Eliminating Hydrogen Peroxide Volatiles after Lead White Conversion Treatment Via Sorption Agents
-
Luise Raab
Luise Raab completed her M.A. at the Study Programme Conservation of Works of Art on Paper, Archives and Library Materials at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design in 2019 with a thesis entitled “Great work on a small format. Repair and adulteration of postage stamps” about methods of forgery and modern conservation approaches to the repair of postage stamps. Since October 2019, she works in cooperation with Barbara Hassel in Frankfurt, and has launched a private practice close to Nuremberg.Ute Henniges is academic associate at the Study Programme Conservation of Works of Art on Paper, Archives and Library Materials at the Stuttgart Academy of Art and Design Stuttgart. She obtained a diploma in paper conservation in 2004 at that institution and gained a doctorate in 2008 at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, where she was employed as researcher until February 2018. Her main areas of interest to date have been bleaching, iron gall inkcorrosion, mass deacidification as well as cellulose chemistry and derivatives.Irene Brückle is professor and head of the Study Programme Conservation of Works of Art on Paper, Archives and Library Materials at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design since 2008. From 2005 to 2008, she was head of conservation at the Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. From 1990 to 2004, she taught full-time at the Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State College and became a professor there in 1992. She holds an MA degree in art history from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a doctorate from the Stuttgart Academy. She received the Caroline Keck award for excellence in teaching from the American Institute for Conservation (2006). She is a member of the editorial board of Studies in Conservation (IIC).
Abstract
Hydrogen peroxide (HP) residues that remain after the conversion of blackened lead white may cause unwanted paper discolouration and degradation. Four VOCs sorption materials were tested for their ability to eliminate HP gas evolving from the treated substrate. This was tested by measuring the change in HP concentration in aqueous solution and in an enclosed air space in the presence of MicroChamber® Interleaving Paper, Corrosion Intercept® film, Zorflex® activated carbon cloth (ACC) and iron sulphate-impregnated paper. Detection with the colour indicator Quantofix® test strips and a Dräger X-am® 5100 single gas detection device showed that ACC is by far most efficient in decreasing the HP concentration. ACC was also effective in preventing paper discolouration in test objects that had been HP-treated for lead white conversion and then were stored sandwiched between ACC. Although ACC may not eliminate all HP from the substrate, it can diminish its negative effects on the treated object and protect other objects in the vicinity.
Zusammenfassung
Eliminierung von flüchtigem Wasserstoffperoxid mittels Sorptionsmittel nach einer Bleiweißumwandlung
Reste von Wasserstoffperoxid (HP), die nach der Umwandlung von geschwärztem Bleiweiß zurückbleiben, können zu unerwünschten Verfärbungen und Abbau von mit Eisenionen kontaminiertem Papier führen. Vier VOC-Sorptionsmaterialien wurden auf ihre Fähigkeit getestet, flüchtiges HP zu eliminieren, das von dem behandelten Papier abgegeben wird. Dazu wurde die Änderung der HP-Konzentration in wässriger Lösung und in der Luft in einem geschlossenen Behälter in Gegenwart von MicroChamber® Interleaving Paper, Corrosion Intercept®-Folie, Zorflex®-Aktivkohlegewebe (ACC) und mit Eisensulfat imprägniertem Papier gemessen. Die Messungen erfolgten mittels Quantofix®-Teststreifen und eines Dräger X-am® 5100-Einzelgasdetektionsgerätes. Die Tests ergaben, dass ACC die HP-Konzentration am effizientesten senkt. Durch den Einsatz von ACC konnten auch Verfärbungen von Testpapieren verhindert werden, die zur Umwandlung von Bleiweiß mit HP behandelt worden waren und dann zwischen ACC eingelagert wurden. Obwohl ACC HP möglicherweise nicht vollständig aus dem Substrat entfernt, kann es seine negativen Auswirkungen auf das behandelte Objekt deutlich reduzieren und andere Objekte in der Nähe schützen.
Resumé
L’élimination de résidus volatiles de péroxyde d’hydrogène après un traitement de conversion du blanc de plomb au moyen d’agents de sorption.
