[Paper Review] ANOXIA, Treatment by Oxygen Deprivation, Optimizing Treatment Time of Museum Objects

Michèle Gunn, Houri Ziaeepour+2 more|ArXiv.org|Nov 21, 2006

Conservation Techniques and Studies2 references3 citations

TL;DR

This study investigates oxygen deprivation (anoxia) as a non-chemical method for decontaminating organic museum objects, particularly for the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris. It demonstrates that treatment times can be significantly reduced—down to 10–15 days at 25°C—without compromising efficacy, challenging the standard 21-day protocol, while highlighting temperature as a key factor in accelerating insect mortality.

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.

Motivation & Objective

• To evaluate the efficiency and optimal duration of anoxia treatment for decontaminating cellulose and protein-based museum objects.
• To address the challenge of treating over 100,000 objects for a new museum, requiring scalable and non-damaging methods.
• To determine whether the standard 21-day treatment duration is optimal or can be shortened without compromising insect mortality.
• To assess the influence of environmental factors—particularly temperature and humidity—on treatment efficacy and required exposure time.

Proposed method

• Implementation of a large-scale anoxia system at the Musée du Quai Branly to treat organic museum objects.
• Use of oxygen-deprived environments to induce insect asphyxiation, targeting both adult insects and larvae.
• Monitoring of oxygen depletion rates, which ranged from 1 to 2 days depending on material porosity and type.
• Systematic testing of treatment durations (10, 15, and 21 days) at controlled temperatures, particularly 25°C.
• Evaluation of insect mortality across different species commonly found in museum collections.
• Analysis of humidity effects on treatment duration, comparing outcomes for larvae and adult insects.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Is the standard 21-day anoxia treatment duration optimal for decontaminating museum objects, or can it be shortened?
• RQ2 How does temperature influence the rate of insect mortality during anoxia treatment?
• RQ3 What is the relationship between material porosity and oxygen depletion time in anoxia systems?
• RQ4 How does relative humidity affect the required treatment duration for both adult insects and larvae?
• RQ5 Can treatment times be reduced to 10–15 days without compromising efficacy at 25°C?

Key findings

• At 25°C, anoxia treatment durations of 10 to 15 days are sufficient to achieve complete insect mortality, challenging the standard 21-day protocol.
• Oxygen depletion times ranged from 1 to 2 days across different materials, depending on porosity and type, indicating rapid establishment of anoxic conditions.
• Treatment times of 15–16 days were found to be optimal when accounting for oxygen depletion and exposure duration.
• Temperature significantly accelerates insect death, with 25°C being highly effective in reducing required exposure time.
• Humidity has a complex effect, potentially increasing treatment duration for both larvae and adult insects, though the exact mechanism requires further study.
• The study confirms that anoxia is a viable, non-damaging method for large-scale decontamination of organic museum objects, especially when optimized for temperature and duration.