Cleaner Planet

Infrared imaging on the Odyssey System does not require film, excessive use of fresh water, or any of the hazardous chemicals associated with film development. Consider the following characteristics associated with film development and its associated reagents…

• Many photographic solutions have high chemical and biological oxygen demand (COD and BOD). These chemical wastes are often treated with ozone, peroxide or aeration to reduce the COD.

• Since silver concentration discharge is very tightly regulated, recovery systems do reduce waste but require additional resources of time and water usage to ensure compliance.

• Many photographic chemicals use non-biodegradable compounds, such as EDTA, DTPA, NTA and borate. EDTA, DTPA, and NTA are very often used as chelating agents in all processing solutions, particularly in developers and washing aid solutions. Water containing these chelating agents can leach metal from water treatment equipment as well as pipes. This is becoming an issue in Europe and some parts of the world.

• In some darkrooms, a popular bleach is potassium hexacyanoferrate (III) (common name potassium ferricyanide). This compound decomposes in the waste water stream to liberate cyanide gas. Other popular bleach solutions use potassium dichromate (a hexavalent chromium) or permanganate. Both ferricyanide and dichromate are tightly regulated for sewer disposal. In order to meet the regulation, the solution must be diluted 20 000 (twenty thousand) times or more. All of these popular black and white bleaches are damaging to the environment.

• Borates, such as borax (sodium tetraborate), boric acid and sodium metaborate, are toxic to plants, even at a concentration of 100 ppm. Many film developers and fixers contain 1 to 20 g/L of these compounds at working strength.

• Developing agents are commonly hydroxylated benzene compounds or aminated benzene compounds, and they are harmful to humans and experimental animals. Some are mutagens. They also have a large chemical oxygen demand (COD).

Better Data

In addition to the environmental advantages of infrared imaging, researchers also benefit from the Odyssey Imager’s two infrared fluorescence channels for detection, enabling simultaneous two-color target analysis – an advantage that’s not available with chemiluminescent or radioactive methods. Two-color Western analysis makes normalization easy and eliminates error introduced by stripping and reprobing or by comparison of separate blots. Superior image clarity and detail makes it easier to detect subtle mobility shifts caused by protein modifications such as phosphorylation.