Effect of Silver or Copper Nanoparticles-Dispersed Silane Coatings on Biofilm Formation in Cooling Water Systems

What is it about?

Biofouling often occurs in cooling water systems, resulting in the reduction of heat exchange efficiency and corrosion of the cooling pipes, which raises the running costs. Therefore, controlling biofouling is very important. To regulate biofouling, we focus on the formation of biofilm, which is the early step of biofouling. In this study, we investigated whether silver or copper nanoparticles-dispersed silane coatings inhibited biofilm formation in cooling systems. We developed a closed laboratory biofilm reactor as a model of a cooling pipe and used seawater as a model for cooling water. Silver or copper nanoparticles-dispersed silane coating (Ag coating and Cu coating) coupons were soaked in seawater, and the seawater was circulated in the laboratory biofilm reactor for several days to create biofilms. Three-dimensional images of the surface showed that sea-island-like structures were formed on silane coatings and low concentration Cu coating, whereas nothing was formed on high concentration Cu coatings and low concentration Ag coating. The sea-island-like structures were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy to estimate the components of the biofilm. We found that both the Cu coating and Ag coating were effective methods to inhibit biofilm formation in cooling pipes.

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Why is it important?

In this paper, we showed three important matters. #1: The bacterial flora on some kinds of materials in Ise Bay. Sea changes, but we presume that the flora would be fixed depending on materials. #2: The novel laboratory biofilm reactor (LBR) was proposed. #3: A new type of anti-biofouling coating was proposed. You can expect in this paper to get the information about the new evaluation methods for biofilm which you may get a chance to utilize in the future.

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