Sharing with permission by Mr. Ted Kinnari, President of D/2 Biological Solution, the response he received from:
400 Avery Hall/GSAPP
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027
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"Ted: Orvus, like Ivory Liquid and Vulpex, has been the subject of much confusion in the conservation community. It is based on one of the commonly-used anionic surfactants. Anionic surfactants, found in many household products, are essentially synthetic soaps in which the significant portion of the molecule carries--at one end--a negative charge.
They should not be confused with non-ionics, despite the apparent similarity of the terms. Non-ionic surfactants do not carry charge.
Anionic surfactants are potentially incompatible with "quats" (quaternary ammonium compounds), the antimicrobial components of D/2. They can reduce D/2's bioactivity, by attaching to the positively-charged site on the "quat" molecules. Thus, a preliminary washing with Orvus can be counter-productive to the effective use of D/2 in the field.
Monument conservators should not be doing this. I understand that there is literature describing Orvus, developed originally for the washing of horses and cattle, as a safe material. In this situation, however, as a pre-wash for D/2, not only is it not needed, but it is a bad idea."
