The Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology
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The Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology Fate, Transport and Removal of Nanomaterials in Aquatic Environments Sharon Walker Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering University of California, Riverside April 5, 2011 Office of Basic Energy Sciences Office of Science, U.S. DOE Version 05-26-06, pmd http://wilsoncenter.org/nano Introduction - Novelty • Unusual physicochemical properties o Small size, surface structure, chemical composition, bulk vs. nano o May be a dry powder suspended in a gas (nanoaerosol), suspended in liquid (nanohydrosol), or embedded in a matrix (nanocomposite) • Applications o Medicine o Energy o Electronics o Consumer products o Environmental applications Quantum Dots Quantum dot TiO2 Fullerene(Buckey ball) Carbon Nanotube Chen and Elimelech, Langmuir 2006; Saleh et. al, ES&T 2010; Quevedo and Tufenkji, ES&T 2009 Introduction - Toxicity • Evidence of toxicity o Carbon nanotubes, ZnO and TiO2 cytotoxic to bacteria, mice, rats (Xia et. al, ACS Nano 2008; Kang et. al, Langmuir 2007) o Fullerene “bucky balls” toxic to fish and humans (Wiesner et. al, ES&T 2006) o Quantum dots (Cd) and nanosilver (Ag) toxic due to metal release (Mahendra et. al, ES&T, 2008; Benn and Westerhoff, ES&T 2008) Growth of Nanotechnology Robichaud et al, ES&T, 2009 Growth of Nanotechnology http://wilsoncenter.org/nano Framing the Research Strategy Risk Assessment Process 2011 NNI Environment, Health, and Safety Research Strategy www.nano.gov Integrated Research Framework Life Cycle Stages Adapted from UC CEIN Traditional Toxicological Approach Hazard Identification Failure to address Industrial Chemical Toxicology at the scale of production Exposure Assessment 50,000 + chemicals registered for commercial use in the US < 1,000 have undergone toxicity testing Risk Characterization Overwhelming of resources: each test • $2-$4 million (for in vivo studies) Risk Management • > 3 years to complete Mission of the UC Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (UC CEIN) The mission of the UC CEIN is to insure that nanotechnology is introduced and implemented in a responsible and environmentally-compatible manner to allow the US and the International community to leverage the benefits of nanotechnology for global economic and social benefit Objectives of the UC CEIN • Develop a library of reference NMs • Understand the impacts of different types of NMs on organisms and ecological systems • Develop a predictive model of toxicology and environmental impacts of NMs • Develop guidelines and decision tools for safe design and use of NMs Collaborations with Institutions Worldwide Shared Facilities UC CEIN Central Facilities Synthesis & Characterization • High Throughput Screening • Molecular Foundry (LBNL) • CNSI (UCLA & UCSB) • Shareable Database • Center for Accel Mass Spec (LLNL) • Modeling Framework • CNSE (UCR) • NCEAS infrastructure • I/UCRC (Columbia U) • FIMS (Bremen U) • NYU (Singapore) Fate & Transport Ecotox • Nano-Bio Interfacial Forces Lab (UCLA) • Micro-Environ Imaging Facility (UCSB) • Fate & Transport Labs (UCR, UCSB) • Bodega Bay Marine Lab (UC Davis) • Water Quality Research Lab (UCLA) • Sandia Biocharacterization lab • Somasundaran’s Lab (Columbia U) • Subcell to Organism In Vivo Imaging • Ecotox Lab at UCSB • New shared lab space at UCSB Research has a Goal….. IRG1 NM characterization Interactions at molecular, IRG2 cellular, organ and Public systemic levels Academia IRG3 Organismal & community ecotoxicology Knowledge Education IRG4 NM fate & transport Outreach Industry HT screening (Data IRG5 generation for NM QSARs) Government IRG6 Modeling of the Environmental Multimedia IRG7 NM Distribution & Toxicity Risk perception High Throughput Screening and Data Mining based on QSAR relationships that can be used to rank NM for risk and priority in vivo testing 100’s/year 1000’s/year 10,000’s/day 100,000’s/day Immediate Relevance High Throughput Cellular or Molecular Screening