AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Fate of Nanomaterials and Byproducts During Combustion
ERIC VEJERANO, Amara Holder, Linsey Marr, Virginia Tech
Abstract Number: 386 Working Group: Combustion
Abstract The widespread adoption of nanotechnology means that products containing nanomaterials will inevitably end up in waste streams, and some of these will be incinerated. Our objectives are to investigate how the combustion process affects the chemical and physical properties of nanomaterials and to determine how their presence in the waste stream affects formation of potentially toxic byproducts. Surrogate wastes containing polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, and paper spiked with various nanomaterials such as silver, nickel oxide, titania, ceria, fullerene, iron, and quantum dots were incinerated at 850 oC with 1 lpm of air. Particle size distributions and concentrations from furnace exhaust were measured using a scanning mobility particle sizer and optical particle counter. Gaseous and particulate samples were collected in exhaust for analysis of the nanomaterial in question along with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and dioxins. The most abundant PAHs found in exhaust were naphthalene, acenaphthylene, and fluorene. Preliminary findings suggest that nickel oxide and C60 fullerene generally enhanced PAH emissions, while ceria, titania, and silver produced both increases and decreases in emissions, depending on the type of waste and the specific PAH. It is evident that incineration of nanomaterials has the potential not only to affect the characteristics of the nanomaterials themselves but also the yields of toxic byproducts. The results of this study will enable us to understand how engineered nanomaterials and byproducts are transformed and controlled during incineration, leading to improved ability to predict their fate and impacts in the environment.