FResCO consortium visits field tests
This week the FResCo partners held their consortium meeting at Stichting Zeeschelp in Kamperland (The Netherlands).
During the meeting, lab infrastructure and field tests were visited where the performance of newly developed coatings are tested, monitored and evaluated. Interesting insights are already gained and new experiments are scheduled for the remaining project time to take further steps in the development of fouling restraining coatings.
Biofouling, which is the accumulation of microorganisms, algae or moss on surfaces, degrades the surface material and negatively impacts the product performance. Therefore, companies prefer preventive measures with coatings to fend off fouling. Traditionally, these coatings were based on toxic metals such as tributyltin and copper. The final goal of FResCo is to develop novel, non-toxic and bio-based fouling restraining agents that can be used in marine and terrestrial applications.
The intercluster FResCo-project of the spearheadclusters Catalisti and Blauwe Cluster (Blue Cluster) vzw, supported by VLAIO - Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship, was recognized as a cluster project within the Flemish bioeconomy policy plan. In this project, I-Coats NV, ChemStream, BEXCO nv-sa, Deceuninck and Centexbel work together to shape the bioeconomy.
