Abstract
For the last 30 years, the cultural heritage sector has undertaken research into pesticide residues in museum objects. However, quantitative studies of volatile residues remain scarce. This research presents an active air sampling methodology to obtain qualitative and quantitative data for naphthalene as the most common pesticide found in the sampled objects. The sampling procedure comprises of placing contaminated objects inside a sampling chamber fitted with a sorbent tube filled with TENAX, then connected via tubing to a calibrated sampling pump. The sample is desorbed and analysed using automated thermal desorption (ATD) paired with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS). The obtained information allows the calculation of emission rates and modelling of emissions in common museum situations such as inside a box, cabinet or display case. This information informs decision-making regarding ventilation in storage areas and health and safety implications for museum professionals and other stakeholders coming in contact with objects.
Highlights
Nowadays, the vast majority of museums have Integrated Pest Management strategies, which aim to control pests without the need to use toxic chemicals [1]
Analysis of museum objects Three objects with confirmed naphthalene contamination were sampled at various temperatures for specific amounts of time (Table 1)
This research presents a non-invasive, non-destructive methodology to quantify naphthalene emissions from contaminated museum objects, based on established industry standards modified for use in museum environments
Summary
The vast majority of museums have Integrated Pest Management strategies, which aim to control pests without the need to use toxic chemicals [1]. Volatile pesticide residues in collections need to be studied using non-invasive (not requiring a sample from the object) [16] and multi-residue techniques (able to identify various compounds), with a low limit of detection (LOD) and with minimal or no impact on the museum environment [16]. A suitable method to calculate the emission rates of a volatile pesticide from an individual contaminated museum object has not been developed yet and would provide useful information for health and safety assessments regarding the quality of air surrounding objects inside object enclosures, display cases or in storage areas [6, 7, 10, 13].
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