AkzoNobel Launches Coating Efficiency Tool
AkzoNobel’s Marine Coatings brand, International has announced the launch of Intertrac Vision, a tool that it claims is the shipping industry’s first to provide accurate and transparent predictions on the fuel and CO2 savings potential of fouling control coatings, prior to application.
The advanced science that underpins Intertrac Vision has taken over four years to develop. The work has been led by company scientists who have also collaborated with leading academic and commercial research institutes, including the University College London Energy Institute, MARIN, Newcastle University and more than 30 ship owners and operators worldwide.
Intertrac Vision, combines an understanding of total hull roughness (micro and macro) and “roughness” associated with biofouling and uses studies carried out by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) on different hull forms in order to make accurate predictions on the impact of fouling control coatings on the comparative powering requirements of a vessel.
Collectively, Intertrac Vision comprises hundreds of thousands of datasets, making it the shipping industry’s first Big Data solution to accurately predict the performance of a coating technology prior to application, says AkzoNobel.
The Intertrac Vision tool, which will be available as a free consultancy service for ship owners and operators, processes individual vessel parameters, inputted during a consultation and then uses multiple proprietary algorithms and models to provide an accurate and detailed assessment of the impact of each potential fouling control coating choice over the ships specified in-service period. Key outputs from Intertrac Vision include: ships powering requirement, fuel oil consumption, fuel oil cost, CO2 emission predictions and a full cost benefit analysis when comparing different coatings and surface preparation options.
Tristan Smith, Lecturer at the University College London Energy Institute and contributor to Intertrac Vision, said: “While all technology providers, including those producing hull coatings, have long since offered insight into the fuel and CO2 saving potential of their solutions, shipowners have maintained a degree of skepticism around performance prediction. The lack of accurate and transparent supporting data underpinning statistics quoted has contributed to this mindset.
“As one of several academic contributors to Intertrac Vision, we aim to support this initiative by bringing the industry a step closer to a new era of robust, rigorous analysis that can help improve the rationality in hull coating selection. This should enable ship owners to explore the what if’s and performance prediction uncertainties in such a way that they can then make more informed decisions based on the key variables that influence the performance of fouling control coatings on their vessels.”
The launch of Intertrac Vision follows an extensive history of research and development undertaken by AkzoNobel and the wider shipping industry to enhance understanding of the impact of fouling control coatings on vessel performance. This includes an up-dated study on the development of Average Hull Roughness that was originally pioneered by Dr Robert Townsin of Newcastle University in the 1980’s and is still commonly used today.
Dr. Barry Kidd, Manager, Hydrodynamics, AkzoNobel’s Marine Coatings business said: “The original Intertrac system was the industry’s first tool to analyze where a vessel had historically traded and uniquely overlaid the fouling challenges that it had been subjected to in those areas. While this promoted meaningful dialogue about fouling control coating performance, further research was needed to deliver scientific models that provide instant, definitive and transparent information that predicts comparative performance. Intertrac Vision delivers this, enabling shipowners and operators to make informed decisions regarding fouling control coating selection prior to application with a full in depth economic and environmental analysis.”