Glass-ceramic coatings - Anti-struvite coating

Utilizing the latest coating technology on process equipment can make wastewater processing more effective, sustainable, and cost-effective.

To avoid damaging the water, soil and ground water environments, an enormous amount of wastewater from households and industry is treated at wastewater facilities before discharge each day.

In wastewater treatment, the occurrence of struvite on process equipment such as pumps is a recurring problem. By applying an anti-struvite coating to the equipment, struvite sediments can be reduced considerably or eliminated completely, thus extending the operational time between service of the process equipment.  

In industrial water treatment processes, the occurrence of struvite sediments is a well-known issue. Today, increased environmental focus demands more careful wastewater treatment, which creates a larger need for cleaning and maintaining sensors, valves, and pumps where struvite fouling often occurs.        

Read more: Sol-Gel surface technology

The Danish Technological Institute has developed a coating that effectively hinders struvite and other materials from settling on process equipment. The coating also reduces the further build-up and adhesion of struvite that has already settled on the equipment. This means that cleaning the equipment only requires water and no chemicals or mechanical cleaning, and intervals between cleaning are significantly reduced when employing the coating.

- We apply the struvite-repellent coating in our pilot production plant with a spray gun and subsequently oven cure the product. The thickness of the coating is only 5-10 micrometres and it can be applied to several types of metals, such as aluminium, titanium, stainless and carbon steel, says Jens Røberg Frandsen, Business Manager at the Danish Technological Institute.  

Normal operation of equipment requires cleaning every 14 days. However, with the struvite-repellent coating, the operational time can be extended to one year. The minimized amount of struvite and the simpler, cheaper, and less labour-intensive cleaning process means that the process equipment requires fewer service checks than before, thus optimizing the performance of the entire facility.   

How can the Danish Technological Institute help you?

• Assist in choice of coating and application method for your process equipment
• Reduce maintenance and increase the time between cleaning intervals
• Increase the operating time of your process equipment
• Perform application and validation on your items in our own facilities
• General consultancy on coatings and tests