Interaction between laser radiation and biofouling for ship hull cleaning

The accumulation of organisms on submersed objects, so-called biofouling, is a serious problem on technically relevant surfaces and causes enormous economic damage. In the case of shipping, it also leads to increased fuel consumption and therefore also to elevated CO2 emissions. Within the context of this work, an experimental setup was built to achieve laser-induced lethal damage to soft fouling microorganisms. At the same time, the influence of this laser treatment on two commercial anti-fouling coatings was evaluated by determining the destruction thresholds and the reflection properties of the coatings. The results show that a cleaning effect of the biofouling can be achieved by laser treatment.