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Main bracket
Lube Oils and Additives
Bottom transverse
This group of cargoes (excluding
Bottom shell
halogenated, phosphated, and
Longitudinal
Bottom girder Keel plate
ester types) usually poses no prob-
Bottom girder
lems for carriage in coated cargo
Fig. 1: Structural components of older cargo tanks tanks, but contamination of cargo
may be a problem, requiring thor-
cargo tank structures, since the stock, aviation fuels, heating oils, ough cleaning and drying of tanks
reinforcing framework is placed in etc. These cargoes are not very before loading. These products
ballast tanks, double bottoms, and aggressive, and they usually are usually can be carried in tanks
sometimes on the upper side of shipped in conventional epoxy- coated with conventional epoxy.
the main deck. Figure 2 shows coated tanks. However, some
schematically the structure of a unleaded gasolines may require a How Cargoes Affect
modern double-hull tanker where modified epoxy or zinc silicate Coating Selection
the required reinforcing of bulk- coating system. For the right choice of coating
heads is obtained by using corru- system and proper handling of
gated plates, a design which Solvents and Chemicals cargoes, a basic knowledge of the
makes coating operations much This complex group of liquid chemical properties of the most
easier. cargoes includes alcohols, ketones, common cargoes is advisable,
glycols, esters, ethers, aromatic since the behaviour of products
Liquid Cargoes hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydro- within the same groups of organic
and Cargo Handling carbons, etc. These cargoes vary compounds may vary to a great
Crude Oil from mild to very aggressive. They extent. For instance, methanol will
Raw crude oil is pumped directly are shipped in tanks coated with soften most organic coatings, but
from a holding tank into a ship’s epoxy, modified epoxy, and zinc alcohols with higher molecular
cargo tanks. It varies widely in silicate. Some of these products weight are far less aggressive.
chemical composition, sulphur, require extreme care in the choice In most groups of organic com-
and water content. Depending on of coating and cargo handling. pounds (i.e., alcohols, esters,
its chemical composition, the pre- ketones, etc.), individual com-
vailing components of crude oil Vegetable and Animal Oils pounds differ in their effect on
are naphthenic, paraffinic, or aro- Vegetable and animal oils may coatings. Compounds of lower
matic hydrocarbons. Crude oils are vary in composition. The most molecular weight usually are more
carried in bare steel tanks and important factor is their free fatty aggressive than their higher homo-
tanks coated with epoxy coal tar acid content, which greatly affects logues. For instance, pure epoxy
or epoxy paints. the suitability of coatings. Refined coatings are not suitable for long-
vegetable oils with low acid value term contact with acetone, other
White Oil are usually acceptable for carriage lower ketones (e.g., methyl ethyl
This group of liquid cargoes con- in conventional epoxy-coated ketone), or the lower esters such
sists mainly of aliphatic hydrocar- tanks. Those with a higher acid as methylacetate. They are, how-
bon products and includes gaso- value are more aggressive and ever, suitable for higher homo-
line, diesel oils, kerosene, virgin may require a more resistant coat- logues such as methyl isobutyl
46 PCE April 1998
Copyright ©1998, Technology Publishing Company
ketone and dibutylphalate. due to osmosis may occur. trade: vinyls, polyesters, epoxies,
This difference in behaviour Zinc silicate coatings are based epoxy phenolics, epoxy iso-
toward coatings depends mainly on inorganic binders and, there- cyanates, polyurethanes, alkaline
on the steric hindrance (three- fore, they have none of these dis- zinc silicates, and ethyl zinc sili-
dimensional structure) of individ- advantages. They are very resis- cates.
ual molecules. It is easier for tant to strong solvents but, on the Some of these coating materials
smaller molecules to penetrate the other hand, very sensitive to the have stopped being used for tank
polymeric structures, solvating or acidity (below pH 6) and alkalinity linings. Vinyls, being thermoplas-
encapsulating the polymer chains (above pH 9) of cargoes. For this tic, had limited solvent resistance.
in solvent. Steric hindrance also reason, they are not suitable for Glass-reinforced polyesters, used
depends on the number of chain cargoes such as most vegetable for transportation of acid cargoes,
branches. Linear chains have more oils, highly alkaline crude oils, were replaced by stainless steel
penetrating power than chains caustic alkalines, etc. Furthermore, tanks. Polyurethanes, loudly adver-
with lateral branches. hydrolisable cargoes such as esters tised in the 1980s for their wide
Other factors influencing the sol- and chlorinated hydrocarbons resistance to different types of car-
vent power of non-hydrocarbon must be carried dry in perfectly goes, showed some application
compounds on polymers are func- problems and unsatisfactory resis-
tional groups (such as –OH for tance to ballast water.
alcohols, –NH2 for amines, –O– Today’s state-of-the-art coatings
for ethers, etc.), polarity of mole- basically fall into the following cat-
cules, and hydrogen bonds. egories: pure epoxy, epoxy pheno-
All of today’s organic coatings lic, epoxy isocyanate, alkaline zinc
for cargo tanks are two-component silicate, ethyl zinc silicate, and
types, resulting in a chemically cyclosilicon epoxy. Typical systems
crosslinked film that cannot be Fig. 2: Transverse section of a modern based on these coatings are shown
redissolved. However, strong sol- double-hull tanker in Table 1.
vents can soften cured coatings,
causing swelling and, in some dry tanks. Pure Epoxies
cases, even scaling from the sub- Proper cargo handling is not Pure epoxy coatings are based on
strate. For instance, methylene always an easy task. Although bisphenol A/epichlorhydrin resins
chloride is such a strong solvent paint manufacturers furnish resis- reacting, through their terminal
for organic coatings that it is used tance lists for their tank coating epoxide (oxirane) groups, with hard-
as a paint remover. Therefore, it systems, some resistance lists eners having polyfunctional –NH2
should not be carried in tanks may contain up to 4,000 sea-trade groups (polyamines or polyamides).
coated with organic coatings. products. These lists must be Chemical resistance and mechani-
An additional factor affecting consulted for each cargo. More cal properties of epoxy coatings may
coating suitability is the water sol- aggressive cargoes are marked vary to a great extent, depending on
ubility of solvents. Most organic with one or more restriction nota- the formulation of individual paints.
coatings used for cargo tank pro- tions, which must be read and Factors influencing these properties
tection can tolerate a certain understood in order to avoid mis- are the molecular weight of resins,
degree of softening from solvent takes. Failing to comply with the type of hardener, and, to a lesser
absorption, provided they are restrictions or cargo handling degree, pigmentation and solvent
given sufficient time for the instructions may cause severe mixture.
absorbed solvent to evaporate and damage to coatings. Low molecular weight epoxy
to regain their original hardness. resins result in coating films with a
However, if the retained solvent is Protective Coatings higher density of three-dimensional
water-soluble and tanks are for Cargo Tanks crosslinkings as well as a lower
washed with water or loaded with During the last 30 years, several number of hydroxyl groups.
an aqueous cargo before the film types of coatings have been used Therefore, low molecular weight
has completely dried, blistering for tank lining service in the sea epoxy resins offer better chemical