Francois Leurquin, a senior conservator at the Otago
Settlers Museum, examines equipment used to kill insects in
museum artefacts. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
The Otago Settlers Museum is "doing things differently"
during its redevelopment project, including using innovative
methods to kill any borer in museum artefacts.
Methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting chemical, has long been
used internationally to fumigate buildings and museum
artefacts.
Use of the fumigant is being phased out in many overseas
countries, and the museum is trying a different technique,
called anoxia, to kill any borer or other insect pests in its
artefacts by depriving them of oxygen.
Museum senior conservator Francois Leurquin said about 15,000
artefacts were recently treated in this way before being
transferred to the museum's new climate-controlled storage
building.
The method had been used successfully in several overseas
countries but this was its largest scale use in a New Zealand
museum, he said.
The artefacts were treated in 15cu m lots, with
double-thickness PVC sheeting used to form a tightly sealed
"bubble" around artefacts and nitrogen gas released inside.
About 800 other artefacts, including larger items, had been
"treated" by using an off-site freezing system, part of which
involved keeping artefacts at -30degC for some time.
The anoxia technique was an effective way of killing bugs
without leaving toxic residues inside the museum or otherwise
damaging the environment, Mr Leurquin said.
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