Marine Biofouling (Biological fouling)

What is biofouling?

Biofouling or biological fouling is the detrimental buildup and accumulation of bacteria (microorganisms) that attach and set down themselves onto submerged structures, especially in ships' hulls and pier pillars. Biofouling may include vegetation, typically autotrophic organisms (algae), animals, and other microscopic organisms which can be unicellular, or cell-clustered. Biofouling also crop up on the skin of living marine creatures, and this form of biofouling it is known as epibiosis - the arrangement in which organisms live on top of each other.

Relative to the industry, biofouling is also found in membrane systems, such as membrane bioreactors used for microfiltration or ultrafiltration of municipal and industrial wastewater. It is also found in processes that employ osmosis membranes. In the same manner it is found as inert fouling - the accumulation of non-living substances, inorganic or organic - in cooling water cycles of large industrial equipments and power stations. These processes are common in ships’ propulsion systems, heat exchangers, and convective heat transfer systems.

Marine biofouling speeds up the corrosion process in structures and materials, causing accelerated operational failures, and the premature loss of structures or equipment.

In sum, biofouling is a group of organisms of antropic origin that grows and accumulates on submerged structures. It is formed by hundreds of organism species to include bacteria, protozoa, algae, mollusks, bryozoa, cirripedia, polychaeta, tubicolous, ascidiacea, and hydrozoa. Biofouling causes massive losses to the industry in productivity, efficiency, energy, and time. Marine biofouling literally colonizes under water surfaces and the practical effect of the colonization by these organisms it is called: biofouling.

Problems, costs, and effects of marine biofouling

The U.S. Navy
The chief culprit engendering the nuisance of marine biofouling is the unrestrained buildup of a gang of offenders such as barnacles, macroalgae, and microbial slimes. It is a serious and very expensive worldwide problem particularly for marine systems, costing the US Navy alone an estimated $2.1 billion annually.

On ships’ hulls, biofouling results in an increase in roughness, turbulence, and extra weight. Also it diminishes the ship’s maneuverability, laminar flow, and carrying capacity. In ships’ poorly treated surfaces, marine fouling can amount to more than 330 pounds per square meter in only six months at sea. A 40,000 M2 tanker can increase its weight up to 6,000 tons during this time due to the accumulation of these organisms.

Marine fouling leads to a significant increase in hydrodynamic drag as the vessel moves through water. This increases fuel consumption by as much as 40% to 50%. Then we have to add other costs such as paint removal and repainting, hull cleaning (hull scrapping amounts to over $200 millions alone), and a variety of associated and interrelated environmental compliance regulations, all contribute to the taxing costs of marine biofouling. And these problems are only on the “outside” of the vessels!

Efficiency versus Fouling

There is a tremendous loss of efficiency in Navy ships (or any ship!) due to fouling. This is not good above all for Navy ships. Warships are built with only one purpose and one purpose only: to kill people and destroy things. If a warship is in the shipyard, it is useless. Any war Navy must have all of its vessels ready for action at any moment and at all times, and the more ships are under maintenance, the more vulnerable that Navy is. Marine biofouling put vessels quickly out of combat.

What Gets “Fouled” in Navy Ships?

• Main Condensers
• Sea Water Heat Exchangers
• Evaporators
• Distilling Units
• Sea Water Cooled Air Compressors
• Other

Typically, the cleaning costs are in the range of $60,000 to $80,000 per element per cleaning.

Marine biofouling costs in perspective

A Ship with a 10 to 15% loss of efficiency can loose up to 4 to 5 nautical miles per hour (NMH) - (Main Condenser Vacuum from 29Hg down to 24Hg.). This means that in a 100 hour cruise from Hawaii to Tokyo the ship will fall 400 to 500 miles short of its destination. The added cost is the additional fuel required to propel the ship the extra distance, and the subsequent equipment maintenance later!


History capsule:
Captain James Cook beached his ship the “HM Bark Endeavour” in the Sound side of one of the Queen Charlotte Islands, an archipelago off the northwest coast of British Columbia, Canada, back in 1770, so the crew could clean its hull. The “HM Bark Endeavour” had lost its seaworthy laminar flow in the region of 65% to fouling and extra weight.


Marine biofouling causes huge material and economic costs in maintenance of shipping fleets and marine industries, naval vessels, seawater pipelines, and mariculture - a specialized branch of aquaculture involving the cultivation of marine organisms for food and other products in the open ocean, an enclosed section of the ocean, or in tanks, ponds, or raceways which are filled with seawater. In the US, the annual mariculture general farm maintenance (total of 23,000 ha), demonstration farm management (800 ha) and special farm maintenance (2 zones) were US$14.9 million in 1997, cost that in time will be passed on to the cost of the food.

