Marine Renewable Energy Directed KE Fellowship: Biofouling in the UK Marine Renewable Energy Industry

当人造结构，如海洋可再生能源装置，被部署在海洋中时，它们很快就会被生长在暴露表面上的生物群落所占领。从工程角度来看，这种海洋生长或生物污染通常是不需要的，并且会对设备的结构完整性、效率、维护和功能产生影响。非本地物种也经常出现在人造结构上，这使得生物污染成为潜在的生物安全风险，并可能成为物种入侵的载体。生物污垢群落的物种类型、地理位置以及生物沉降和生长的季节性等因素导致生物污垢的质量、厚度和质地等特性具有高度的可变性。目前，海洋可再生能源中小企业的大部分设计、效率计算和维护计划都是基于生物污垢厚度的非常基本的数据，而这些数据没有考虑到可变性。技术标准承认现有指南的局限性，并建议在可能的情况下，应使用具体地点的测量方法。不幸的是，由于行业的新生，这些数据通常是不可获得的，中小企业和工程师在计算海洋生长对设备的影响时，只能进行“最佳猜测”。Jen Loxton最近共同主持了一个研讨会，讨论了海洋可再生能源设备上的生物污染问题，与会者来自学术界、监管机构和工业界。该小组共同确定了119个与运营、财务或环境影响有关的生物污染问题。为了帮助解决这些问题，一个关键的优先事项是改善科学、工程和海洋工业之间的知识交流。人们承认，在科学界和工业界有很多关于生物污垢的知识，但目前还没有途径将这些知识传达给合适的人，以告知可再生能源设备的设计和维护决策。这正是Jen在KE项目中想要解决的沟通缺口。在奖学金期间，Jen将开发并推出一个全面的在线资源，该资源将为英国海洋可再生能源社区以可访问和行业相关的形式巩固生物污染科学。该资源将包括：-一个生物污垢知识网站，翻译为行业-一个由英国生物污垢分布和特征数据库提供支持的交互式工具/应用程序该网站将为与英国海洋可再生能源行业相关的利益相关者提供生物污垢“一站式服务”，并帮助告知工程和运营决策，并提高对潜在环境因素的认识。预计它将扩大生物污染科学的范围和影响。一个全面的数据库将填充生物污染科学和物种分布数据，并将为交互式工具/应用程序提供动力。用户将指定位置、部署类型和可获得的生物污垢观察结果，该工具将生成一套定制的工业相关统计数据和可能的管理技术。该工具的完整规格将在研究期间确定，但可能产出的例子包括最大生物量、污垢的厚度和粗糙度、预期的季节变化和附近已知的非本地物种。该数据库将通过与英国数据库（例如NBN网关）的实时链接以及添加用户指定的生物污垢观察结果，在研究金的生命周期内以及之后继续增长。该奖学金的信息将从学术界、监管机构和整个海事行业收集，包括石油和天然气、航运、休闲划船和水产养殖业。该研究员将包括以前NERC项目（例如EBAO和FlowBec）的数据，以扩大该研究的影响。

When man-made structures, such as marine renewable energy devices, are deployed in the sea they are quickly colonised by communities of organisms growing on exposed surfaces. This marine growth, or biofouling, is often unwanted from an engineering perspective and can have consequences for structural integrity, efficiency, maintenance and functioning of devices. Non-native species are also commonly found on man-made structures, making biofouling a potential biosecurity risk and a possible vector for species invasions. Factors such as the type of species in the biofouling community, the geographical location and the seasonality of organism settlement and growth lead to a high degree of variability in biofouling properties such as mass, thickness and texture. At the moment marine renewable energy SME's conduct most of their design, efficiency calculations and maintenance planning based on very basic figures for biofouling thickness which do not take into account variability. Technical standards acknowledge the limitations of existing guidance and recommend that whenever possible, site-specific measurements should be used. Unfortunately, due to the newness of the industry, this data is often not available and SMEs and engineers are working with little more than a "best guess" when calculating for the effects of marine growth on devices.Jen Loxton recently co-hosted a workshop which discussed biofouling on marine renewable energy devices with attendees spanning academia, regulatory bodies, and industry. Together this group identified 119 issues associated with biofouling with operational, financial or environmental impacts. A key priority which was identified to help solve many of these issues was improved knowledge exchange between science, engineering and marine industry. It was acknowledged that there is a lot of biofouling knowledge in the scientific and industrial communities but there is currently no pathway for getting this to the right people to inform renewable energy device design and maintenance decisions. It is this gap in communication which Jen aims to address in this KE project.During the fellowship Jen will develop and launch a comprehensive online resource which will consolidate biofouling science in an accessible and industry relevant format for the UK marine renewable energy community. This resource will consist of:- A website of biofouling knowledge, translated for industry- An interactive tool/app powered by a database of UK biofouling distribution and characteristicsThe website will provide a biofouling "one-stop-shop" for stakeholders associated with the UK marine renewable energy industry and help to inform engineering and operational decisions and increase awareness of potential environmental considerations. It is anticipated that it will increase the reach and impact of biofouling science.A comprehensive database will be populated with biofouling science and species distribution data and will power the interactive tool/app. A user would specify location, deployment type and available observations of biofouling and the tool will generate a tailored suite of industrially relevant statistics and possible management techniques. Full specifications for the tool will be determined during the fellowship but examples of possible outputs include maximum biomass, thickness and rugosity of fouling, expected seasonal variations and known non-native species in the vicinity. The database will continue to grow during the life of the fellowship and beyond through live links with UK databases (e.g. NBN gateway) and the addition of user specified biofouling observations.Information for the fellowship will be gathered from academia, regulatory bodies and from across the maritime industries, including oil & gas, shipping, leisure boating and the aquaculture industries. The fellow will include data from previous NERC projects (e.g. EBAO and FlowBec), expanding the impact of this research.