THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2019
Indian researchers based out of the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, have developed a way to protect ships from corrosion using a compound from mango leaves.
According to SciDev, the recent development is more efficient than synthetic paints, and is also environmentally friendly. The report was published in ACS Omega.
Mango Leaf Corrosion Protection
With ship corrosion and subsequent prevention measures costing the U.S. around $2.5 trillion a year and an interest in plant-based solutions on the upswing, using mango leaves for its inherent anti-oxidant properties, as well as the presence of corrosion-resistant polyphenols, is a step connecting these two points of interest.
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| pernsanitfoto / Getty Images |
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Indian researchers based out of the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, have developed a way to protect ships from corrosion using a compound from mango leaves. |
The team developed a formation of “an insoluble organometallic complex at the metal-electrolyte interface,” team leader Nishanth K. Gopalan told SciDev. The compound was created using an epoxy base, incorporating extracts from mango leaves in an amorphous silica substrate, resulting in 99% corrosion inhibition when the steel substrate was introduced to a saline mixture.
Another key to making this method work was using ethanol to extract phytochemical from dried leaves. The anti-corrosive properties stem from what was essentially the creation of iron-polyphenol, “an organometallic compound,” noted Gopalan.
Testing, which implemented electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, as well as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, indicated that positive bioactive elements formed. Nitya Nand Gosvami, assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, emphasized that the anti-corrosion treatment has so far only been tested in a laboratory environment.
“What has been developed is a dip-coated method—we do not know the strength of this coating and its ability to resist wear and tear in real conditions outside the laboratory, or the commercial viability of the product,” Gosvami said.
Moving forward, additional tests will be carried out with assistance from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Delhi. Other successful developments include: a zinc-chicory hybrid, seaweed extracts and horse mint.
Tagged categories: Coating Materials; Corrosion; Corrosion protection; Research and development; Ships and vessels
