%0 Report %D 1996 %T Mass Deacidification. An Update of Possibilities and Limitations %A Porck, Henk %C Amsterdam %I European Commission on Preservation and Access %P 54 %U http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa/publ/porck.htm %X This report is the result of a desk research project aiming to provide an update of the possibilities and limitations of currently available mass deacidification methods. It focuses on the major developments in research and application of the main operational systems. The Introduction outlines the aims and design of the present study, developed in consultation with the European Commission on Preservation and Access. The next chapters describe the mass deacidification systems included in this study: Battelle, Bookkeeper, dez, fmc, and Wei T'o. For each system a brief history of the development of the technical process is presented, as well as a condensed description of the treatment principle, an overview of available research and test results, indicating the main advantages and disadvantages of the process concerned, and finally an inventory of actual applications of the system. In addition several other initiatives are described, involving large-scale rather than mass treatment technologies and essentially combining deacidification with strengthening of paper. These initiatives include the Bückeburg process, the Graft-copolymerization process, the paper splitting process and the Vienna process. The data compiled in this report do not allow any conclusions in the sense of a recommendation in favor of any of the techniques described. Instead, in a final section some of the main findings are discussed within the framework of a critical evaluation of the current possibilities and limitations of mass deacidification in general. The References list the literature consulted for this study, publications as well as internal reports. Finally, the List of contacts gives the names of representatives of firms and institutions who offered relevant information about the present state of affairs and/or shared their opinions on relevant issues. %8 09/1996 %@ 90-6984-162.2