Battelle system

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The Battelle system is based on the idea of ​​introducing an alkaline substance into paper that is threatened by acid degradation, namely in molecular form as a solution so that the entire paper structure is permeated. In this way, deacidification can be achieved, which prevents further disintegration of the paper.

Initially, processes using magnesium methylate were developed (Richard D. Smith 1972). Methyl magnesium carbonate was later used ( Wei-T'o plant in Ottawa 1981), which is soluble in methanol . Battelle (Jürgen Wittekind, Frankfurt) achieved the decisive further development and led to the use of titanium-magnesium ethylate, a substance that is soluble in the non-polar solvent hexamethyldisiloxane , does not require any further alcohol-based solubilizers and is considerably more environmentally friendly than the substances previously used .

This process, known as the Battelle system , was used in the first German mass deacidification system, which was commissioned as a test system in 1991 in Eschborn near Frankfurt. A further development of this system was sold in 2001 to the Center for Book Maintenance , Leipzig, and has been operated by the ZFB ever since.