Les résidus de péroxyde d’hydrogène qui restent après conversion du blanc de plomb noirci peuvent provoquer un jaunissement du papier non voulu et une dégradation. Quatre matériaux de sorption VOC ont été testés pour leur capacité à éliminer le gas de péroxyde d’hydrogène apparaissant sur le substrat traité. Ceci a été testé en mesurant le changement de concentration en péroxyde d’hydrogène en solution aqueuse et dans un espace clos en présence des papiers suivants: MicroChamber® Interleaving Paper, Corrosion Intercept® film, un tissu Zorflex® au charbon actif (ACC) et un papier imprégné de sulphate de fer. La détection avec des bandes tests d’indicateur de couleur Quantofix ou un outil de détection du gas seul Dräger X-am® 5100 ont montré que le tissu imprégné de charbon actif (ACC) est bien plus efficace pour faire diminuer la concentration en péroxyde d’hydrogène. Le tissu ACC s’est révélé efficace pour prévenir le jaunissement du papier des objets tests traités pour une conversion du blanc de plomb et stockés en sandwich entre du ACC. Bien que l’ACC ne puisse pas éliminer tout le péroxyde d’hydrogène du substrat, cela peut diminuer les effets négatifs sur les objets traités et protéger d’autres objets proches.
About the authors
Luise Raab completed her M.A. at the Study Programme Conservation of Works of Art on Paper, Archives and Library Materials at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design in 2019 with a thesis entitled “Great work on a small format. Repair and adulteration of postage stamps” about methods of forgery and modern conservation approaches to the repair of postage stamps. Since October 2019, she works in cooperation with Barbara Hassel in Frankfurt, and has launched a private practice close to Nuremberg.
Ute Henniges is academic associate at the Study Programme Conservation of Works of Art on Paper, Archives and Library Materials at the Stuttgart Academy of Art and Design Stuttgart. She obtained a diploma in paper conservation in 2004 at that institution and gained a doctorate in 2008 at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, where she was employed as researcher until February 2018. Her main areas of interest to date have been bleaching, iron gall inkcorrosion, mass deacidification as well as cellulose chemistry and derivatives.
Irene Brückle is professor and head of the Study Programme Conservation of Works of Art on Paper, Archives and Library Materials at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design since 2008. From 2005 to 2008, she was head of conservation at the Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. From 1990 to 2004, she taught full-time at the Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State College and became a professor there in 1992. She holds an MA degree in art history from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a doctorate from the Stuttgart Academy. She received the Caroline Keck award for excellence in teaching from the American Institute for Conservation (2006). She is a member of the editorial board of Studies in Conservation (IIC).
Acknowledgements
The authors thankfully acknowledge Georg J. Dietz, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, for providing Figure 1 and Emily Kristin Müller, 2018 graduate of the Stuttgart Academy, for mock-up papers with blackened lead white.
List of Materials
| Material | Supplier |
|---|---|
| ammonium hydroxide | Sigma-Aldrich Chemie GmbH |
| Riedstraße 2, 89555 Steinheim | |
| activated carbon cloth Zorflex®-FM10 | Long Life for Art |
| Christoph Waller | |
| Hauptstraße 47 | |
| 79359 Eichstetten | |
| lead white on paper (sample material) | Emily Müller |
| Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart | |
| Am Weißenhof 1 | |
| 70191 Stuttgart | |
| Corrosion Intercept® film | INTERCEPT Technology GmbH |
| Am Goldberg 2 | |
| 99817 Eisenach Germany | |
| iron sulphate heptahydrate | Merck KGaA |
| Frankfurter Straße 250 | |
| 64293 Darmstadt | |
| glass container with plastic lid (PP) | commercially available |
| Methocel® A4C, cellulose ether | Dow Deutschland |
| Anlagengesellschaft GmbH | |
| Am Kronenberger Hang 4 | |
| 65824 Schwalbach/Ts. | |
| MicroChamber® interleaving paper | Conservation Resources International LLC. |
| 5532 Port Royal Road | |
| Springfield, Virginia 22151 | |
| USA | |
| Parafilm® | VWR International GmbH |
| Hilpertstraße 20a | |
| 64295 Darmstadt | |
| Quantofix® Peroxide 25 | KOCH+NAGY, Labortechnische Systeme GmbH |
| Porschestraße 9 | |
| 70736 Fellbach | |
| hydrogen peroxide 30% | Carl Roth GmbH & Co. KG |
| Schoemperlenstr. 1–5 | |
| 76185 Karlsruhe | |
