2009 graduated as a Technical Biologist (Diploma degree) at the University of Stuttgart, Germany (diploma thesis “Comparative study of the ultrastructure of the slippery zone in nine carnivorous Nepenthes species”, realized at the Evolutionary Biomaterials Group at the Max-Planck Institute for Metals Research Stuttgart, Germany).
2009 (March - June) researcher at Max-Planck Institute for Metal Research.
2009 (August) till 2013 (November), PhD-thesis at the department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics at the Zoological Institute, Kiel University, Germany. Title of the PhD-Thesis was „Frictional properties of snake and snake-inspired microstructured polymer surfaces“. Within this study the tribologically optimized frictional system "snake" was characterized by the examination of the micro-structures of single snake scales and ventral body regions by SEM. By friction measurements of original snake skin and polymeric replica the influence of these micro-structures in contact with different substrates was examined. The aim of this study was on the one side to get deeper understanding of the physical phenomena friction at biological surfaces and on the other side to transfer the gained knowledge of the biological system to technical surfaces under mechanical stress.
From 2014 (January) Post-Doc position at the department of Functional Nanomaterials at the Institute for Materials Science, Faculty of Engineering, Kiel University, Germany. The current research is focused on the development of an environmentally friendly polymeric coating with antifouling effect for maritime buildings.

Research areas: Biotribology, Biofouling and Biological Materials