Cradle-to-Grave Environmental Impact Assessment: Do Nano-Specific Impacts Exceed Non Nano-Specific Emissions?

Presentation Abstract

Engineered nanomaterials provide unique properties due to their small size when compared with their bulk counterparts. Silver is a widely applied engineered nanomaterial in consumer products due to its antimicrobial properties. The upstream environmental impacts of nanoscale silver have been widely studied using life cycle assessment. However, the nano-specific environmental impacts have generally been modeled using ionic silver as a surrogate. The nano-specific impacts of nano-scale silver are highly dependent on the size, shape, and coating of the nano-silver along with the environment into which it is discharged. This work explores the nano-specific environmental impacts at the end of life of nano-scale silver in order to generate nano-specific characterization and impact factors for usage in life cycle assessment.

Speaker Bio

Andrea Hicks is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering where she holds the Nosbusch Associate Professorship. She is the Director for Sustainability Education and Research at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and holds the Hanson Family Fellowship. Dr. Hicks’s work focuses on the environmental impacts and sustainability implications of emerging technologies. She earned her BS at Michigan Technological University, her MS at Clemson University, and her PhD at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has received the NSF CAREER award, and the Laudise Medal, among other awards for her work.