title: XRF measurements of tin, copper and zinc in antifouling paints coated on leisure boats.
abstract: Tributyltin (TBT) and other organotin compounds have been restricted for use on leisure boats since 1989 in the EU. Nonetheless, release of TBT is observed from leisure boats during hull maintenance work, such as pressure hosing. In this work, we used a handheld X-ray Fluorescence analyser (XRF) calibrated for antifouling paint matrixes to measure tin, copper and zinc in antifouling paints coated on leisure boats in Sweden. Our results show that over 10% of the leisure boats (n = 686) contain >400 μg/cm(2) of tin in their antifouling coatings. For comparison, one layer (40 μm dry film) of a TBT-paint equals ≈ 800 μg Sn/cm(2). To our knowledge, tin has never been used in other forms than organotin (OT) in antifouling paints. Thus, even though the XRF analysis does not provide any information on the speciation of tin, the high concentrations indicate that these leisure boats still have OT coatings present on their hull. On several leisure boats we performed additional XRF measurements by progressively scraping off the top coatings and analysing each underlying layer. The XRF data show that when tin is detected, it is most likely present in coatings close to the hull with several layers of other coatings on top. Thus, leaching of OT compounds from the hull into the water is presumed to be negligible. The risk for environmental impacts arises during maintenance work such as scraping, blasting and high pressure hosing activities. The data also show that many boat owners apply excessive paint layers when following paint manufacturers recommendations. Moreover, high loads of copper were detected even on boats sailing in freshwater, despite the more than 20 year old ban, which poses an environmental risk that has not been addressed until now.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Shipping and Marine Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: erik.ytreberg@chalmers.se.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ytreberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Maria Alexandra
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bighiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lennart
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lundgren
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eklund
mesh_terms: D057219:Biofouling / Q000517:prevention & control; D003300:Copper / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D009659:North Sea; D010150:Paint / Q000032:analysis*; D012767:Ships; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D013548:Sweden; D014001:Tin / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D015032:Zinc / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014001:Tin; D003300:Copper; D015032:Zinc
keywords: Antifouling paints; Copper; Metals; TBT; XRF; Zinc