KCC, Joint Development of Eco-Friendly 'Solvent-Free Coating'... Applied to Ultra-Large Ships

An ore carrier of Polaris Shipping, the same ship type as the vessel planned to apply the eco-friendly 'solvent-free coating'.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] KCC announced on the 10th that it will apply the eco-friendly "solvent-free coating" jointly developed with Hyundai Heavy Industries and Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering to ships.

The ship to which the solvent-free coating will be applied this time is a 325,000-ton ultra-large ore carrier ordered by Polaris Shipping from Hyundai Heavy Industries. The solvent-free coating reduces the emission of volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere and lowers the risk of accidents such as suffocation, explosion, and fire that may occur during painting work in enclosed areas. The company explained that it can establish a clean and safe painting work environment without harmful effects on the human body.

Through joint development, KCC applied a special technology that maintains the safety and high basic physical properties required for ships without organic solvent components while maintaining the appropriate viscosity of the coating itself, improving the workability of painting. In addition, it contributed to improving shipbuilding efficiency by standardizing new ship painting specifications and shortening the painting process period by enabling the formation of coatings of various thicknesses with just one coating.

The eco-friendly solvent-free coating is expected to expand its use as the next-generation standard coating for domestic shipyards in the ship coating field in the future. The Ministry of Environment announced a legislative notice last December for the revision of the Enforcement Rules of the Atmospheric Environment Conservation Act, recommending the use of solvent-free coatings.

According to the revision, when performing ship painting work, either atmospheric pollution prevention facilities must be installed, or instead, a certain proportion or more of eco-friendly solvent-free coatings with low volatile organic compound emissions must be used. The usage rate of solvent-free coatings is planned to be gradually expanded to more than 60% of the total coating usage by 2024.

Kim Beomseong, head of KCC's Coating Business Division, said, "Since solvent-free coatings can be an alternative to reducing air pollution, we hope that starting with the application to Polaris Shipping's ore carrier for the first time, it will broaden the base of eco-friendly shipbuilding technology and become an opportunity to secure global competitiveness."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.