ZINC SILICATE TANK COATING CHEMICAL TANKERS-- CAPT AJIT

VADAKAYIL

ZINC SILICATE TANK LINING

If you read and understand this piece your zinc tanks will last 30 years
minimummore than the effective life of any ship.

If you do not know the pH value scale the coating will get damaged in one
voyage and it will cost the company a fortune by way of grit blasting the
whole tank and recoating. It is only resistant for pH values between
6 to 9.

Zinc silicate has high resistance to Aromatics and alcohols ( not

good for epoxy ) and Ketones

Zinc silicate is an inorganic paint. This automatically means it is insoluble

in organic solvents . It is durable, heat resistant and abrasion resistant. It
has outstanding mechanical strength and provides galvanic protection.
The coating thickness is 80 microns--- single airless spray coat on a good
gritblasted surface. As long as the zinc and iron are in contact,
atmospheric oxidation spares the iron and effects the zinc. Thick paint
spray will crack especially if not continiously stirred.

Cargoes tend to be aDsorbed rather than aBsorbed. It has no reaction with

solvent/water mixtures. Dedicated methanol carriers are zinc silicate
coated. They can be loaded with methanol again and again without
ventilation. Venting is no so crucial as for epoxy tanks whose coatings
softens. However it is better if tanks are ventilated. As sometimes wall
waSh will show HC/color. Vent for 1 or 2 days to eliminate this problem.

Zinc Silicate salts are produced throughout the active life of the coating
which appear as white patches. This is normal and will not cause a
problem uless it is extracted by a wall wash surveyor. Even if these white
salts are removed they will be regenerated over a period of time. Small
damages to coating are self healing by electrochemical reaction.

Since the coating cannot handle pH values between 9 and 14 , remember

LAC and caustic are extremely harmful. So in zinc tanks use 0.05% Teepol/
Genepol. Special acid cleaners like bufferclean 5.5 ( citric acid of pH 5.5 )
can be used. Bufferclean 5.5 removes all zinc white salts and brings it
down like snow fall. Buffer solution resists any change of its pH value due
to dilution or an addition of solution of acid/ alkali. The process by which
H+ or OH- ions are removed so that pH remains constant is known as
buffer action.

Please remember dried detergent can also cause white patches. For
tankcleaning 80 deg C water temp can be used. Zinc can tolerate higher
temperatures than epoxy. However due to its porosity zinc tanks should
first be cleaned at moderate temp and then only cleaning temp can be
increased. Tallow/ animal fat when heated increases in acidity near
heating coils. Also esters , alcohols, amines, chlorinated and brominated
compounds should not have moisture content greater than 0.01% ( 100
ppm ). Molasses when diluted especially by bad quality fresh water from
lakes etc create acids within 24 hours which attack coating. Continious
exposure to salt/ FW reduces life of coating. Toluene and Xylene are good
degreasers.

Zinc paint is resistant to : Phenols and cresols, aromatic hydrocarbons

BTX, alcohols and ketones, CTC, EDC, Trichloroethylene, and esters like
amyl and ethyl acetate provided tank surfaces are free of moisture.
Resistant to Acetone, Acrylonitrile, Ethanol, Methanol, IPA, MEK, Methyl
Acrylate, VAM, Butyl acetate, Ekta Solve, Adiponitrile etc.

Zinc paint is not resistant to: Acetic acid, Alkaline Glycol Monoalkyl Ether,
Diethanolamine, Diethyl Suphate, Brake fluid, Vinyl Acetate, Pentanoic
acid, Triethanolamine, Nonyl Phenol, Ethyenediamine, Ethyl Hexanoic acid,
Polyethylene Polyamine, Ethatholamine, Aviation turbine fuel, alkalies
greater than pH 9, acids less than pH 6.

Fatty acids of veg/ animal oils attack zinc silicate paint which can cause
zinc to shed contaminating cargo. Amines water content if >500 ppm
( 0.05%) can cause alkali attack. So to prevent water contamination tank
must be dry and nitrogen blanketed. Never use hot water for precleaning
veg/ animal oils in zinc tanks because they have FFA (free fatty acids ).
The manufacturers of zinc silicate coating describe a max FFA content of
2.5 as the limit. In practice this limit is way too high. Zinc-silicate-
coatedtanks are not usedfor crude edible fats and oils, unless
the acid value is 1 or under .

Recirc of veg/ animal oil in coated tank is a must to prevent sedimentation

and also to equalize the FFA content between the upper and lower layers.
Since zinc lining is porous prolonged pre cleaning with ambient water is
advisable after drying oils before introducing chemicals.

FFA content may increase rapidly when cleaning is prematurely

stopped. Semi-drying vegetable and animal oils react with oxygen to
form a varnish like polymeric layer which is very difficult to remove.
If there is delay in washing drying oils to prevent the oxidized
varnish from forming on the bulkheads the air should be removed
the empty tank.

If a zinc silicate tank has been attacked you can see a thin layer of white
dust on the surface OR the coating gives a porous appearance. White salts
caused due to alkali PH>9 attack are insoluble calcium and magnesium
salts. Only bufferclean 5.5 can remove such white salts and the tank gets
a fresh appearance. Never allow salt to dry on the coating after sea water
wash. Salt electrolyte makes the coating sacrificial.

