Hybrid polymer mooring system wins plastics industry innovation award
DuPont Performance Materials (DPM) and Technology from Ideas, Ireland (TFI) have been awarded the 2016 European Plastics Innovation Award for “Hybrid Product” for a mooring protection system used to protect wave energy devices in harsh sea conditions.
The ‘Dynamic Tethers’ mooring system is the result of a joint development involving DuPont, TFI and manufacturer Radius Plastics. It is made from DuPont’s Hytrel resin and incorporates hybrid polymer mooring components to control the motion, substantially reduces mooring loads by up to 70 percent. It has the potential to “significantly reduce” mooring costs for both fish farms and ocean energy and its taut leg design also reduces seabed damage from movement of conventional mooring chains.
“We are delighted that our innovation with DuPont has been recognised by this award,” commented Noel Halloran, Chairman TFI Marine, Ireland. “It is the result of a three-year development programme. Our initial product has been successfully demonstrated in the challenging sea environment on Ireland’s Atlantic Coast, over the past 15 months. Our Dynamic tethers have performed excellently, minimising the loads and keeping the moored structure protected, particularly during the recent succession of severe storms. We will shortly be announcing a project to deliver our Tethers to manage mooring loads of up to 500 tonnes for a tidal energy developer.”
The European Plastics Innovation Awards are jointly organised by PlasticsEurope, the European Association of Plastics Manufacturers, the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) and the European Association of Plastics Converters (EuPC).
Thomas Oury, DuPont Performance Materials Regional Director EMEA, said: “We are extremely proud to receive the Plastics Industry Innovation Award as this represents for us recognition from our peers in the plastics industry of our innovation capabilities. As such, we thank PlasticsEurope, SPE and EuPC for launching this initiative, which I believe will act as a catalyst to encourage more innovation from the plastics industry and will also give visibility to great accomplishments in our industry.”