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Environmental Impact and Life Cycle Cost Analysis of Superhydrophobic Coatings for Anti-Icing Applications
Summary
Researchers performed a life cycle assessment comparing bare aluminum surfaces to polyurethane elastomer superhydrophobic coatings for anti-icing applications and found the coated system reduced total environmental impact across all measured categories while also proving more cost-effective. The study highlights opportunities to further reduce impacts by substituting bio-based, less toxic materials in the coating formulation.
Superhydrophobic coatings have great potential to mitigate ice accumulation and ice adhesion issues due to their outstanding water-repellent and self-cleaning characteristics. In the present study, polyurethane elastomer (PUE) is considered a superhydrophobic coating material for anti-icing applications. The life cycle assessment (LCA) of bare aluminum and PUE-coated systems is performed using the Centrum voor Milieukunde Leiden methodology. The cradle-to-gate LCA scope is implemented to evaluate and compare the total environmental impact. This study revealed that the PUE-coated system exhibited a significant reduction in total environmental impact compared to bare aluminum. The levelized cost of coating analysis demonstrates that the PUE coating system is more economical than bare aluminum surfaces. There is scope to reduce the environmental impact associated with PUE-coated systems using bio-based and less toxic chemicals/solvents.