Control the Growth of Barnacles in Water Intakes at Electric Power Plants

Abstract

Barnacles types of oysters rock, who lives glued to rocks and hard surfaces in aquatic environments, shallow and sites that have been submerged in the cases of the tide, ranging in length from 2 cm to 75 cm and recite the skin yellow and white and sometimes orange and red, this type of attached barnacles causes the cortical damage to ship and stations water desalination and thermal power plants to generate electricity from the nearby rivers and beaches as a stick to metal parts, including submersible metal parts.
The barnacles reproduce at points of pipes that carry river water to the condensers of electric power plants, leading to blockage between the period and the last and that the blockage of the tubes leading to the loss of power at Najibiyah, and Hartha power plants in Basra province and Nasiriyah in Thi- Qar province that the losses electrical energy estimated of 200MW.
A non-toxic insulating material composed of several elements is prepared to paint the submerged metal pieces in water to prevent the growth colonies of barnacles.Test of this prepared material was conducted on the half-coated iron plate and submerged in the waters of Shatt al-Arab at Al- AsharandFao regions for two months, It was found that the barnacles was able to establish colonies on the non-coated part of the plate, while the coated part was protected from growing of barnacles colonies.