Prioritize in vivo testing Predictive Mechanism-based Toxicological Approach Hazard In vitro testing: • Mechanisms/pathways Representative in vivo testing: • Material Libraries • different trophic levels • Bacteria/Cells/Embryos • Food webs • High content or HTS • DEB Modeling etc Emerging Hazard Identification patterns & scoring Transport & Fate: • Material Libraries • Phys chem features Advanced computational • Sources modeling and expert system • Life cycle Risk Reduction & Prediction • Safe Design • Probabilistic Risk Modeling • Limit exposure • Risk Perception Predictive Mechanism-based Toxicological Approach Hazard In vitro testing: • Mechanisms/pathways Representative in vivo testing: • Material Libraries • different trophic levels • Bacteria/Cells/Embryos • Food webs • High content or HTS • DEB Modeling etc Emerging Hazard Identification patterns & scoring Transport & Fate: • Material Libraries • Phys chem features Advanced computational • Sources modeling and expert system • Life cycle Risk Reduction & Prediction • Safe Design • Probabilistic Risak Modeling • Limit exposure • Risk Perception Transport and Fate of Nanomaterials in Aquatic Environment Transport through porous media Source: UC CEIN (modified) Objectives Goal: To shed a light on fundamental mechanisms governing fate, transport and removal of engineered nanomaterials in both natural and engineered environment Objective 1: Development of standard handling approach for consistent nanoparticle dispersion: Effects of sonication, NP type and concentration Objective 2: Determination of fundamental mechanisms in transport and removal of nanoparticle: Role of nanoparticle concentration, solution chemistry, and hydrodynamic effects Objective 3: Evaluation of influence of natural organic matter and bacteria in transport and removal of nanoparticle Experimental Approach - Transport System 1: Packed-Bed Column System 2: Radial Stagnation Point Flow Inlet Inlet Outlet Ideal Spherical Collector Saturated only Outlet System 3: Parallel Plate Flow k Inlet Outlet RSPF kPP Saturated 40x kd = - (u/εL) ln (C/C0) Experimental Approach - Characterization • Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) • Electrokinetic Characterization (ZetaPALS) • Potentiometric Titration • Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) • Thermogravimetric analysis • Stability o Aggregation (Dynamic Light Scattering) o Sedimentation (Absorbance) Representative Results 1 mM 10 mM 1 mM 10 mM 1.0 No SRHA1.0 No SRHA A SRHA 1 mg/L B • NP transport in SRHA 1 mg/L 0.8 0.8 soils depends on groundwater 0.6 0.6 0 constituents 0 0.4 0.4 CaCl • Transport C/C KCl C/C 2 reduced in the 0.2 0.2 presence of Ca2+ • Humic acid 0.0 0.0 (NOM) is 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 important when Pore Volume Pore Volume Column K+ present, less 8.0x10-7 2+ 7.0x10-7 for Ca pH 7 10 mM KCl only • Parallel plate 6.0x10-7 setup can 5.0x10-7 10 mM KCl + 1 mg/L SRHA -7 (m/s) 4.0x10 produce rapid 10 mM CaCl only pp 2 results that k 3.0x10-7 10 mM CaCl + 1 mg/L SRHA correlate with soil 2.0x10-7 2 -7 Parallel Plate column studies 1.0x10 0.0 Overall Summary and Ongoing Work • Microscope-based transport approach is promising to understand fundamental mechanisms • Overall, transport and removal of nanomaterials is a function of several parameters including NP type, NP concentration, solution chemistry (pH, IS, valence) and presence of organic matter • NOM, pH, and aggregation of NP seem to be the most significant parameters for transport of metal oxide nanomaterials • In future, influence of primary particle size and bacteria on NP transport will be investigated. Acknowledgements • Walker lab: • Indranil Chowdhury • Dr. Yongsuk Hong • Ryan J. Honda, James Kim, Chad Thomsen • Funding o UC CEIN (NSF & EPA) • UC CEIN o Andre Nel, UCLA School of Medicine ([email protected]) o Arturo Keller, UCSB Bren School for the Environment ([email protected]) o Hilary Godwin, UCLA Public Health ([email protected]) o David Avery, Chief Administrative Officer ([email protected]) NSF: EF-0830117 Thank you Carbon Nanotubes.