Anoxia

Smadar Gabrieli <smadar.gabrieli<-at->sydney<.>edu<.>au> writes

>I work for a small archaeological museum...
>
>We have recently been contacted by a company that supplies
>controlled-air systems to hospitals and libraries.  They suggested a
>system that will supply filtered air, rich in nitrogen (10% oxygen)
>at the required humidity to individual display cases.

Smadar Gabrieli asks whether it would be a good idea to install an
anoxic--or rather, reduced oxygens--climate control system in
display cases in a small museum.

I cannot see any advantages in this proposal.  Reducing the oxygen
content of the atmosphere in the cases from 20% to 10% will have an
insignificant effect on the rate of deterioration of the objects on
display and will not assist in pest control: for both of these
purposes you would need to get well below 1% oxygen.  At present you
say you have a passive climate control system which I assume works
well; an active system will be expensive to install and run and will
be liable to mechanical failure.

In my opinion, the only purpose for which a reduced oxygen
environment is useful is for fire prevention in a high-density
store, such as those used by the British Library.  It is always
better to use passive environmental control than active, if the
desired parameters can be maintained.

Barry Knight
St Albans
England


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 29:37
                 Distributed: Sunday, February 14, 2016
                       Message Id: cdl-29-37-003
                                  ***