Feedback sought for article on removing odor from books

James Druzik <jdruzik<-a t->getty< . >edu> writes

>"Musty" odor may be biological or
>caused by of-gassing in diffusion restricted book structures.  While
>the literature does support the premise that neutralizing acidity
>slows down more forms of degradation than acid-catalyzed hydrolysis
>alone (and this may reduce some odors), it is speculative that in
>any one case a "musty" odor will be corrected this way.
> ...
>This asks a larger question.  Will deacidifying acidic papers reduce
>their susceptibility to mold under high humidity with or without
>enhanced air ventilation?  This is what we intend to investigate
>further in the next few years.

1.  A very positive method for removing odor from paper was found
    accidentally during the application of the DEZ process. Due to
    the application of liquid Nitrogen for removing the water, also
    deterioration products from the books and archival materials
    were removed. This we investigated very seriously at our
    department (TNO Paper and Board, The Netherlands). Another
    method for removing odor and other compounds is extraction with
    supercritical carbon dioxide.

    Of course I want to raise the question: why should we remove the
    odor. Here we have a dilemma, because from historical point of
    view (even a chemical one) the odor belongs to the material and
    gives information on its state. On the other hand, the compounds
    are formed due to deterioration, and can have a negative effect
    on the material. In one of our research programs, we found that
    old paper materials can emit more then 20 compounds. Some of
    those are: formaldehyde, ethanol, toluene, (p and m)xylene,
    limonene, and dodecane. These products are mainly due to lignin
    degradation, however some of them also can be obtained from
    cellulose degradation reactions.

2.  From another research on mold formation, we came to the
    conclusion, that a lot of mold on paper likes an acid
    environment, by making paper alkaline (thus deacidification)
    these types of mold were not found anymore. It is a pity I am
    not allowed to refer to any publication, as this research was
    done on commission, so we do not own the results. So, I think
    Dr. Druzik's research must also aim to investigate the effects
    of mold that prefer to grow on an alkali-environment.

Dr John Havermans
Research Manager
TNO Paper and Board
Delft, The Netherlands

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:32
                  Distributed: Monday, October 6, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-32-004
                                  ***