Natural Approach in Antifouling Protection: Comparison of Aronia mitschurinii, Holy Basil, and Juvenile Ginger in Short-Term Antifouling Tests

For centuries, various efforts have been made to address the costly and environmentally concerning issue of biofouling. Biofouling refers to the formation of a biofilm on submerged surfaces. This problem affects ships, fisheries, petroleum mining operations, water pipeline systems, and other vital industries. Additionally, biofouling challenges the health of marine environments by the transmission of biofilm-generating bacteria by ships beyond their natural habitat, causing algae blooms, and contributing to fish and crab mortality. Historically, solutions for antifouling protection have included toxic compounds, such as heavy metals and tributyl tin (TBT), as well as biocide busters. Previous attempts in hydrophobic polymeric coatings and plant-based solutions have been explored; however, their efficacy is limited by cost and randomicity in the selection process for plants. Intelligent selection of plant materials in antifouling trials was performed, hypothesizing that the use of plants enriched with antioxidants would slow down surface degradation, benefiting bacteria attachment, as well as slow biofilm polymerization, while the use of plants enriched with essential oils would kill bacteria at the surface. Previously, we hae reported a short-term test utilizing Aronia mitschurinii as the first case of our approach for the choice of plants. Here, based on promising initial screenings of various plants and algae with antibacterial and antioxidant properties, comparative results for the holy basil and juvenile ginger, in comparison to Aronia mitschurinii, are presented. Very high content of essential oils and phenolic antioxidants has been reported for these plants, resulting in a significant reduction in biofilm formation in the initial stages.