MOXY
The MOXY project aims to develop a new green, contactless cleaning technology, based on atomic oxygen, to eliminate contaminants without contact, without health or environmental concerns.
Physical cultural heritage assets are invaluable and irreplaceable resources of humanity, increasingly threatened by pollutants, vandalism, and fires. The accumulation and deposition of carbon-based contaminants, such as fine particles, smoke, and vandalism, are causing growing problems for restorers and represent an emerging threat to the conservation of artworks.
Current cleaning methods require toxic solvents, water, and mechanical action, which can damage physical assets and harm both health and the environment. Restorers are now faced with fragile artworks that are impossible to treat.
The MOXY project aims to develop cleaning with short-lived oxygen atoms, atomic oxygen, which could be a revolutionary solution as it is a selective, non-mechanical, liquid-free cleaning method, with no health or environmental risks and no residues or waste.
Duration: 01/11/2022 – 01/11/2026
Total budget: 4 099 296€
MOXY
Project partners
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Our contribution
The MOXY project brings together 10 partners from 7 different countries. They are involved throughout the project at various levels to contribute their expertise. MOXY brings together expertise in plasma physics, conservation science, sustainable development science, and restoration. These diverse fields will enable a new study on the physical and chemical aspects of atomic oxygen production and flow to test the feasibility and viability of the green contactless cleaning technology for different cultural heritage materials.
This study will result in a roadmap for atomic oxygen innovation, aimed at elevating atomic oxygen technology to a benchmark practice in cultural heritage conservation and beyond, as its full potential has yet to be realised.
WeLOOP, as the leader of Work Package 6, focuses its work on eco-design and the sustainability assessment of the new green contactless cleaning technology. To this end, we are studying, particularly through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the environmental impacts of the technology, sustainability aspects, and how the green atomic oxygen technology will transform and influence cultural heritage cleaning practices.