Pollution Chambers for Paper Evaluation, 2000 Pulping / Process & Product Quality Conference Proceedings

P. Z. Adelstein, J. M. Reilly, E. Zinn--The advent of acid papermaking technology in the mid-nineteenth century has resulted in huge quantities of damaged printing and writing paper. The residual acid within the paper has caused hydrolysis of the cellulose and, thus, the paper damage. By the 1970s, manufacturers began to shift to alkaline papermaking, which has become today the predominant means to make printing and writing paper. The question has arisen as to what would happen to paper if atmospheric pollutant gases in such places as libraries and archives were to gradually turn alkaline papers acid.

A requirement to develop reliable means to accelerate aging of paper with common pollutant gases arose mostly in the library and archive communities. Early efforts to create a test were unsuccessful because of flaws in experimental design. This paper covers that history and the design requirements for a successful chamber. Preliminary data are presented for the development of a test method.