energies Article Issues of Corrosion and Degradation under Dusty Deposits of Energy Biomass Milena Bojanowska 1, * , Jaroslaw Chmiel 1 , Maria Soza ´ nska 2 , Bartosz Chmiela 2 , Joanna Grudzie ´ n 1 and Justyna Halska 1   Citation: Bojanowska, M.; Chmiel, J.; Soza ´ nska, M.; Chmiela, B.; Grudzie ´ n, J.; Halska, J. Issues of Corrosion and Degradation under Dusty Deposits of Energy Biomass. Energies 2021, 14, 534. https://doi.org/10.3390/ en14030534 Received: 2 December 2020 Accepted: 19 January 2021 Published: 21 January 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Faculty of Transport Engineering and Economics, Maritime University of Szczecin, ul. Henryka Pobo ˙ znego 11, 70-507 Szczecin, Poland; j.chmiel@am.szczecin.pl (J.C.); joanna_grudzien@o2.pl (J.G.); justyna.halska@wp.pl (J.H.) 2 Faculty of Materials Engineering and Metallurgy, Silesian University of Technology, ul. Krasi´ nskiego 8, 40-019 Katowice, Poland; maria.sozanska@polsl.pl (M.S.); bartosz.chmiela@polsl.pl (B.C.) * Correspondence: m.bojanowska@am.szczecin.pl Abstract: The aim of the study is to identify and determine the role of microbial degradation taking place in dusty deposits in potential threats (i.e., destruction of protective coatings and development of corrosion) to the means of transport in conditions of transshipment of energy biomass. This paper presents the results of research on the impact of powdery fractions of wood biomass and biomass obtained from oil plants in the degradation of paint coatings and corrosion processes. During the research, exposure to simulated port climate, OM, SEM, and EDS studies were used. It has been found that the presence of the fraction containing protein compounds and amino acids (e.g., dust of rapeseed meal) stimulates the growth of microorganisms whose metabolism products favour the destruction of protective coatings and the development of corrosion. Under the same conditions, the destruction of protective zinc coatings has been observed. It was found that already 14 days of exposure to oily biomass deposits results in damage to paint coatings caused by microbiological processes. The 8-week exposure causes serious degradation of protective coatings and the base material itself. The biomass of wood origin, containing compounds of the tannin type, did not show as much aggressive activity as the biomass with protein compounds. Keywords: energy biomass; corrosion; microbial corrosion; degradation of coatings; hydrogen degradation; maintenance management 1. Introduction The global seaborne trade of bulk cargoes has been systematically increasing for sev- eral years, approaching the volume of 2900 million tons in main bulk commodities: Iron ore, coal, grain, bauxite, alumina, and phosphate rock. In dry cargoes other than main bulk commodities, an upward trend from 3100 to 4200 million tons has been observed since 2013 [1]. Detailed data on selected cargo classes are presented, among others, in publica- tions [2–4]. Rapeseed is the second most important, after soya beans, for the vegetable oil industry, with an annual production volume of more than 70 million tons [2]. The annual world production of oilseeds meals (soybean, rapeseed, sunflower, cotton, copra, peanuts, and palm oil) is now more than 290 million tons [2]. The basic problem in handling bulk cargoes is the presence of powdery fractions and the associated dust environment. The problem of dust in sea ports mainly refers to cargoes such as coal, metal ores, and chemical products [5]. Most attention is paid to the problems of dust and its impact on the environment (including explosiveness) or physiology and health [6–12]. Hazardous effects of dust are also observed when handling the bulk of vegetable origin, in particular of crushed seeds. Creation of dust-air suspension and formation of layers of deposits on surfaces of machinery parts (Figure 1) may result in the participation of powdery Energies 2021, 14, 534. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14030534 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies