NSF Award
9560960
9560960 Dixon This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to discover a fundamental new approach to a problem older than Noah; namely, how to keep the bottoms of boats free from biofouling in an environmentally acceptable manner. Since Noah first used pitch, man has relied on toxic materials to inhibit biofouling. Unfortunately these materials have tended to persist in the marine environment. Increased use of marine resources by man has tended to compound the problem to the point where today selection for use from only a very short list of toxicants is permitted, and even choosing substances from this list is undesirable. The objective of this research is to demonstrate that the use of persistent toxicants is unnecessary. Laboratory formulation of phototoxic surfaces are proposed as well as tests of their resistance to biofouling in the marine environment. If successful, the approach will largely replace coatings which rely on persistent toxicants such as copper and organotin compounds. Bottom paint, which represents a multimillion dollar worldwide market, is primarily manufactured and sold by foreign firms using technology which is a century old. Their products are solvent based and hazardous to apply and remove. Paint chips must be collected and disposed of as hazardous waste. Replacing this technology with one that is more environmentally acceptable is very desirable and is becoming increasingly essential as country after country bans toxicants for antifouling.
