[Nhcoll-l] Formalin transfer

[Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)]

Hi Mandy,

We have and do face similar fume hood bottlenecks. I will let others speak more specifically about soaking in water with a lid on, but we solved many of our problems by purchasing a 'portable' (well, moveable...it's on a stand on casters) fume hood specially fitted with formaldehyde filters and alarm. If this is of interest let me know and I'm happy to pass on supplier info, etc.

Cheers,

Tonya

Collection Manager
Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO
Ph: 0419569109

________________________________
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Mandy Reid <Mandy.Reid at Australian.Museum>
Sent: Thursday, 22 September 2022 11:17 AM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Cc: Rhiannon Stephens <Rhiannon.Stephens at Australian.Museum>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Formalin transfer


We are currently working on a large project at the Australian Museum to transfer our entire mollusc collection out of formalin (in which it has been stored for historical reasons) and into ethanol for long term preservation.



We normally soak each specimen lot out in 3 changes of water in a fume hood with lids left off the containers/vials etc. to assist with degassing of the formaldehyde in solution. Our problem is a bottleneck in our workflow due to limitations imposed by our fumehood work space. I am wondering whether others in the group have faced similar issues and whether soaking out can possibly be done in water but leaving the lids on the containers (hence could be done on a lab bench after pouring off the formalin in the fume hood)? We don’t have a way to measure residual formalin after the soaking-out process so don’t know whether or not this will be effective.



Any advice would be much appreciated.

Mandy



Dr Mandy Reid

Collection Manager | Malacology

Australian Museum  1 William Street Sydney NSW 2010 Australia

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