Prevention of Biofouling in Hydrocarbons by Antimicrobial Vessel and Pipeline Coating for Cost Savings and an Increase in Safety and Reliability

Hydrocarbons are prone to bacterial and fungal contamination. Bacteria and fungi live andproliferate in water droplets within the fuels and on surfaces surrounding them. This can causecorrosion in oil exploration and production, clogging of fuel lines in aviation and higher emissionsin diesel combustion engines to state few examples. State-of-the-art is the addition of biocides tofuels, which is associated with several disadvantages like costs and environmental burden. A noveltechnology to prevent biofouling in hydrocarbons is presented here. By applying an anti-microbialcoating to the surfaces of hydrocarbon processing units, pipelines, and fuel containers, microbialgrowth can effectively be reduced. The coating can be a paint or varnish, for instance, epoxy resin asalready used in aircraft fuel tanks to today. It contains transition metal oxides, thus an acidic surfaceis produced. This acidic surface was shown to eliminate up to 109 colony forming units per milliliter(CFU.ml-1) of bacteria of the species of agrobacterium tumefaciens and others in diesel, kerosene,and biodiesel, where other anti-microbial coatings based on silver did not perform. The technologyhas the potential to bring huge cost savings to the oil and gas industry, alongside an increase insafety and equipment reliability.

Keywords:

Fouling , Bacteria , Fungi , Corrosion Prevention