Influences of use activities and waste management on environmental releases of engineered nanomaterials.
Engineered nanomaterials (ENM) offer enhanced or new functionalities and properties that are used in various products. This also entails potential environmental risks in terms of hazard and exposure. However, hazard and exposure assessment for ENM still suffer from insufficient knowledge particularly for product-related releases and environmental fate and behavior. This study therefore analyzes the multiple impacts of the product use, the properties of the matrix material, and the related waste management system (WMS) on the predicted environmental concentration (PEC) by applying nine prospective life cycle release scenarios based on reasonable assumptions. The products studied here are clothing textiles treated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), since they constitute a controversial application. Surprisingly, the results show counter-intuitive increases by a factor of 2.6 in PEC values for the air compartment in minimal AgNP release scenarios. Also, air releases can shift from washing to wearing activity; their associated release points may shift accordingly, potentially altering release hot spots. Additionally, at end-of-life, the fraction of AgNP-residues contained on exported textiles can be increased by 350% when assuming short product lifespans and globalized WMS. It becomes evident that certain combinations of use activities, matrix material characteristics, and WMS can influence the regional PEC by several orders of magnitude. Thus, in the light of the findings and expected ENM market potential, future assessments should consider these aspects to derive precautionary design alternatives and to enable prospective global and regional risk assessments.
Faculty of Production Engineering, Department of Technological Design and Development, University of Bremen, Badgasteiner Str. 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany. Electronic address: hwigger@uni-bremen.de.
Henning
H
Wigger
UFT Center for Environmental Research and Sustainable Technology, Department of General and Theoretical Ecology, University of Bremen, Leobener Str., 28359 Bremen, Germany.
Stephan
S
Hackmann
Faculty of Production Engineering, Department of Technological Design and Development, University of Bremen, Badgasteiner Str. 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany; ARTEC - Research Center for Sustainability Studies, Enrique-Schmidt-Str. 7, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
Till
T
Zimmermann
UFT Center for Environmental Research and Sustainable Technology, Department of Sustainable Chemistry, University of Bremen, Leobener Str., 28359 Bremen, Germany.
Jan
J
Köser
UFT Center for Environmental Research and Sustainable Technology, Department of Sustainable Chemical Engineering, University of Bremen, Leobener Str., 28359 Bremen, Germany.
Jorg
J
Thöming
Faculty of Production Engineering, Department of Technological Design and Development, University of Bremen, Badgasteiner Str. 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany; ARTEC - Research Center for Sustainability Studies, Enrique-Schmidt-Str. 7, 28359 Bremen, Germany.
Arnim
A
von Gleich
D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000032:analysis*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*; D014866:Waste Products
D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D014866:Waste Products
Exposure; Nanomaterial; Product use; Release; Risk; Waste management system