Combining life cycle assessment and qualitative risk assessment: The case study of alumina nanofluid production

Barberio, Grazia; Scalbi, Simona; Buttol, Patrizia; Masoni, Paolo; Righi, Serena

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.06.135

Cited by 61 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…With regard to the framework evaluated in this work, others have proposed similar approaches to incorporate indoor occupational and consumer exposure scenarios into life cycle impact assessment for both traditional chemicals (4,5) and emerging materials like ENMs. (6) This clearly highlights the importance and necessity of including the indoor air HHIA for workers and consumers into the LCA framework.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…It became evident when modeling the case studies that the treatment of human health in LCA differs from rRA in two key ways that must always be kept in mind when discussing integration of the two tools: 1) human health impacts in LCA are assessed across the life cycle of a product for a generic population group and, although not demonstrated here, include all chemicals in the product, whereas rRA focuses on single production and use scenarios for a selected chemical and can integrate the perspectives of multiple typical individuals to study a well‐defined population; and 2) the life cycle framework provides a comparative impact assessment to enable the evaluation of different scenarios on a relative scale as opposed to the focus of rRA to calculate an absolute health impact score for a well‐defined scenario. With regard to the framework evaluated in this work, others have proposed similar approaches to incorporate indoor occupational and consumer exposure scenarios into life cycle impact assessment for both traditional chemicals and emerging materials like ENMs . This clearly highlights the importance and necessity of including the indoor air HHIA for workers and consumers into the LCA framework.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A few frameworks have been proposed for expanding HHIA in LCA to include human indoor air pollutant exposure (for occupational and consumer scenarios) for chemical substances in general . For ENM‐enabled product systems, only one study has considered the direct human health impacts of nanomaterials within the LCA framework . Unfortunately, only a qualitative health impact assessment approach with Stoffenmanager Nano (a web‐based risk banding tool for prioritization of human health risks caused by exposure to nanomaterials; https://nano.stoffenmanager.nl/) was considered, focusing solely on the production phase and not addressing the entire product life cycle.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Comparative Human Health Impact Assessment of Engineered Nanomaterials in the Framework of Life Cycle Assessment

Fransman¹,

Buist²,

Kuijpers³

et al. 2016

Risk Analysis

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For safe innovation, knowledge on potential human health impacts is essential. Ideally, these impacts are considered within a larger life-cycle-based context to support sustainable development of new applications and products. A methodological framework that accounts for human health impacts caused by inhalation of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in an indoor air environment has been previously developed. The objectives of this study are as follows: (i) evaluate the feasibility of applying the CF framework for NP exposure in the workplace based on currently available data; and (ii) supplement any resulting knowledge gaps with methods and data from the life cycle approach and human risk assessment (LICARA) project to develop a modified case-specific version of the framework that will enable near-term inclusion of NP human health impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA) using a case study involving nanoscale titanium dioxide (nanoTiO ). The intent is to enhance typical LCA with elements of regulatory risk assessment, including its more detailed measure of uncertainty. The proof-of-principle demonstration of the framework highlighted the lack of available data for both the workplace emissions and human health effects of ENMs that is needed to calculate generalizable characterization factors using common human health impact assessment practices in LCA. The alternative approach of using intake fractions derived from workplace air concentration measurements and effect factors based on best-available toxicity data supported the current case-by-case approach for assessing the human health life cycle impacts of ENMs. Ultimately, the proposed framework and calculations demonstrate the potential utility of integrating elements of risk assessment with LCA for ENMs once the data are available.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Comparative Human Health Impact Assessment of Engineered Nanomaterials in the Framework of Life Cycle Assessment

Fransman¹,

Buist²,

Kuijpers³

et al. 2016

Risk Analysis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There is also an issue of technology maturation in nanomaterial synthesis. 33 Another reason is that, as seen from the inventory (Tables 1 and 2), the majority of material and energy input were captured for both NPs, whereas only the data source of Ag NPs 16 maintains a decent level of comprehensiveness on the emission side (air, water and soil). 21 In fact, as reported in the work of Hischier et al, 21 among the 17 nanomaterial-focused LCA studies, this data inventory has attained the best data comprehensiveness, and hence, the calculated impact is closer to the true value.…”

Section: Impact Of Nanoparticle Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection of Nanomaterial-Based Active Agents for Packaging Application: Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a Tool

Zhang

Hortal

Dobon

et al. 2016

Packag. Technol. Sci.

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The interest for using metallic nanoparticles for active packaging derives from its superior antimicrobial efficacy, no negative impacts on the food sensory properties and compatibility with harsh polymer processing conditions. There are a few candidates for this purpose, and the selection of which can be assisted by considering the packaging's environmental impacts. As a case study, three packaging films incorporating different active agents (silver nanoparticles, titanium dioxide nanoparticles and a mixture of both) were evaluated using life cycle assessment and the associated impacts were calculated and compared. The functional unit was set in such a way that it directly focuses on the function that the antimicrobial packaging is supposed to deliver: to ensure food safety and quality. To this end, the antimicrobial efficacy of each agent was integrated in the environmental impact calculation. The results show that the film incorporating the mixture of nanoparticles had the lowest environmental impacts.

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“…Due to their different strengths, LCA and QRA have been thought to complement each other [6,8,9]. Consideration of all kinds of emissions and many types of environmental impacts is one of the strengths of LCA [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards More Holistic Environmental Impact Assessment: Hybridisation of Life Cycle Assessment and Quantitative Risk Assessment

2015

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Global and local environmental impacts of products or services can sometimes be in conflict with one another. Therefore, the importance of considering both impacts in environmental management must be recognised. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is useful in evaluating global impacts while quantitative risk assessment (QRA) is effective in local impact assessments. The benefits of combining LCA and QRA in this regard have been recognised. Advantages and disadvantages of different hybridisation approaches were critically examined in this paper. There seems to be no single best approach and a method needs to be carefully selected depending on the type of application.

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Combining life cycle assessment and qualitative risk assessment: The case study of alumina nanofluid production

Cited by 61 publications

References 36 publications

Comparative Human Health Impact Assessment of Engineered Nanomaterials in the Framework of Life Cycle Assessment

Comparative Human Health Impact Assessment of Engineered Nanomaterials in the Framework of Life Cycle Assessment

Selection of Nanomaterial-Based Active Agents for Packaging Application: Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a Tool

Towards More Holistic Environmental Impact Assessment: Hybridisation of Life Cycle Assessment and Quantitative Risk Assessment

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