Supported projects

In an archival context, the conservation of early modern industrial papers is a major challenge due to their brittleness caused by the acidification that develops rapidly after their production. A well-established solution involves neutralising the acids through a deacidification treatment. On the other hand, the simultaneous addition of a consolidant, which allows safe handling of the documents while limiting irreversible material loss, is a practice that has been poorly explored so far, due to a lack of solutions that are effective, sustainable and economically viable. The CRC has developed a unique solution that combines deacidification and consolidation in a one-pot process using aminoalkylalkoxysilane polymers (AAAS). However, from an ecoresponsible perspective, the petroleum-based nature of AAAS encourages research into more sustainable and ecofriendly treatments. The BIOREM project aims to ecodesign sustainable mechanical reinforcement treatments for brittle heritage papers using bio-based polymers. Polymers with basic functional groups capable of deacidifying the paper will be chosen. The approach will be based on the use of amine groups-bearing biosourced polymers such as chitosan, amino-dextran and ε-polylysine, which are seldom explored in cultural heritage conservation. The eco-treatments, formulated in such a way as to guarantee solutions adapted to both conservation requirements and current environmental challenges, will be characterised by physico-chemical analyses (pH, mechanical and rheological properties, FTIR, NMR). The best performing formulations will be tested on archival papers during the BIOCARE doctoral project (DIM PAMIR), by comparing with formulations containing AAAS.