Energy Requirements of Carbon Nanoparticle Production

Abstract

Keywords:energy analysis fullerene industrial ecology life cycle assessment (LCA) nanotube synthesis SummaryEnergy requirements for fullerene and nanotube synthesis are calculated from literature data and presented for a number of important production processes, including fluidized bed and floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (CVD), carbon monoxide disproportionation, pyrolysis, laser ablation, and electric arc and solar furnace synthesis. To produce data for strategic forward-looking assessments of the environmental implications of carbon nanoparticles, an attempt is made to balance generality with sufficient detail for individual processes, a trade-off that will likely be inherent in the analysis of many nanotechnologies. Critical energy and production issues are identified, and potential improvements in industrial-scale processes are discussed. Possible interactions with industrial ecosystems are discussed with a view toward integrating synthesis to mitigate the impacts of large-scale carbon nanoparticle manufacture. Carbon nanoparticles are found to be highly energy-intensive materials, on the order of 2 to 100 times more energy-intensive than aluminum, even with idealized production models.

Nanotechnology for environmentally sustainable electromobility

“…Battery EVs, on the other hand, generally suffer from limited driving ranges, and whilst larger batteries allow for longer driving ranges, they also cause more production-phase impacts and add weight to the vehicle, thereby increasing electricity consumption during EV operation 30 . As many excellent reviews already cover the contribution of nanomaterials to overcoming technological and commercialization challenges of LIBs and PEMFCs [31][32][33][34][35][36] , this review rather screens the environmental effects arising from the use of nanomaterials in these devices. For example, while the battery literature indicates that increasing volumetric energy density is an important factor for LIB adoption in battery EVs due to the limited space available 37-40 , 6 In the following sections, qualitative and semi-quantitative comparisons will be performed in terms of the three lifecycle attributes for various nanomaterials.…”

Uncertainty communication in the environmental life cycle assessment of carbon nanotubes

“…Arc discharge 3.2 × 10 5 Healy et al [17] 2.2 × 10 3 Kushnir and Sanden [13] CVD (VGCNF) 1.1 × 10 4 Khanna et al [12] CVD (floating bed) 4.8 × 10 2 Kushnir and Sanden [13] HiPCO and CoMoCAT 5.8 × 10 3 Kushnir and Sanden [13] 1.6 × 10 5 Healy et al [17] …”

“…This was due to data gaps in both the life cycle inventory and the impact assessment. Major sources of uncertainty were in the modelling of scale up of the technology and the performance in its use phase [13,21]. As shown in Table 1, there is a very large range in quoted values for production energy for CNTs (MJ/kg CNTs produced), even within the same process type.…”

Life cycle analysis of organic photovoltaic technologies

“…Among the first ones, pyrolytic processes decomposing hydrocarbons, such a benzene or toluene, are use to create most C 60 [53] All fullerene synthesis production methods typically produce unwanted impurities and most require purification. Kushmir and Sandén have presented recently an interesting and complete approximation to the energy requirements of carbon nanoparticle production [54]. According to them the pyrolytic processes are simpler to implement and scaling them up is a matter of increasing fuel flow.…”