A row of black piles on a tidal flat, with barnacles on their lower part

Keep it off

Keep it off: making ships, fishing gear and equipment harder for marine life to grip

Barnacles and algae both begin by gripping a material’s surface. We treat that surface with plasma and bond a fluorine-based antifouling agent to it, leaving a surface they struggle to grip. We use no copper, silver or other biocides.

Uses with a page of their own

  • A boat being lifted out of the water, its hull bottom and propeller showing

    Ships

    Making ship propellers harder for barnacles and algae to grip.

    We hold back the barnacles and algae that grow on a ship’s underwater parts by working on the material’s surface. On a brass propeller, a 12-month trial in the sea at Kure showed barnacles and algae taking hold less readily. We are also considering hulls and ocean-going ships.

    • Stage: Proven, Ship propellers (brass)

      We bond a fluorine-based antifouling agent to the surface of brass propellers so barnacles and algae find it harder to take hold.

    • Stage: Concept, Ship bottoms, hulls and rudders

      Using the treatment on a ship’s underwater parts, such as the bottom, the hull and the rudder.

    • Stage: Concept, Ocean-going ships

      Using the treatment to cut the marine life that ocean-going ships carry from one sea to another.

    See the Ships page
  • Large floats stacked on a quay, marked with shells and grime

    Fishing and aquaculture

    Fishing and aquaculture gear that shellfish and seaweed find harder to grip.

    We hold back the shellfish and seaweed that grow on fishing and aquaculture gear by working on its surface. In research led by Professor Kuroda, our technical supervisor, no shellfish or algae had settled on a treated float a year after it was put in the sea, and rope used for nori nets showed a strong effect against settlement. We are continuing our own rope trials in the sea at Kure, and are also considering oyster rafts and similar gear.

    • Stage: Proven, KAKEN grant (Kuroda’s research) Floats and buoys

      Treating the surface of the floats and buoys used in fishing and aquaculture so shellfish and seaweed take hold less readily. The evidence comes from a float tested in the sea in Professor Kuroda’s research.

    • Stage: Being tested, Rope

      Treating the surface of rope used in fishing, aquaculture and elsewhere so shellfish and seaweed take hold less readily.

    • Stage: Proven, KAKEN grant (Kuroda’s research) Fishing and aquaculture nets

      Treating the surface of fishing and aquaculture nets so shellfish and seaweed take hold less readily. The evidence comes from research by Professor Kuroda and Professor Terakado on rope used for nori nets.

    • Stage: Concept, Oyster rafts and baskets, and filters in land-based aquaculture

      Using the treatment on aquaculture gear such as oyster rafts and baskets, and on the filters of land-based aquaculture. Barnacles on oyster rafts are the problem our company started from. It is the gear that would be treated, not the oysters themselves.

    See the Fishing and aquaculture page

Underwater glass (windows, cameras and more)

Treating the surface of glass used in the sea, such as underwater windows and cameras, to keep fouling off it.

  • Stage: Proven, Our own work

    In our own trial at Marine Craft Kazenoko (Kure), treated glass held up for 12 months. It turns slightly cloudy, but looks clear when it is in the water.

Related uses

Talk to us about “Underwater glass (windows, cameras and more)”
The building and walkway along the sea at our development site
Kure (Marine Craft Kazenoko)

Water intakes and cooling lines

Using the treatment on equipment that draws in seawater: ships’ intakes and pipework, and the intake equipment of power stations and factories.

  • Stage: Concept,

    We are considering treating the surfaces of ships’ water intakes and pipework, and of the intake equipment and cooling lines of power stations and factories, to hold back fouling and cut the chemicals now added to prevent it, such as copper ions and chlorine.

Related uses

Talk to us about “Water intakes and cooling lines”
A walkway through equipment lined with pipes, ducts and a tank

Marine equipment and infrastructure

Using the treatment on marine equipment other than ships, such as offshore wind installations, subsea cables and piers.

  • Stage: Concept,

    We are also considering extending the treatment that holds back fouling to marine equipment other than ships: offshore wind installations, subsea cables, piers, tidal power, filters for seawater desalination, underwater robots and more.

Related uses

Talk to us about “Marine equipment and infrastructure”
A floating pier’s pile, thick with barnacles

Working with paints

Using the treatment that holds back fouling together with existing paints.

  • Stage: Concept,

    We are also considering ways to combine the treatment that holds back fouling with paints, for example by treating a surface as the base for the paint.

Related uses

Talk to us about “Working with paints”
Barnacles along the waterline of a painted hull

Related uses elsewhere on the site

How to read the stages

Stage: Proven,
Results checked at sea or in the field, and on record
Stage: Being tested,
Trials, prototypes or development under way
Stage: Concept,
At the planning stage, including ideas shown as exhibits or prototypes

Tell us what you want to keep fouling off: what it is made of, how big it is and the waters it is used in.

Talk to us