EXPERIMENTING WITH REFRIGERATED MARGARINE AS PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL AND ZEOLITE AS DESICCANT FOR TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY CONTROL IN PHILIPPINE ARCHIVES

Abstract

Incorrect levels of temperature and relative humidity hasten the deterioration of paper-based archives, irrespective of geographical location. An attempt to find a cheaper alternative to the costly installation of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, the current research sought to test the capacity of different amounts of refrigerated margarine and zeolite respectively as alternative temperature and humidity control agents in archives in the Philippines, where varying amounts of sunlight and humidity during different times of the year become detrimental to maintaining an ideal storage condition. The resulting storage temperature and relative humidity where the test materials were introduced were compared against the temperature and relative humidity in storage where other commercially available phase change material (PCM) and desiccant were introduced, the room temperature and relative humidity, and the international standard temperature and relative humidity for archival storage. It had been found out that the optimum amount of refrigerated margarine that could perform well in the archive was 120 g as it resulted to an average temperature of 29.9475 ˚C, which was the closest any of the PCM samples used could get to achieve the standard archival temperature of 20 ˚C. On the other hand, the optimum amount for zeolite was 60 g. It resulted to an average of 57.825% relative humidity, which was 17.825% higher than the required relative humidity for archives. The best outcomes were observed when the two materials were introduced independently to the storage. Despite being able to deliver the desired results, refrigerated margarine and zeolite still require a few improvements before they become ready for their intended applications in archives. The small optimum amount of the refrigerated margarine and zeolite are beneficial in that it entails lower cost of materials.