SBIR Phase I: Alternative Products from Nanomanufacturing Wastes

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在为纳米制造过程中产生的废物开发创新的新用途和回收战略。初步的化学分析表明，在大规模的基础上，废物产品可以占到一些纳米材料生产产量的99%以上。进一步的研究表明，这些材料主要由无定形碳、纳米材料聚集体、多环芳烃和铜或镍等残留金属的混合物组成，这在环境中是有问题的。尽管对人类和环境有潜在的危害，但纳米制造废物的化学成分实际上可能会传递出有用的材料特性，使回收和再利用它们比处理它们更实用、更有利可图。因此，在第一阶段，露娜将确定富勒烯和纳米管等碳纳米材料商业规模制造过程中产生的副产品是否具有潜在的有用材料性能，如高导电性、改善分散性或热稳定性。这些信息将被用于实验评估回收这些材料的有前途的方法，要么在纳米制造过程中重复使用，要么应用于有用的产品，如复合材料、涂层和密封剂。虽然关于工程纳米材料对环境影响的信息有限，但一些纳米制造过程中产生的材料中间体和副产品的组成和毒理效应完全未知。然而，初步研究表明，纳米制造废物中的一些潜在有毒成分需要采取管理策略，通过回收或替代再利用来防止它们排放到环境中。这一未被探索的纳米技术健康和安全领域对公共卫生官员、废物管理当局，特别是纳米材料的商业制造商构成了重大挑战。在拟议的第一阶段计划下获得的知识和制定的战略将为纳米制造行业提供管理纳米制造废物的新方法。此外，创新的新产品可能会出现，以服务于各种消费市场。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop innovative new uses and recycling strategies for waste products generated during nanomanufacturing. Preliminary chemical analysis suggest that on a mass basis, waste products can comprise greater than 99% of some nanomaterials production outputs. Further studies have shown that these materials are composed primarily of mixtures of amorphous carbon, nanomaterial aggregates, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and residual metals such as copper or nickel, which are problematic in the environment. Despite being potentially harmful to humans and the environment, the chemical make-up of nanomanufacturing waste streams might actually impart useful materialproperties that make it more practical and lucrative to recover and re-use them than to dispose of them. Thus, in Phase I, Luna will determine whether waste by products from a commercial-scale process for manufacturing carbonaceous nanomaterials such as fullerenes and nanotubes have potentially useful material properties such as high conductivity, improved dispersibility, or thermal stability. This information then will be used to experimentally evaluate promising methods for recovering these materials either for re-use during the nanomanufacturing process or for application in useful products such as composites, coatings, and sealants.While information on the environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials is limited, the composition and toxicological effects of material intermediates and waste byproducts generated during some nanomanufacturing processes is altogether unknown. Initial studies, however, suggest that some potentially toxic constituents of nanomanufacturing wastes necessitate management strategies that prevent their release into the environment, either through recycling or alternative re-use. This unexplored area of nanotechnology health and safety poses significant challenges for public health officials, waste management authorities, and especially commercial manufacturers of nanomaterials. The knowledge gained and strategies devised under the proposed Phase I program will provide the nanomanufacturing industry with new approaches to managing nanomanufacturing wastes. Moreover, innovative new products may emerge to serve a variety of consumer markets.