Several assessments of the economic impact of the cost of biofouling have been made, but not many are updated since the cost increases constantly and steadily, and frankly, the practice is depressing. A 1981 study (that is more than 27 years ago!) in the United States computed annual fouling-related cost to be in the region of US$1.4 billion. In another study carried out in England in 1979, the annual cost of fouling was placed between US$300 and US$500 million. Adding to the sheer magnitude of these figures is the fact that these studies had been made almost three decades ago.

Here are the results from a study performed in 1992.

Country-Fouling Costs(USD Mil.)-1992 GNP(USD Bil.)-Fouling costs/GNP(%)
Japan---------10,000------------------4,000-----------------0.25
England-------2,500-------------------1,000------------------0.25
USA----------14,175-------------------5,670------------------0.25
New Zealand--65------------------------43---------------------0.15
Germany-----4,875---------------------1,950------------------0.25
Australia-----463-----------------------309--------------------0.15
TOTAL------32,078--------------------12,972-----------------0.25
Source: Advance Heat Transfer-FBHX-USA


A NEW remedy for marine biofouling

KIMIL (Mayan Death): A novel and innovative technology

While most quest for anti-biofouling rummages around finding or developing novel control methods, they all come within reach of compounds with mechanisms that could fend off or hinder the self-adhesion of fouling organisms. There is an important detail to pay attention to. It is manifest that many life forms living in the sea remain free from marine fouling. This is due largely to irritant secretions produced by some animal skins that counteract the adhesion of marine life.

Active natural compounds have been extracted from many types of organisms including bacteria, corals, sponges, seaweeds and sea grasses, but an unacceptable quantity of them have proved to be highly toxic to the nautical environment. Today's climate and because of the conscientiousness and fiduciary responsibility we profess for the only planet we have, any plausible anti-fouling restraining agent must comprise a superior mammalian and ecotoxicological - the integration of toxicology and ecology - profile to be accepted as a viable method of use to control marine biofouling, without upsetting the marine flora and fauna, and the ever-present and always-vigilant human eco-groups.

One such compound is KIMIL. I have called the compound KIMIL, which means “Mayan Death” because of the deep-rooted mythical origins of the constitutive elements of a concept I conceived to create an earth-friendly anti-fouling compound.

The idea revolves around the development of a nautical anti-fouling resistant coating, not deadly but hostile to marine biofouling. This composite is rooted on a solanaceae oleoresin capsicum base that engenders a powerful irritant in resin form which can hold fast into metal, wood, and synthetic surfaces, and inhibits the accretion of fouling by interfering with microorganism’s adhesion mechanisms.

Kimil is an amalgam that encompasses several constituents and supplementary complexes in its make-up. Some of such compounds are Sinense and Jolokia, where Jolokia is considered the most powerful of the entire binomial nomenclature in the Scoville scale. Pungent piquant secretions of these genres contain capsaicin, a chemical compound taht quickly stimulates and irritate chemoreceptor nerve endings in the skin, especially in mollusks and sessile animals’- those which are not able to move about - mucus membranes.

This non-toxic irritant composition makes KIMIL the perfect “green” element, the eco-friendly constituent, and the ideal bio-commodity to wage war against marine biofouling.

A business opportunity?

Decide for yourself

Return on Investment (according to DOD)

Corrective and Preventive actions to mitigate the effects of corrosion and fouling provides a 10:1 to 50:1 net cost savings depending on the components type (ship, aircraft, trucks, buildings…) according to recent studies conducted by the US Department of Defense.

Asset Preservation (according to NACE)

• Average return on investment in private industry is 20:1
• Average life extension is 35%
• 1/3+ of the cost of fouling is preventable with current technologies
• Fouling, Corrosion Control & Prevention = Asset Preservation

It is estimated that the value of the anti-fouling market worldwide today is approximately US$250 Billion per year, market in which most products, to include paints in stannic base compound are prohibited from its use. The prohibition to use these products came into full effect worldwide in January 1, 2007, and it was instituted by the American Fisheries Society (AFS) agreement of 2001. The American Fisheries Society (AFS), a member of the WORLD COUNCIL OF FISHERIES SOCIETIES; is the world's oldest and largest organization dedicated to strengthening the fisheries profession, advancing fisheries science, and conserving fisheries resources.

So the market suddenly mammothed in 2007 and not many new products that can comply with the new requirements and mandates have integrated the market today. Consequently, the vertical market share it is huge today, and the worldwide demand for these products continues to be is massive, and still growing strong.

KIMIL it is a compliant product that can be marketed throughout the planet with moderate competition, and a great forecast for vigorous profits with a small Human Capital.