Abstract
Corrosion and microbial contamination in water supply system could cause fouling and failure in water distribution systems. Microorganisms colonize on pipe surfaces by forming a biofilm that resists chlorine disinfectant, which could lead to the reduction in distribution efficiency, shorter service time but higher energy consumption. Physical and biological fouling in the drinking water supply system remarkably increases the water treatment cost and seriously threatens water quality and human health.Epoxy coating materials are most widely used to protect pumps, tanks, and pipes from rusting and corrosion. This research developed safe and effective epoxy-based anti-corrosion and anti-biofouling coating materials with multilevel antimicrobial polymers (MAP) for freshwater and saltwater distribution systems. Compared to the commercial coatings, 99.9% above E. coli and 99.99% above S. aureus can be killed by the novel formula in the antimicrobial test. More than 50% of bacteria can be prevented to attach on the coating surface. MAP also improved the corrosion inhibition efficiency of commercial epoxy from 31.41% to 70.52% in the electrochemical tests.
Besides, epoxy curing conditions such as temperature, humidity, and time were optimized by comparing mechanical properties after epoxy ageing to simulate the realistic operating environment and estimate the service life of the epoxy coating. Double layer samples applying ceramic epoxy as the inner layer could effectively improve the resistance to cathodic disbonding and long-term mechanical properties without affecting the anti-biofouling performance. Moreover, the novel coating material was officially proved to meet the drinking water standard BSI 6920, indicating it can be safely industrialized for water distribution without threatening public health.
| Date of Award | 2022 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | King Lun YEUNG (Supervisor) |
Cite this
- Standard