New nanomaterials – environmental hazards and possibilities
Cynthia de Wit (project leader)
Seminar report from Analytical Environmental Chemistry, Stockholm University
Email: cynthia.de.wit@itm.su.se
Nanotechnology is developing at breakneck speed, and we can already buy around a hundred products which contain nanomaterials (e.g. stockings, bandage and refrigerators which contain nanosilver), car care products which repel dirt, and sun creams with nanoparticles of titanium oxide. This technology can result in emission sources with unexpected new properties. But what are the hazards when these particles and materials reach the environment?
Many of the compounds used at nano scale are very reactive and can give rise to undesirable environmental effects. Because of the way they are used (e.g. in ointments and cosmetics), many products will be flushed down into the drains. It is essential that these hazards should be discussed now. Other countries are far ahead of Sweden. The Environmental Committee of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences therefore arranged a symposium which discussed issues regarding environmental hazards and the possibilities of influencing development so that future hazards may be avoided.
A multivariate bioaccumulation screen for the identification of priority chemicals
Patrik Andersson (project leader)
Summary of results with list of publications from Environmental Chemistry, Umeå University
Email: patrik.andersson@chem.umu.se
The need for flame retardants.
Different flame retardants are used as protection for e.g. electronic products, textiles and building materials. One group of chemicals are brominated organic flame retardants. These have however been found to leak from products during and after use and to spread into the environment and into humans. Many of these compounds are now prohibited or subject to restrictions, but we have a great need for fire protection products, and new compounds, whose effects on the environment are not sufficiently known, therefore constantly appear on the market.
The objective of the project has been to develop tools and strategies for the identification of chemicals which are potentially environmentally disruptive. A map of the chemical diversity in the group of brominated flame retardants has been created. This map is an important tool for future studies of compounds whose properties are not known but where the effects of chemically similar products can provide a start. Data for representative compounds have been generated which cover both persistence, bioaccumulation and toxic effects.
Development of soil stabilisation techniques with the help of synchrotron radiation methods
Jurate Kumpiene (project leader)
Summary of results and list of publications from Waste Science and Technology, Luleå Technical University.
Email: juku@ltu.se
Chemical stabilisation is a soil treatment technique in which pollutants are bound in the soil by being chemically changed into a stable form of low solubility with the help of reactive additives. In this way, the mobility and hazard of the compounds and their accessibility to living organisms are reduced. The question, however, is whether the new compounds are stable in the long term. Since environmental samples such as soil are very complex, methods used in analytical chemistry are difficult to apply.
The objective of the project was to undergo theoretical and practical training in the use of synchrotron radiation based methods for the analysis of complex environmental samples that have been treated with chemical stabilisation methods.
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