(140e) Life-Cycle-Based Sustainability Assessment of Nanocoating Material

Over the last decade, nanopaint has become a dominant coating material with a wide range of applications in the automotive, aerospace, ship-making, construction, architectural and pharmaceutical industries.  Despite the obvious benefits of nanocoatings, there exist unintended health and environmental risks associated with the use of nanoproducts which are not yet fully understood.  In order to develop nanocoating systems with improved product performance and reduced impact on environment and health care, a complete assessment over each stage of the life-cycle of nanocoating material is needed.  Development of sustainability assessment techniques for the comprehensive evaluation of performance of nanocoating products over their life-cycle becomes urgent. 

The life-cycle of nanocoating materials consists of the stages ranging from raw material selection and processing, to nanopaint/nanocoating manufacturing, product use and disposal.  In this work, a model-based sustainability assessment methodology is introduced that can be used to assess the economic, environmental, and social aspects in every life-cycle stage.  To perform a comprehensive assessment, different sets of sustainability metrics have been identified for use in different life-cycle stages.  These metrics are analyzed to ensure the consistency of the assessment.  Due to the lack of sufficient data from open resources, a number of computational models are developed that can generate data that is sound from engineering perspective.  The methodology has been used to study the sustainability performance of nanopaint and its application to automotive coatings.  A comprehensive case study will highlight critical issues concerning the material’s development and nanoparticles emission to the environment and health impact, economic incentive and social satisfaction.