Two environmentally-friendly marine coatings developed in Nova Scotia that have been proven to reduce fuel consumption and lower underwater noise are expected to be on the market next year.
A recent study has found XGIT™-Fuel developed by Dartmouth-based Graphite Innovation and Technologies (GIT) can reduce fuel consumption by as much as 20 per cent and an accompanying product, XGIT™-URN, can reduce underwater noise by six or seven decibels.
“We’re trying to create a more sustainable coating that is a lot more friendlier to the environment,” said company president Mo AlGermozi in an interview.
“Our paints are all very eco-friendly in terms of the formulation itself. The technology is different. It’s not your typical technology that is being used now by fishermen and different boat owners.”
Anti-fouling coatings currently used by vessel owners consist of a technology that leaches copper or other toxic materials into the water, said AlGermozi. “What we’ve seen, anti-fouling coatings basically contain a huge amount of copper; 30, 40, up to 60 per cent. Some have less. The way the coating works is it keeps leaching, keeps releasing these little, tiny particles so when marine growth happens its just dies off because of this coating having very toxic materials in it that kills what’s around it.”
AlGermozi said some people don’t realize the real expense or harm they’re doing to the environment by putting copper into the water.
“Copper creates dead zones in the water. Dead zone means no fish live there. The more we dump copper and toxic stuff into the water, the more we have less fish.”
The coating developed by GIT works a bit differently, said AlGermozi. “We don’t like to call it anti-fouling. Its more of a coating that self cleans when there is movement and gives you improved fuel performance.”
GIT uses graphene as the basis for its paint. Graphene has a lot of really good properties, said AlGermozi.
“It’s very conductive. It has a lot of properties that are very good and can be substituted for so many other materials. Our focus was to take graphene and make a paint out of it. There’s lots of graphite in the world so we might as well take something sustainable and make use of it.”
AlGermozi said the science behind the product development was to optimize the surface and make it super hydrophobic in a way like a rain jacket repels water drops. “That’s the concept,” he said. “The coating doesn’t shed things into the water in order for it to work, it can also stay on for two to three seasons as long as its not damaged.”
GIT was awarded a $2.4-million contract in 2020 by Transport Canada to investigate the new technology it developed to help reduce underwater noise and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) produced by marine vessels. GIT partnered with Lloyd’s Register to facilitate the project and verify its findings.
The project was done on six fishing boats over an 18-month period.
“This was an invention created by myself and my co-founder Marciel Gaier back in 2016. We’ve been trying to prove our theories and results and here it is. The big jackpot. We showed we are able to save a big amount of fuel savings and also reduce noise underwater.”
AlGermozi said the study found the fishing boats that took part in the study realized about 20 per cent in fuel savings at cruising speed (eight to 10 knots) compared to a vessel with a dirty hull. “We’re talking about robust science not theories here,” he said.
GIT will be doing further testing to understand the overall benefits of its coating, said AlGermozi.
“We’re scaling up production so we’re able now to produce very, very big quantities. In the next six months, we will be able to produce almost 55 gallons every three days, so almost two U.S. barrels a week.”
The coating will be available to anyone who wants to use it. “We have over 100 inquiries so far for the coating and we’re going to start distributing all these quantities to people who requested them by 2022,” he said. “We are going to commercialize by 2022. We’re more than happy to have so many inquiries.”
The study is part of the federal government’s Quiet Vessel Initiative, which is testing and evaluating the most promising technologies, vessel designs, retrofits and operational practices to reduce underwater vessel noise, as part of the government’s commitment to protect the marine environment and support the recovery of vulnerable marine mammals.
“We’re trying to do our part,” said AlGermozi. “I think introducing different types of technologies to reduce impact is great for our overall Canadian waters and ecosystem and it has been very satisfying to see our results being verified by one of the world’s biggest verification companies.”
