Osmium Recycling Kit - Beta Testing

Osmium is a non-renewable resource and we should be working to preserve that which is now in existence for future generations

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Introduction: Osmium, the starting material for osmium tetroxide, which is widely used in electron microscopy laboratories around the world is a non-renewable resource and is in limited supply worldwide. All of us should be thinking about future generations of researchers, and our obligation to do what we can to preserve the available osmium for future use.

Up until now, it has been non-economic to recycle the "spent osmium", which is really a suspension of osmium dioxide to a precious metals refiner because of the small quantities that a single large laboratory with multiple users would accumulate. And because of shipping regulations, both national and international, it becomes an even more impossible situation to figure out how to get the material sent to some central location for processing.

Consequently, virtually all "waste osmium" hauled off from laboratory sites is destined either for incineration or land film disposal. No attempt is made at recovery of the osmium content. And this kind of disposal is not cheap. Depending on the size of your laboratory, and amount being generated, and the contract your institution signs with the waste hauler, one typically pays anywhere from $300-$600 per one gallon volume of "spent osmium" suspension/solution.

Regulatory issues:
Although most technical people in the world have a "green conscience" when it comes to recycling and pollution, for many, if doing it the "green" way costs more money, they do it the old way. So our first consideration was that we had to make it possible to carry away the spent osmium solution/suspension for a cost that would be equal to or lower than the cost presently being incurred for disposal via conventual methods.

And this would mean that the volume of spent solution would have to be able to be carried via one of the courier services, such as UPS or FedEx Ground if in the USA and these same services by air if outside the USA. And in order to do that, we can not accept any spent osmium for recycling that has in it any cacodylate buffer which would contain arsenic.

So our beta test program is directed only toward those laboratories that do not use cacodylate buffer (e.g. they are using only phosphate buffer or no buffer at all, such as in a materials science laboratory staining polymers) or those laboratories who would be willing to set up two separate and different recycling bottles, one strictly for the non-arsenic containing left over solutions and the other for the cacodylate-containing buffered solutions.

Other considerations:
We can not accept back any spent osmium that has been neutralized already in vegetable oil. The oil presents real problems to the recycling process and essentially kills the process. We can not accept back for recycling osmium that has been previously mixed with any kind of oily substance.

How it works:
The customer purchases from SPI Supplies a recycling kit that consists of a glass bottle in special foam packaging, with the bottle being filled with a powder composition that is capable of neutralizing up to one gallon of 4% spent osmium solution. Now when we say "neutralize" we mean that any osmium remaining at the highly reactive tetroxide would be instantly reduced by the components in the bottle to the relatively innocuous (black) osmium dioxide. And so long as the bottle itself is never called "waste" and is always viewed as material for recycling, the contents would be unregulated in the sense that it could be shipped back to SPI Supplies via the ground services of either FedEx or UPS if in the USA and if outside the USA, by the air services of either of these two carriers.

What you get back:
We anticipate that the precious metals content in each one gallon jug would result in the recovery of sufficient osmium metal and with enough value to permit us to return to the customer two 1g vials of new osmium tetroxide, and thereby satisfying the requirement that this is a true recycling since some of the osmium is being returned to the original generator for reuse.

What is required of our customers?
As part of the kit that is purchased, there will be a quick arsenic test. You will be required to do a single final test of the contents of the bottle and certify that you have done the test and that it test zero for arsenic. This certification would be required by the courier services.

The cost of the recycling kits:
We believe that in most instances, short of someone flushing their spent osmium down the drain (which we sincerely hope no one ever does), that the nominal charge for the kit itself is going to be much less than what is not being paid to take the material to incineration or landfill and as if this was not a compelling enough reason, you will receive back two brand new 1g ampoules of osmium.

Is there any "catch"?
Yes, there is one. The two free ampoules will be shipped with the next order placed with SPI Supplies for either additional osmium or other dangerous goods that require the same dangerous goods packaging system. Doing it this way means that the two ampoules will get shipped without having to pay for a separate set of dangerous goods packaging just for the two new ampoules. Since most volume purchases or osmium purchase presently in boxes of ten ampoules, these two additional ampoules would essentially travel in the same packaging and for the same shipping charge. While the savings in shipping charges is minor for USA shipments, for shipments to customers outside the USA, this becomes a significant savings.

Kit content:
Each kit consists of the following:

Glass bottle filled with neutralizing solution
Return shipping container
Arsenic test kit
Instructions
Prepaid shipping back to SPI Supplies in the USA.

No one has ever done anything like this before. SPI Supplies is recognized for its leadership in not only the development of new and innovative products for microscopy but also for its leadership in being the first to develop recycling programs for diamond knives, burned out filaments, and now, osmium, a non-renewable resource. We still call this our "beta test" phase because just when we think we experience all possible problems, a new one crops up. So please bear with us as we bring this exciting new product to the EM marketplace. With the passing of time, and as we get more experience, we anticipate that we will be able to increase the number of new ampoules returned and also, reduce the initial cost of the recycling kits.

Osmium recycling kit:	SPI #	Each	In Stock
Each	02593-AB	$ 155.30	No
Pack of 10 kits	02593-BA	1035.35	No

The expiration date for the ingredients in the gallon glass bottle is 5 years.

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