ANOXIA, Treatment by Oxygen Deprivation, Optimizing Treatment Time of Museum Objects

Abstract

ANOXIA, treatment by oxygen deprivation is largely used for decontamination and disinfestation of cellulose and protein-based organic materials. More specifically this method is applied to more than one hundred thousand of objects destinated for a new museum in Paris, "Musee du Quai Branly". We describe the anoxia installation in this museum and report the result of a study regarding the efficiency of this method and the optimum treatment time, crucial for treating a large collection. We show that the standard 21 days of exposure is not always the optimal choice. Temperature plays a crucial role for hastening the death of insects found within objects. At a temperature of 25C, it is entirely possible to reduce exposure times to 10 or 15 days for the insect species commonly found in museums. The oxygen drop times is between 1 and 2 days for most objects, depending on type and porosity of materials. This corresponds to a treatment time between 15 and 16 days. The effect of humidity is less clear. It can increase the necessary treatment time both for larvae and for adult insects.