Self Polishing Polyurethane Coating for Biofouling Protection of Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms in Kingdom

Due to sea environment a special marine coating usually applied for the metals of offshore oil and gas platforms. Fouler attachment on metal is a common phenomenon which increases the chance of hydrodynamic volume. This contributes to oppose the operation of the platforms. An extra caution is noted in Kingdom due to severe weather conditions (high temperature, salinity and humidity) which favor for fouler breeding in the marine environments. Catastrophic failures, due to fouling/corrosion of mild steel process equipment, have been reported from many local industries. These failures are of grave concern for the safety of the infrastructure, environment and human life. A suitable coating can be useful in preventing fouling of the metal substrate of the offshore oil and gas platforms. Unfortunately, there are no perfect protected coatings, and all coatings eventually fail due to existing pinhole or other defects. Coating failure is accentuated by the harsh weather conditions in the local environment. Therefore, a highly protective coating is always demandable in the local industries. Different biocides and metals/metal oxides are widely being used in protective coatings. Biocides and metals/metal oxides based coatings are dominating nowadays in offshore coating to mitigate/control the fouling. The mechanism of this coating is leaching of biocide which resists the fouler attachment on surface. However, uncontrolled leaching of biocide from the coating is very common. This makes a huge adverse effect on marine eco system. Thus, this has been asked to develop coatings which posses control leaching of biocide. Such development will lead to environmental, technical and economic benefits to the Kingdom. Recently polyurethane (PU) is attracting in protective coating sectors. Biocide can be anchored in resin by simple blending process. However, burst release and uncontrolled release of biocide are also very common in blending process. A proper deposition technique of biocide in resin can enhance control release of biocide. In proposed study a novel deposition technique of biocide in polyurethane resin will be followed with tuning polyurethane monomers, biocides and their contents. The effect of microstructure of PU on biocide leaching will be conducted in Lab analysis. Promising coatings will be considered for field test. The overall result will contribute to mitigate the failure of the local offshore oil and gas platforms and pipes due to fouler attachment as an environmentally friendly way. Outcomes of the proposed research include the following: i. Polyurethane (PU) antifouling coating which posses control leaching of biocide; ii. A set of performance criteria for the developed coatings under harsh environment; iii. New facilities for the synthesis and characterization of coatings; iv. Training of graduate and undergraduate students; v. Journal publication(s) and/or patents on the coatings developed. The research team possesses significant research experience in the coating field.