Oxygen scavengers

Christine Del Re <delre [at] mpm__edu> writes

Has anyone in the Conservation Community tested or used these oxygen
scavenging films that are now being used by the food industry?

    <URL:http://www.sealedair.com/
        products/food/os1000/os1000_cryoprod.html>

Various oxygen absorbing films have been in the market for some
years now, but I am not aware of any studies done on their safety
and effectiveness for conservation applications. Their greatest
drawback for non-food uses is their limited capacity to absorb
oxygen (the oxygen absorbing layer on the film is quite thin).

Some of the questions that must be asked before or during further
investigation would include:

    What levels of UV light are needed to activate the film?

    How long will the film continue to absorb oxygen once activated?

    Is there a special apparatus needed to activate the film?

    Is there any off gassing from the oxygen absorbing process?

    What is the shelf life of the film?

    What is the film's capacity to absorb oxygen? (Their web page
    recommends starting with a partially purged atmosphere at 2%
    oxygen, and then allowing the film to reduce the oxygen levels
    to very low levels)

Oxygen absorbing films are currently in use in plastic beer bottles
and ready made soups, where the "headspace" is rather small. For
larger food industry applications, Ageless or a similar product in
packet form is usually used, as their capacity to absorb oxygen is
much greater, and the products are easy to use. RP system is not
used in the food industry, with applications in the pharmaceutical
and electronic manufacturing industries.

Jerry Shiner
Keepsafe Systems
416-703 4696


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:43
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 6, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-20-43-007
                                  ***