Special on protective technologies for the energy industry.
Sustainability is a term that is now far too abused, perhaps because it has numerous meanings, some of which are ignored by most. In fact, it does not only refer to the ability to produce less pollution/waste/impact on the environment in the everyday life and in industrial production processes, but also, for example, to the choice of lengthening the service life of a product, thus promoting a circular economy model.
This autumn issue includes numerous articles, many of which are collected in a special section devoted to the energy production sector, including its offshore applications. These have a common thread: the purpose of preserving assets to extend their service life through installation, protection, or repair technologies that are less expensive (in terms of overall process or maintenance operations) and more efficient.
In a word, sustainable.
The covered topics, therefore, include innovative polyurethane raw materials for the construction of wind turbines, repair systems with cold-applied 100% solid epoxy resins avoiding long downtimes and disassembly costs, direct-to-metal (DTM) water-based systems integrated with graphene to increase their barrier effect, zinc flake coatings that avoid the hydrogen embrittlement of structures subjected to fatigue, and the use of polymeric materials to anchor wind turbines in deep waters with lower process costs.