New Research Shows Nanotech's Environmental Gains May Be Canceled Out

Main Category: Water - Air Quality / Agriculture
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 29 Oct 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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New research shows that environmental gains derived from the use of nanomaterials may be offset in part by the processes used to manufacture them. Research published in a special issue of the Journal of Industrial Ecology, a peer-reviewed journal owned by Yale University and headquartered at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, highlights the need for improved efficiency in the manufacturing of nanoscale materials to reduce energy use, emissions, solid waste, and the use of toxic input materials.

"Research in this issue reveals the potential of environmental impacts from nanomanufacturing to offset the benefits of using lighter nanomaterials," says Gus Speth, dean of the Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. "To date, most attention has focused on the possible toxic effects of exposure to nanoparticles and appropriately so. But the 'old-fashioned' considerations of pollution and energy use arising from the production technologies used to make nanomaterials need attention as well."

One study, by Vikas Khanna and colleagues at the Ohio State University, found that the life-cycle environmental impacts of carbon nanofiber (CNF) production may be as much as 100 times greater per unit of weight than those of traditional materials. According to another paper by Hatice Şengül and colleagues at the University of Illinois at Chicago, strict material purity requirements, lower tolerances for defects and lower yields of manufacturing processes may lead to greater environmental burdens than those associated with conventional manufacturing.

"There is often a misconception that nanoscale production will necessarily be green and clean," says David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN), which helped support the production of this special issue. "This research shows that clean nanoscale production is not happening everywhere and it probably will not without a concerted effort by government and industry to green the emerging production infrastructure for nano materials and products."

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Full text of the articles in the special issue is available for download at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/jie-nano.

Working with researchers Paul Anastas and Julie Zimmerman at Yale, PEN has supported the development of a roadmap for a "green nano" award that would provide incentives for nanoscientists and engineers to develop more environmentally benign production processes. See the article in the special issue, "Toward Green Nano" by Eckelman and colleagues and http://www.nanotechproject.org/news/archive/green_nanotechnology_why_we_need/ for more details.

About Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture things usually between 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter; a human hair is roughly 100,000 nanometers wide. In 2007, the global market for goods incorporating nanotechnology totaled $147 billion. Lux Research projects that figure will grow to $3.1 trillion by 2015.

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies is an initiative launched by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Pew Charitable Trusts in 2005. It is dedicated to helping business, government and the public anticipate and manage possible health and environmental implications of nanotechnology. For more information about the project, log on to http://www.nanotechproject.org/.

Source: Colin Finan
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies