Oxygen Absorber

The oxygen scavengers ATCO (picture left) or Ageless (picture above) reduce the oxygen concentration in a sealed container to below 0,01%, creating a very low-oxygen environment. Large containers like disinfestation tents can be flushed with nitrogen before introducing the oxygen scavenger. Ageless sachets contain fine iron powder covered with sea salt and a natural zeolith impregnated with a NaCl-solution. One sachet of Ageless Z 2000 absorbs 2000 ml of oxygen (the oxygen from 10 l air) and contains 7,5 g water which can be controlled by a humidity buffer like PROSORB. Ageless should be used at humidites above 55% RH. Below 55% RH, oxygen absorption is slower and activity is reduced. In dry conditions, the RP-types should be used. New: The new type ATCO FTM 2000-S contains suphur-free iron since it has been demonstrated that the normal types of ATCO and Ageless release sulphurous gases, tarnishing silver and other metals.

Calculation of quantity and application:

This oxygen absorber reduces the oxygen concentration in a sealed container to below 0,01% creating a very low-oxygen environment. Ageless sachets contain fine iron powder covered with sea salt and a natural zeolith impregnated with a NaCl-solution. One sachet of Ageless Z 2000 absorbs 2000 ml oxygen (the oxygen from 10 l air) and releases about 0,8 g of water during use. With no humidity buffer involved, Ageless creates a relative humidity of 75% RH within the container – ATCO FTM only max 68% RH. The rise in RH can be balanced by either 50 g pre-conditioned PRO SORB or one 4 g bag dry silica gel per sachet of Ageless Z 2000 (Elert 2003).
Since absorption of oxygen reduces the volume of the bag by one fifth, bags must always be prepared 20% larger!

Control:

Ageless-eye is a small oxygen indicator tablet turning pink below 0,1% oxygen and returning to blue above 0,5% oxygen. Ageless-eye can be stored 6 months in a refrigerator in a sachet containing an oxygen absorber. After more than one year of storage, the colour shift is not reliable any more. More accurate measuring requires oxygen meters