Hull roughness and antifouling paint

The fouling of ships and propellers results in a reduction of speed, increased fuel consumption, and consequently, losses of both time and money. The previous studies found that a speed reduction of 0.03 knots would occur due to increased friction resulting from 10μm increase in surface roughness. This would increase fuel consumption by 1%, energy savings can then be easily converted into emission reductions. The main objective of this paper is to help shipowner/operator (to select) utilizing antifouling paint to prevent fouling for economic and environmental requirements. Various types of antifouling paints have been used to prevent fouling. Traditional paints contain heavy metals, such as tin, copper, lead and arsenic, all of which release toxic biocides into the water. Tin-containing or tin-base antifouling has proved its excellent technical performance since it has been introduced in 1974. In the early 1980s, when the environmental problems associated with Tributyltin (TBT), antifouling paints were starting to appear and research and development programmed on a generation of tin-free antifouling paint technology was started that focused on finding solutions to the environmental problems and under water hull performance.