Ecofriendly nanotechnologies and nanomaterials for environmental applications: Key issue and consensus recommendations for sustainable and ecosafe nanoremediation

Corsi, Ilaria; Winther-Nielsen, Margrethe; Sethi, Rajandrea; Punta, Carlo; Torre, Camilla Della; Libralato, Giovanni; Lofrano, Giusy; Sabatini, Luigia; Aiello, M.; Fiordi, L.; Cinuzzi, F.; Caneschi, Andrea; Pellegrini, David; Buttino, Isabella

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2018.02.037

Cited by 200 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 60 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Moreover, they provide both micro‐ and nano‐porosity, which enhances the amount of contaminant removed per gram of adsorbent (in the case of heavy metal ions over 200 mg/g). Furthermore, the eco‐safety of the material, which was proved within a parallel research, confirms the validity of the nanostructured solution as an alternative with respect to nano‐sized systems (Corsi et al., ). Finally, while most of the adsorbent systems represent waste to be disposed of at the end of life, CNFs can be easily regenerated and recycled several times, while the final disposal could simply consist in the combustion of the bio‐organic product.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 62%

“…In terms of the specific nanostructured materials based on cellulose, using nanostructured materials rather than nanosized solutions overcomes issues related to eco‐ and health‐safety. The synthetic strategy herein reported has two main advantages compared to standard adsorbent approaches (Corsi et al., ): (a) the production of fibers under mild conditions, according to a standard oxidation protocol (Pierre et al., ); (b) the promotion of efficient cross‐linking by thermal treatment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Life cycle assessment of emerging environmental technologies in the early stage of development: A case study on nanostructured materials

Bartolozzi

Daddi

Punta

et al. 2019

J of Industrial Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The use of nanostructured materials has been recently proposed in the field of environmental nanoremediation. This approach consists in using nanomaterials not directly, but as building blocks for the design of nano-porous micro-dimensional systems, overcoming the eco-and healthtoxicology risks generally associated with the use of nano-sized technologies. Herein we report the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) as an eco-design tool for optimizing the production of cellulose nanosponges (CNS), nanostructured materials recently developed for water remediation purposes. LCA was applied from the acquisition of raw materials to the synthesis of CNS (from cradleto-gate), considering three production systems, from the lab-level to a modeled scale-up system.The lab-scale LCA identified the main environmental hotspots, namely the energy-consuming steps and the final purification of the material (washing step). In a second lab-scale production, an improvement action could be implemented, switching the washing solvent from methanol to water and decreasing the washing temperature. A second LCA showed a reduced contribution to the impacts from the materials, while the global impacts remained within the same order of magnitude. A simulated scale-up of the process allowed to optimize the energy-consuming steps and the water consumption, through internal recycling. A third LCA assessed the resulting benefits and a decrease in the global impacts by two orders of magnitude. Our study contributes to the discussion of LCA community, providing a focus on the importance of scaling-up of emerging technologies, namely nanostructured porous materials, highlighting the benefits of a LCA based approach since the very beginning of product design (eco-design). K E Y W O R D Scellulose nanosponges, eco-design, life cycle assessment, nanotechnologies, prospective LCA, scale-up

show abstract

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment of emerging environmental technologies in the early stage of development: A case study on nanostructured materials

Bartolozzi

Daddi

Punta

et al. 2019

J of Industrial Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Therefore, it is important to develop safe and economical techniques for the treatment of DDT-contaminated soil. In this respect, nanotechnology offers efficient, eco-friendly and economic solutions to rectify the problem of environmental pollution [7][8][9]. Phytochemicals, which are compounds present in plants, have different biological activities and can be used for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to their small size, nanoparticles have a high surface area-to-volume ratio, and also exhibit excellent electrical, catalytic, optical and magnetic properties [10]. The use of metal nanoparticles for environmental clean-up is a new area of research in which only limited progress has been achieved thus far [7][8][9]. Few reports on the degradation of halocarbons by nanoparticles are available in the literature [11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Degradation of DDT by gold nanoparticles synthesised using Lawsonia inermis for environmental safety

El-Aziz

Al-Othman

Mahmoud

2018

Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Metallic gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were prepared and stabilised with henna (Lawsonia inermis) extract. The synthesis of AuNPs was characterised by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), dynamic light scattering and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). This study also investigated the degradation of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) using AuNPs. The initial concentration of DDT was either 10 or 20 mg/L. In our study, the highest percentage of DDT degradation was obtained when the initial DDT concentration was 20 mg/L. It reached a maximum of 64.1% at 10 mg/L and 77.4% at 20 mg/L after 72 h. DDT degradation was determined using UV-Vis spectrophotometry, FTIR and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The GC/MS spectra displayed five peaks related to the DDT degradation products: DDT, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethene (DDE), dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (DDD), dichlorodiphenylmethane (DDM) and dichlorophenylethane (DCE). Our results indicate that AuNPs had high degradation rates for DDT, which implies that they have potential applications as metal nanoparticles for environmental clean-up.

show abstract

“…It is hence wise to foresee possible scenarios of ENMs interactions with natural ecosystems and to screen for their potential ecotoxicity toward different levels of biological organization [ 17 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]. In this light, adaptations of existing ecotoxicity tests, together with ad hoc testing strategies for nanomaterials, have been recently developed and recommended [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. A recent body of literature has been produced over the past few years concerning the hazard posed by ENMs and different nanoformulations actually employed for nanoremediation purposes, as reported in Table 1 .…”

Section: Eco-design Of Enms For Environmental Remediationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmentally Sustainable and Ecosafe Polysaccharide-Based Materials for Water Nano-Treatment: An Eco-Design Study

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nanoremediation, which is the use of nanoparticles and nanomaterials for environmental remediation, is widely explored and proposed for preservation of ecosystems that suffer from the increase in human population, pollution, and urbanization. We herein report a critical analysis of nanotechnologies for water remediation by assessing their sustainability in terms of efficient removal of pollutants, appropriate methods for monitoring their effectiveness, and protocols for the evaluation of any potential environmental risks. Our purpose is to furnish fruitful guidelines for sustainable water management, able to promote nanoremediation also at European level. In this context, we describe new nanostructured polysaccharide-based materials obtained from renewable resources as alternative efficient and ecosafe solutions for water nano-treatment. We also provide eco-design indications to improve the sustainability of the production of these materials, based on life-cycle assessment methodology.

show abstract

Ecofriendly nanotechnologies and nanomaterials for environmental applications: Key issue and consensus recommendations for sustainable and ecosafe nanoremediation

Cited by 200 publications

References 60 publications

Life cycle assessment of emerging environmental technologies in the early stage of development: A case study on nanostructured materials

Life cycle assessment of emerging environmental technologies in the early stage of development: A case study on nanostructured materials

Degradation of DDT by gold nanoparticles synthesised using Lawsonia inermis for environmental safety

Environmentally Sustainable and Ecosafe Polysaccharide-Based Materials for Water Nano-Treatment: An Eco-Design Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About