Nanosafety by design: risks from nanocomposite/nanowaste combustion

Risks associated with the end-of-life of nanomaterials are an issue that needs to be addressed so that the public perception and opinion, with regard to these emerging technological products, can effectively be supported by experimental evidences. In order to find new ecological ways to treat nanoproducts at their end-of-life, a new home-made demonstrator system was setup at INERIS, specifically designed to perform burning tests, coupled to a differential thermal analyzer to monitor the combustion kinetics. To assess nanoobject release during combustion, a high-performance nanocomposite polymer commonly used in the automotive industry, namely the polymeric compound acrylonitrile butadiene styrene matrix mixed with 3 wt% of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was tested. To assess the potential release of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) during the combustion with this tool, the particle size distribution in the fumes was measured using an electrical low pressure impactor, and CNTs were collected using an aspiration-based transmission electron microscopy grid sampler. One of primary objective of these preliminary tests described in this study consisted in validating whether CNT fibers can be released in the gas phase during the combustion of a polymeric matrix filled with CNTs. It was found indeed that MWCNT of about 12-nm diameter and 600-nm length can be released in the ambient environment during combustion of 3 % MWCNT ABS. Such information is critical to assess whether a nanoproduct can be deemed to be considered as 'nanosafe by design' in its risk assessment.