Chapter 7 - Life cycle assessment of soil remediation using nanomaterials

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an environmental impact assessment tool from a life cycle perspective. The LCA consists of four stages: goal and scope definition; inventory analysis; impact assessment; and interpretation. Over the past few years the use of nanomaterials (NMs) in remediation has been growing. NMs can be used in the remediation of numerous contaminants, having greater efficiency and remediation time compared to traditional techniques. Thus in this chapter we perform a detailed analysis on the use of LCA of NMs for soil remediation. Initially, the LCA process and its steps are presented, defining the main information needed. An overview of the use of NMs in remediation is also reported, detailing the NMs synthesis methods. Finally, a theoretical analysis of the use of LCA of NMs for remediation is performed, defining the necessary data for each stage, and demonstrating through examples real and theoretical LCA results.