Abstract
Conserving the world’s cultural and natural heritage is considered a key contributor to achieving the targets set out in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, yet how much attention do we pay to the methods we use to conserve and protect this heritage? With a specific focus on wooden objects of cultural heritage, this review discusses the current state-of-the-art in heritage conservation in terms of sustainability, sustainable alternatives to currently used consolidants, and new research directions that could lead to more sustainable consolidants in the future. Within each stage a thorough discussion of the synthesis mechanisms and/or extraction protocols, particularly for bio-based resources is provided, evaluating resource usage and environmental impact. This is intended to give the reader a better understanding of the overall sustainability of each different approach and better evaluate consolidant choices for a more sustainable approach. The challenges facing the development of sustainable consolidants and recent research that is likely to lead to highly sustainable new consolidant strategies in the future are also discussed. This review aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion of sustainable conservation and highlight the role that consolidants play in truly sustainable heritage conservation.
Highlights
Wood is an anisotropic, hierarchical material with a three-dimensional fibrous structure composed primarily of cellulose and hemicelluloses, that self-assemble on the nanoscale and are bound into the macroscale structure of wood tissue by lignin [1,2,3]
While these modifications have significantly enhanced their application in wood conservation, they have impacted the sustainability of linseed oil by reducing the resource efficiency of the consolidant production
The cavity can be functionalised to absorb molecules from the environment, creating an interesting scenario for conservation scientists? Could the internal surface of the HNTs be functionalised to absorb acids from the environment preventing their further action on the already fragile wood structure? what happens when the internal cavity is full? Could the internal structure be functionalised in such a way that absorbed molecules could be broken down into non-toxic components and released from the wood, ensuring continued activity over time? Hopefully, an answer to these questions will be possible in the coming years, as such a regenerative consolidant could be a significant boon to sustainable consolidant development
Summary
Hierarchical material with a three-dimensional fibrous structure composed primarily of cellulose and hemicelluloses, that self-assemble on the nanoscale and are bound into the macroscale structure of wood tissue by lignin [1,2,3]. At extremes of abiotic stress, moisture, accelerated biotic degradation is often encountered, primarily in the form of wood-decaying fungi and bacteria, insects and marine borers are common in certain environments [4] The action of these organisms can significantly speed up the degradation of wood, through the decomposition of the cellulosic or lignin components, which is highly dependent on the organism. Only 5–20% of extracted crude oil is refined into chemicals at most refineries [22], with the remainder being used for energy and transportation This includes the raw materials to produce PEG, MF resins, epoxy, alkoxide (alkoxysilane), methacrylate and acrylate consolidants. The current state-of-the-art in conservation treatments will be discussed with a specific focus on sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based consolidants and new directions in sustainable consolidant design
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