| Whatman® filter paper No. 1 | Sigma-Aldrich Chemie GmbH |
| Dräger X-am® 5100 single gas detection device with HP sensor | Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA |
| Moislinger Allee 53–55 23558 Lübeck | |
References
Daniels, V.: The elimination of bleaching agents from paper. The Paper Conservator 1(1) (1976): 9–11.10.1080/03094227.1976.9638474Search in Google Scholar
Ebermann, R., Elmadafa, I.: Lehrbuch Lebensmittelchemie und Ernährung, 2nd edn., Vienna: Springer-Verlag, 2011.10.1007/978-3-7091-0211-4Search in Google Scholar
Hatchfield, P. B.: Pollutants in the Museum Environment. Practical Strategies for Problem Solving in Design, Exhibition and Storage, London: Archetype Publications, 2002.Search in Google Scholar
Hummert, E., Kling, S., Brückle, I.: Treating a previously bleached artwork on paper. Restaurator 33/2–3 (2012): 395–408.10.1515/res-2012-0017Search in Google Scholar
Intercept Technology. Intercept Technology™. http://www.intercept-technology.de (accessed 09. 05. 2018).Search in Google Scholar
Kraan, M., Ligterink, F. J., Reissland, B., van Beek, B., van Velzen, B., Joosten, I., Hallebeek, P.: A million brown spots after conservation: untangling the cause-effect chain. In: Edinburgh Conference Papers 2006: Proceedings from the Fifth International Conference of the Institute of Paper Conservation and First International Conference of the Institute of Conservation, Book and Paper Group, 26-29 July 2006, S. Jaques (ed.), London: The Institute of Conservation, 2006: 59–65.Search in Google Scholar
Krämer, M., Henniges, U., Brückle, I.: Vorbehandlung mit Calciumphytat bei der Wasserstoffperoxid-Bleiche. Ein Versuch mit Musterpapieren. Arbeitsblätter NRW Papierrestauratoren 16 (2017): 87–94.Search in Google Scholar
Lussier, S. M.: An examination of lead white discolouration and the impact of treatment on paper artifacts: a Summary of experimental Testing. The Book and Paper Group Annual 25 (2006): 9–12.Search in Google Scholar
Mattila, H., Khorobrykh, S., Havurinne, V., Tyystjärvi, E.: Reactive oxygen species: Reactions and detection from photosnthetic tissues. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 152 (2015): 176–214.10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2015.10.001Search in Google Scholar
McFarland, M. R.: The whitening effects of peroxide gels on darkened lead white paint. The Book and Paper Group Annual 16 (1997): 55–65.Search in Google Scholar
Mowery, J. F.: The conservation of the omenhauser civil war sketchbook. The Book and Paper Group Annual 10 (1991): 1–7.Search in Google Scholar
Müller, E. M. K., Henniges, U., Brückle, I., Dietz, G. J., Smith, G.: Conversion of discolored lead white: Effects of hydrogen peroxide on paint and paper. Paper Conservation Journal, IADA, submitted July 2019.Search in Google Scholar
Roy, A.: Artists’ Pigments – A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Bd. 2, Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1993.Search in Google Scholar
Shelley, M.: The craft of American drawing: early eighteenth to nineteenth century. In: American Watercolors in the Met Museum of Art, Vol 1, Cat. Of the Works of Artists Born before 1835, K. J. Avery (ed.), New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002: 28–78.Search in Google Scholar
Smith, A.: Bleaching in paper conservation. Restaurator 33 (2012): 223–248.10.1515/res-2012-0012Search in Google Scholar
van der Reyden, D., Mosier, E., Baker, M.: Pigment-coated papers I & II: history and technology. In: Triennial Meeting (10th), Washington, DC, 22-27 August 1993: Preprints, Vol. 2, Janet Bridgland (ed.), Paris: ICOM, 1993: 491–498.Search in Google Scholar
Waller, C., Fobes, D.: Reduzierung von Luftschadstoffen in Museen und Archiven, 2010. http://www.cwaller.de/deutsch.htm?teil4.htm~information (accessed 30. 5. 2018).Search in Google Scholar
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial
- Original Works
- Determination of crystallinity of Chinese handmade papers by means of X-ray diffraction
- Identification tags for archival documents based on oxides of transition and inner transition metals – influence on paper supports
- Technical Note
- Eliminating Hydrogen Peroxide Volatiles after Lead White Conversion Treatment Via Sorption Agents
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial
- Original Works
- Determination of crystallinity of Chinese handmade papers by means of X-ray diffraction
- Identification tags for archival documents based on oxides of transition and inner transition metals – influence on paper supports
- Technical Note
- Eliminating Hydrogen Peroxide Volatiles after Lead White Conversion Treatment Via Sorption Agents
