High-Pressure Cleaning of Ship Hulls

Cleaning Ships' Hulls and Preparing for Corrosion Protection

Removing biofouling, caused by algae, mussels and other organisms, from hulls in a targeted and gentle process with high pressure.

Algae, mussels, worms and other sea organisms settle on a ship's hull over time. This so-called biofouling has two main effects. As a result of the adherence of the sea organisms, the ship's hull becomes rough, which increases the hull's resistance and hence increases the energy required for a given speed. Furthermore, the danger of corrosion on the hull increases due to the environment generated by the biofilm on the ship's hull.

The removal of the organisms with nozzle technology, driven with high-pressure pumps, is an efficient method of cleaning a ship's hull. KAMAT high-pressure systems have been established for this area of application over many years: With manual gun systems, and up to 700 bar pressure, the hull's fouling can be removed completely by high-pressure water jets. High-pressure guns and rotating nozzles

as accessories to KAMAT high-pressure plunger pumps, offer both a high level of controllability of the gun and the ability to efficiently clean large areas. In this way, a surface cleanliness is achieved according to the international standards WJ-3 and WJ-4.

As well as cleaning, paint-removal is also required to enable the subsequent application of a new corrosion protection. This is best carried out with the Ship Hull Crawler with working pressures up to 2,500 bar. In this way, cleanliness levels of the surface according to WJ-1 and WJ-2 can be achieved with the KAMAT high-pressure system.