During the first reporting period, the project focused on establishing a solid scientific and technical foundation for the efficient improvement of indoor air quality in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAMs).
The project commenced with a comprehensive review of the state of the art on indoor air pollutants relevant to GLAM environments, with particular emphasis on VOCs, NOx, and H2S. This activity identified typical concentration ranges observed in GLAMs, the main emission sources, and the most widely accepted standards and guidelines for the long-term preservation of cultural heritage assets. The results of this review were consolidated into a public deliverable and disseminated to the GLAM community through a dedicated Focus Meeting. This event facilitated direct engagement with domain experts and stakeholders, whose feedback was instrumental in refining the project’s technical direction and ensuring the relevance and future applicability of the proposed solutions.
In support of the project’s monitoring objectives, a systematic assessment of state-of-the-art sensor technologies suitable for the detection and quantification of indoor air pollutants was carried out. Selected sensor candidates were procured and evaluated under controlled laboratory conditions to assess their sensitivity, selectivity, and measurement accuracy. Based on the benchmarking results, the most suitable sensors were integrated into dedicated air quality monitoring devices. These devices enable real-time data acquisition, remote access via wireless communication, and centralized data storage. Following laboratory validation, multiple monitoring units were assembled and deployed to selected GLAM sites at the end of the reporting period. Field testing will continue in the subsequent months, and the collected data will be compared with reference analytical techniques and used to support the development of predictive indoor air quality models.
In parallel, the project reviewed existing scientific knowledge on the chemical degradation mechanisms of cultural heritage materials, their emission kinetics, and available indoor air quality modelling approaches. Relevant experimental data from the literature—including activation energies, emission rates, and degradation kinetics—were compiled and analysed. This work provides a critical knowledge base for understanding pollutant–material interactions in GLAM environments and supports the development of predictive tools within the project.
By the end of the first project year, significant progress was also achieved in the scale-up of previously identified metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) for pollutant removal. The scaled-up materials were characterised using a range of experimental techniques to confirm their high efficiency in removing pollutants at very low concentrations, relevant to GLAM conditions. These MOFs are currently being integrated into filter media and shaped into application-relevant forms to facilitate their incorporation into both active and passive air-cleaning devices. In addition, new MOFs were synthesised and evaluated, leading to the preliminary identification of promising alternative materials for future optimisation and deployment.
