A comparative life cycle assessment of commercially available household silver-enabled polyester textiles

Hicks, Andrea; Theis, Thomas L.

doi:10.1007/s11367-016-1145-2

Cited by 36 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…The impact of producing the resin coating for the cotton textile has a significantly lower impact compared to the T-shirt coatings. It shows that when considering the contribution to global warming the impact of the production method for the Ag NP and the paste used to bind the NP to the textile, the electrical discharge method has a lower impact than the method described by Walser et al Regardless of this it is important to point out that the environmental impact of Ag NP treated textiles primarily depends on the Ag loading of the textile as shown by Hicks et al [31] and Hicks and Theis [32]. Figure 10.…”

Section: Commercial Product Application Of Metallic Npsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Efficiency and Scalability of Metallic Nanoparticle Production Using Arc/Spark Discharge

Slotte

Zevenhoven

2017

Energies

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Abstract:The increased global demand for metallic nanoparticles for an ever growing number of applications has given rise to a need for larger scale and more efficient nanoparticle (NP) production processes. In this paper one such process is evaluated from the viewpoints of scalability and energy efficiency. Multiple setups of different scale of an arc/spark process were evaluated for energy efficiency and scalability using exergy analysis, heat loss evaluation and life cycle impact assessment, based on data collected from EU FP7 project partners. The energy efficiency of the process is quite low, with e.g., a specific electricity consumption (SEC) of producing~80 nm copper NP of 180 kWh/kg while the thermodynamic minimum energy need is 0.03 kWh/kg. This is due to thermal energy use characteristics of the system. During scale-up of the process the SEC remained similar to that of smaller setups. Loss of NP mass in the tubing of larger setups gives a lower material yield. The variation in material yield has a significant impact on the life cycle impact for the produced NP in both the Human Health and Ecosystem Quality categories while the impact is smaller in the Global Warming and Resource Depletion categories.

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Section: Commercial Product Application Of Metallic Npsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Efficiency and Scalability of Metallic Nanoparticle Production Using Arc/Spark Discharge

Slotte

Zevenhoven

2017

Energies

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“…Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic tool for determining the environmental effects of a product or process throughout its lifetime (Curran ). Recently, LCA has been applied to nano‐enabled products, and in particular nAg‐enabled products, to determine their tradeoffs compared with conventional products, including nAg‐enabled products such as bandages (Pourzahedi and Eckelman , ), textiles (Meyer et al ; Walser et al ; Hicks et al ; Hicks and Theis ; Hicks et al ; Hicks ), and food storage containers (Westerband and Hicks ). The environmental effects of nAg‐enabled food storage containers have been modeled previously by the authors (Figure ), with the major finding that most of the environmental effects of a food storage container are not related to the Ag (Westerband and Hicks ).…”

Section: Background Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Nanosilver‐Enabled Food Storage Container Tradeoffs: Environmental Impacts Versus Food Savings Benefit, Informed by Literature

Westerband

Hicks

2018

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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Globally, thousands of tons of food are lost each year due to spoilage and degraded quality. This loss is a current critical issue that must be addressed to ensure adequate food supply for the growing world population; the use of technology and regulatory practices are avenues to a solution. One considered approach is the reduction of the microorganism population on the surface of food products to delay spoilage through the use of antimicrobials. One current method is the use of the antimicrobial properties of nanoscale silver (nAg) particles to prolong the freshness of stored food by reducing the bacteria present. Nanoscale silver-enabled food storage containers present a potential solution to the food loss problem; nevertheless, their environmental and human health effects have been questioned by the scientific community. Literature is used to generate data for the life cycle impact assessment of these types of products and their corresponding environmental effects. The benefits of nAg-enabled food storage containers are considered with respect to their potential to extend the shelf life of stored food and prevent food spoilage. The results illustrate that the environmental effects of nano-enabling food storage containers with silver is small (when the initial silver concentration is relatively low, less than 1% by mass) compared with the overall environmental effects of food storage containers and also relatively small compared with the environmental effects of producing the stored food. This finding suggests that the added environmental burden of nano-enabling food storage containers may be small when compared with the environmental burden of food losses. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:769-776. © 2018 SETAC.

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“…One example is the addition of silver to textiles for its antimicrobial properties to potentially reduce the frequency of laundering, which is thus expected to reduce the overall environmental impact. In this instance, there is the added environmental burden of the raw materials needed and manufacturing of the silverenabled textiles, while the potential savings in laundering are due to human behavior (Hicks and Theis 2017). Another example is exponent engineering, evaluating the environmental impacts of recycling and disposal of expanded polystyrene at the end of its lifetime, relevant to single-use food containers.…”

Section: Referencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learned Discourses: Timely Scientific Opinions

2018

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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A comparative life cycle assessment of commercially available household silver-enabled polyester textiles

Cited by 36 publications

References 70 publications

Energy Efficiency and Scalability of Metallic Nanoparticle Production Using Arc/Spark Discharge

Energy Efficiency and Scalability of Metallic Nanoparticle Production Using Arc/Spark Discharge

Nanosilver‐Enabled Food Storage Container Tradeoffs: Environmental Impacts Versus Food Savings Benefit, Informed by Literature

Learned Discourses: Timely Scientific Opinions

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