Monitoring iron extraction

I am curious to know if anyone has attempted to quantitatively
measure the amount of iron salts extracted from water-logged wood by
EDTA or other chelating / complexing agents.  We routinely remove
iron stains (and thus potentially damaging iron salts) prior to PEG
treatment of ship timbers and other iron-contaminated wood, but want
to monitor the progress and determine end-points more precisely.  We
are wondering if we can use a spectrographic method based on the
change of absorbance between iron-free and iron-rich EDTA solutions.
Any references or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Howard Wellman
Lead Conservator
Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory
Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum
410-586-8577
Fax: 410-586-3643


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 14:33
                 Distributed: Monday, December 18, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-14-33-016
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