SBIR Phase I: Environmentally Acceptable Antifouling Paint

9560960迪克森这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目寻求找到一种基本的新方法来解决这个比诺亚更古老的问题；即如何以环境可接受的方式保持船底不受生物污染。自从诺亚第一次使用沥青以来，人类一直依赖有毒物质来抑制生物污垢。不幸的是，这些物质往往会在海洋环境中持续存在。人类越来越多地使用海洋资源往往使问题复杂化，以至于今天只允许从非常少的毒物清单中选择使用，甚至从这个清单中选择物质也是不可取的。这项研究的目的是证明使用持久性毒物是不必要的。提出了光毒性表面的实验室配方，并对其在海洋环境中的生物污损抗性进行了测试。如果成功，这种方法将在很大程度上取代依赖于铜和有机锡化合物等持久性有毒物质的涂层。底漆代表着全球数百万美元的市场，主要由外国公司使用已有百年历史的技术制造和销售。他们的产品是溶剂型的，使用和移除都很危险。油漆碎片必须作为危险废物收集和处置。用一种在环境上更容易接受的技术取代这项技术是非常可取的，随着一个又一个国家禁止使用有毒物质来防污，这项技术变得越来越重要。

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.