Efficiency of oxygen - Absorbing sachets in different relative humidities and temperatures

The main objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of oxygen - absorbing sachets at relative humidity of 75%, 80% and 85% and different temperatures, 10 +/- 2 degrees C and 25 +/- 2 degrees C. The experiment consisted in determining the O-2 absorption under these conditions. A sachet was placed in desiccators with an internal air homogenization system. Aliquots of air were removed at preestablished time intervals and analyzed for oxygen content. The results showed that oxygen absorption by the sachet increased as the relative humidity increased for both temperature. Therefore the oxygen - absorbing sachets were most active under 25 +/- 2 degrees C and 85% relative humidity. At ambient condition (25 +/- 2 degrees C/75%RH) the rate of oxygen absorbed was 50 mL/day and 18,5 mL/day for 10 +/- 2 degrees C. It was used a totally casualized design with three replicates.