Museums, Galleries, Libraries & Archive Stores

Museum Filtration – For more than 50 years EMCEL air filters have been selected by many leading museums and art galleries to protect artefacts from the ravages of airborne pollutants.

EMCEL was a partner in an EU funded joint research project with the Museum and Galleries Commission and Bartlet School of Architecture (part of UCL), investigating and monitoring pollution levels in museums, with and without filtration systems.

The resultant document from the project entitled Guidelines on Pollution Control in Museum Buildings can be downloaded using the following link: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/2443/1/2443.pdf

Emcel were instrumental in setting the standards for controlling damaging atmospheric pollutant gases, as far back as 1981, when the Emcel Sonoxcarb Filter System was tested and met the requirements of the TR70 protocol set by the government funded Property Services Agency (PSA).  

This protocol is still in use today by many of the national museums and art galleries and provides guidance on the levels of atmospheric pollutant gases within the indoor environment.

Further developments to the original Sonoxcarb Filter System™ have led to extended life expectancies of more than 5 years, providing a high performance and extremely cost effective way for conservationists to protect valuable artefacts and paintings.

RESEARCH

Emcel have continued to lead and support the research into the harmful effects of both atmospheric and internally generated pollutant gases including involvement in EU funded projects investigating modern building materials and innovative filtration techniques.

An example of this is the Innovative Modelling of Museum Pollution and Conservation Thresholds “IMPACT” project, led by Prof May Cassar of the Centre for Sustainable Heritage (part of UCL), that helps conservation departments to assess and improve indoor air quality.