Zinc silicate tanks are not considered suitable for continious immersion in
water. The surface is porous and cargo invades into pores and capillaries.
Cleaning is similar to regeneration of an aDsorber bed. This is done by
heating to greater than BP. Unlike epoxy de aDsorbsion occurs quite fast.
Methanol removes non volatile matter from the pores/ capillaries.

Sometimes certain polymerizing cargoes are inhibited by ammonia

derived stabilizers. Pl ensure that this cargo is not stowed in zinc silicate
tanks---lest you get a polymerized tank.
It is usual for MEG FG shippers to state in writing that zinc tanks are not
suitable. There is no harm if you are able to pass the wall wash and the
first foot. The discharge port samples will be good enough.

Zinc painting or touching is not usually done at sea as sea is not a perfect
place. However I do remember 100% gritblasting ( 140 tons of grit to
SA2.5 )and zinc silicate airless spray painting 2 cargo tanks on a pacific
voyage in perfect conditions using shipstaff round the clock. The Sigma
Silgauard paint involved was a 2 component fresh water moisture curing
zinc rich ethyl silicate coating. To achieve 80 microns 9 sq metre per litre
paint is required. Binder to zinc powder ratio is 3 :1. Zinc powder is
added to the binder ( never vice versa )while continiously mechanically
agitating using a pneumatic stirrer. Then strain the mixture through a 40
mesh screen just in case some lumps are present. The paint must be
agitated continiously during the application. If the application temp is
greater than 30 deg use 10% by volume of thinner. Potlife 20 deg c is just
6 hours ---so do not mix in large quantities.

The high levels of zinc dust giving zinc-zinc metal contact resulting
in cathodic protection similar to those obtained from galvanising.

Zinc silicate coating is an anti-corrosive paint system that is based on

zinc dust
(86 percent wt) with some additives and a binder. Zinc silicate coat
ings are inherently porous, which results in a
varietyof cleaning problems. It is believed that
the cargo migrates into the pores and capillaries.
Zinc silicatecoatings have good resistance to solvents,
but are not resistant to strong acids and bases outside 6 to 9 pH.

Volatile cargoes are desorbed very fast, non-volatile oil-

like cargoes are retained. The
cleaning of thecoating is similar to the regeneration
of an adsorber bed. This is typically performed by heatingpreferably
close to or if possible above the boiling point of the liquid. Desorption tak
es place relativelyfast, provided that the required
parameters (temperature and medium to transport the substance)prevail.

The removal of volatile liquids (measurable

vapour pressure, low boiling point) can
be achieved relativelyeasily by pre-cleaning
with warm to hot water or steaming,
depending on the volatility of the liquid.

Non-volatile
liquids (negligible vapour pressure, high boiling point) are extremely
difficult to remove, as a very high temperature would have to be re
ached to
evaporate the liquid (e.g. mineral oils,vegetable oils). The cargo must ther
efore be
dissolved in the pores and capillaries, for which acleaner with a high s
olvency power (methanol)
is typically required. The major difficulty whendissolving a non-
volatile cargo during tank cleaning is the relatively
short contact time of the liquid. Theideal solution is to transport
a cargo with high solvency power and a low cleanliness requirement.

In certain cases, especially for zinc silicate coatings contaminated with no

n-volatile residues, it isnecessary
to use solvent steaming to remove tenacious residues. The most common
solvent employedfor this purpose is toluene. The concentrations
needed for effective cleaning of non-volatile
residues willalways exceed the low electrical conductivity
of toluene, thereby resulting in a flammable mixture in the
tank. The tank must be inerted down to an oxygen content of less than
5 percent
prior to toluenesteaming in order to eliminate the risk of explosion

DISADVANTAGES:
Retains non volatile oil like cargoes.
Adsorbed residues can be dissolved by wall wash test.
Residues can cause contamination of next or after next cargo.
Only zinc safe chemicals can be used for tankcleaning

REMEMBER-- A "ZINC SAFE TANK" CLEANING CHEMICAL IS

NOTHING BUT A LIQUID WITH A pH OF WITHIN THE RANGE 5.5 TO
9.5 -- ANYTHING BEYOND THIS RANGE AND YOU CAN KISS THE
COATING GOODBYE.

Once i had taken over a zinc silicate coated chemical tanker-- the muffs had
destroyed all the coating. When you use DI water or DEMI water generators
with two cylinders ( not MIXED bed ) you should know what you are doing. If
the acidic output pH is less than 6 , the coating gets permanently damaged.

Filtered water is first passed through cation exchange cylinder which removes
CA2+/ MG2+ ( water hardness ions ) cations from it and an equivalent amount
of H+ ions are released into the water. The water is now softened. (THIS
ACIDIC WATER CAN DESTROY YOUR ZINC SILICATE COATING WHICH
CANNOT TAKE pH LESS THAN 6.)

Then this water is passed through an anion exchange cylinder which removes
SO42- CL- ( chlorides ) anions from it and an equivalent amount of OH- ions
are released into the water. The chlorides are now removed. The water is now
called de ionized water or de mineralized water.