Nutrition for mold on stainless steel ?

[Guest guest]

Hello group !

Case:

Norwegian offshore, oilplattform has been partly assembled in Korea,

shipped to Norway and is under construction. In one of the " legs "

(actually the pump-room some 50 meters below sea level) there has

been problems with moisture, condensation, smell etc. in the controll

room.

During our inspection we discovered some really heavy mold growth on

some of the parts made out of stainless steel. (Paecilomyces sp.

mostly it turned out). Some of the material was actually

quite " hairy " and I got som nice pictures.

Some other surfaces that were painted did not have any signs of mold

so the " pattern " of growth didnt seem to be consistent with the

moisture levels.

My question is, what is the source of nutrition here ?

I guess " dust - buildup " is a possible cause, but that doesnt seem to

explain all as that would also affect the painted sufaces.

My second thought is that the steel materials are treated with some

kind of " oil-cover " to protect them from corrosion. Maybe this thin

layer is enough to " get things started " .

Does anyone have any information on what this substance could be or

have had similar challenges ?

(I would hate to put stainless steel on my list of materials that are

easily contaminated right up there with gypsum and OSB-plates)

All comments would be appreciated.

Ole Carlson, Mycologist, Norway (excuse my spelling)

www.mycoteam.no

[Guest guest]

I would guess that there may have been something that was wiped onto the stainless steel like a thin oil film either during fabrication or perhaps during post fabrication cleaning. Many people use common vegetable oil on stainless steel to clean and remove streaks. (Although I would not expect the manufacturer of this rig to have been using a product like that I would not necessarily rule it out either.)

Of course I am only guessing here but that would seem to at least be one possible scenario. An applied oil film would also have aided in the collection of dust as time went by and may have encouraged these surfaces to build up their own food sources. Under this scenario, the painted surfaces (lacking the oil film) would not have had this "skin" of food and therefore developed no mold.

Phil S.

Nutrition for mold on stainless steel ?

Hello group ! Case: Norwegian offshore, oilplattform has been partly assembled in Korea, shipped to Norway and is under construction. In one of the "legs" (actually the pump-room some 50 meters below sea level) there has been problems with moisture, condensation, smell etc. in the controll room. During our inspection we discovered some really heavy mold growth on some of the parts made out of stainless steel. (Paecilomyces sp. mostly it turned out). Some of the material was actually quite "hairy" and I got som nice pictures. Some other surfaces that were painted did not have any signs of mold so the "pattern" of growth didnt seem to be consistent with the moisture levels. My question is, what is the source of nutrition here ? I guess "dust - buildup" is a possible cause, but that doesnt seem to explain all as that would also affect the painted sufaces. My second thought is that the steel materials are treated with some kind of "oil-cover" to protect them from corrosion. Maybe this thin layer is enough to "get things started". Does anyone have any information on what this substance could be or have had similar challenges ? (I would hate to put stainless steel on my list of materials that are easily contaminated right up there with gypsum and OSB-plates)All comments would be appreciated. Ole Carlson, Mycologist, Norway (excuse my spelling)www.mycoteam.no FAIR USE NOTICE:This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

[Guest guest]

The molds are certainly not getting carbon out of the

stainless steel. Many fabricated metal products are covered with a light film

of machining oil as a by-product of the manufacturing operation (when you fold,

spindle or mutilate metal you need to do it with as little friction as

possible).

Terry Brennan