Green and Clean: Reviewing the Justification of Claims for Nanomaterials from a Sustainability Point of View

Willie Peijnenburg,Martina Vijver,Georgios Pallas,Reinout Heijungs,Jeroen Guinée

doi:10.3390/su10030689

Willie Peijnenburg, Martina Vijver + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030689

Copy DOI

Abstract

Nanotechnology is an emerging technology with the potential to contribute towards sustainability. However, there are growing concerns about the potential environmental and human health impacts of nanomaterials. Clearly, nanomaterials have advantages and disadvantages, and a balanced view is needed to assess the overall benefit. The current “green and clean” claims of proponents of nanomaterials across different sectors of the economy are evaluated in this review study. Focusing on carbon emissions and energy use, we have reviewed 18 life cycle assessment studies on nanomaterials in the solar, energy, polymer, medical and food sectors. We find that the “green and clean” claims are not supported for the majority of the reviewed studies in the energy sector. In the solar sector, only specific technologies tend to support the “green and clean” claims. In the polymer sector, only some applications support the “green and clean” claims. The main findings show that nanomaterials have high cradle-to-gate energy demand that result in high carbon emissions. Synthesis of nanomaterials is the main contributor of carbon emissions in the majority of the studies. Future improvements in reducing parameter uncertainties and in the energy efficiency of the synthesis processes of nanomaterials might improve the environmental performance of nanotechnologies.

Highlights

Nanotechnology is an emerging technology, often cited as a key enabling technology [1,2,3], used more and more in society
While in the 1950’s only a few articles were published in the area of nanomaterials, in 2009 more than 80,000 papers were committed to the nanotechnology area [5]
These tables include the specific nanomaterials used and the overall assessment of how the nano-based technologies environmentally perform in terms of carbon emissions over their life cycle compared to alternatives

Summary

Introduction

Nanotechnology is an emerging technology, often cited as a key enabling technology [1,2,3], used more and more in society. It is estimated that 300–400 thousand employees in Europe work in the nanotechnology sector and that nano-technological products in 2015 had an estimated global volume of 2 trillion euros [4]. The increasing importance of nanotechnology can be identified from the number of published articles. While in the 1950’s only a few articles were published in the area of nanomaterials, in 2009 more than 80,000 papers were committed to the nanotechnology area [5]. Europe has identified nanotechnology as one of the key technology sectors in the research and innovation program Horizon 2020, having an important role within global challenges. The generation of products with high added value in a big variety of strategic technological sectors such as transport, health and bio-medical, construction, mechatronics, catalysis, packaging, and textiles are the basis for European technological development, innovation, and competitiveness [6]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion