Impact of Nanotechnology on Environment – A Review

The world is facing significant environmental challenges like improving the standard of air, soil, and water. Currently, industry is that specialize in detecting pollutants (from chemical spills, fertilizer and pesticide run-off), improving industrial and mining sites, treating contaminants and stopping further pollution. A potential solution to those problems is to use nanomaterials. Nanomaterials are often wont to assist with cleaning the environment and even provide efficient energy solutions, like nanomaterial based solar cells additionally to the present, nanomaterials help to enhance the standard and performance of the many consumer products. As results of this, the exposure to made nanomaterials is increasing day-by-day. However, there are both positive and negative impacts on the environment thanks to nanotechnology.Recent advances in nanotechnology have shown numerous societal benefits through the event or improvement of smart materials. Several engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are produced during the last years which will be found in related sectors like health, food, home, automotive, electronics, and computers (Hansen et al., 2016). The estimated output of ENMs produced was up to 270,000 metric tons/year and during this case considering only SiO2, TiO2, FeOx, AlOx, ZnO, and CeO2 nanoparticles.

Ecological Effects of Benzyl Chloride on Different Korean Aquatic Indigenous Species Using an Artificial Stream Mesocosm Simulating a Chemical Spill

In this study, an artificial stream mesocosm consisting of a head tank, faster-flowing riffle section, gravel section, pool section, lower-run section, and tail tank was installed to simulate a chemical spill in a river. The responses of freshwater periphyton algae, crustacea (Moina macrocopa), freshwater worm (Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri), benthic midge (Glyptotendipes tokunagai), and fish (Zacco platypus and Aphyocypris chinensis) were observed after exposure to benzyl chloride (classified as an accident preparedness substance, APS) at concentrations of 1, 2, and 4 µL/L for 22.5 h. Higher concentrations increased the inhibition (photosynthetic efficiency decrease) of periphyton algae and the mortality of M. macrocopa, whereas the reproduction of the female cladoceran decreased in the 4 µL/L treatment. Mortality of fish did not occur or was lower (≤20%) at all concentrations; however, toxic symptoms were observed for some time after chemical exposure termination and later, symptoms receded. G. tokunagai mortality increased at all concentrations except the control after seven days, and no significant toxic effects were observed in L. hoffmeisteri. The hazardous concentration of benzyl chloride was calculated as 94 µg/L. This study showed the different sensitivities of each species to benzyl chloride. The findings can assist in environmental risk assessment of APSs after chemical spills to protect Korean aquatic species.

Dextran Sulfate Polymer Wafer Promotes Corneal Wound Healing

Eye injuries due to corneal abrasions, chemical spills, penetrating wounds, and microbial infections cause corneal scarring and opacification that result in impaired vision or blindness. However, presently available eye drop formulations of anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drugs are not effective due to their rapid clearance from the ocular surface or due to drug-related side effects such as cataract formation or increased intraocular pressure. In this article, we presented the development of a dextran sulfate-based polymer wafer (DS-wafer) for the effective modulation of inflammation and fibrosis and demonstrated its efficacy in two corneal injury models: corneal abrasion mouse model and alkali induced ocular burn mouse model. The DS-wafers were fabricated by the electrospinning method. We assessed the efficacy of the DS-wafer by light microscopy, qPCR, confocal fluorescence imaging, and histopathological analysis. These studies demonstrated that the DS-wafer treatment is significantly effective in modulating corneal inflammation and fibrosis and inhibited corneal scarring and opacification compared to the unsulfated dextran-wafer treated and untreated corneas. Furthermore, these studies have demonstrated the efficacy of dextran sulfate as an anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic polymer therapeutic.

Probabilistic Spill Occurrence Simulations and Quantitative Water Quality Risk Analysis for Chemical Spill Management

Thousands of inland chemical spills occur as a result of accidents or natural disasters each year in the world and threaten human health and the environment. More than 700 recorded inland chemical spills involving more than 1,000 types of chemical occur every year in Southern Ontario, resulting in multiple environmental impacts. Eleven regional municipalities involving 77 municipalities had experienced chemical spills in the period of 1988-2007. The majority of these chemical spills occurred at industrial plants, while pipe/hose leaks accounted for the highest proportion of total chemical spills, resulting in the largest portion of chemical spills causing surface water impacts. A comprehensive spill management planning framework is proposed to facilitate the development of municipal spill prevention, control, and emergency response plans. In order to develop a spill management framework, simulation models termed MMCS (MATLAB-based Monto Carlo Simulation) and EMMCS (Extended MMCS) that characterizes temporal and spatial randomness and quantifies statistical uncertainty have also been developed. The MMCS model simulates the probabilistic quantifiable occurrences of inland chemical spills by time, magnitude, and location based on North America Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, while the EMMCS model quantifies the risk of drinking water quality violation due to inland chemical spills. The models can also quantify aleatory and epistemic uncertainties through integrated bootstrap resampling technique. Benzene spills into the St. Clair River Areas of Concern are used as a case study to demonstrate the models. The probabilistic occurrences of various NAICS codes are found to be 1.2 to 5.1 over a 10-year period. The violation-causing NAICS-based spill occurrences and the associated risks of drinking water quality impairments at the Ontario‘s intakes are found to be less than 1.4 and 37%, respectively. No drinking water quality is found to be impaired at the Michigan intakes. Uncertainty analysis indicates that simulated spill characteristics can be described by lognormal distributions and the NAICS-based risks of violation at the Ontario‘s intakes are Weibull distributed. A hypothetical case, benzene spills in the Mimico Creek watershed is used to investigate the possibility of spill characteristic transfer from one area to another area.

Probabilistic Spill Occurrence Simulations and Quantitative Water Quality Risk Analysis for Chemical Spill Management

Thousands of inland chemical spills occur as a result of accidents or natural disasters each year in the world and threaten human health and the environment. More than 700 recorded inland chemical spills involving more than 1,000 types of chemical occur every year in Southern Ontario, resulting in multiple environmental impacts. Eleven regional municipalities involving 77 municipalities had experienced chemical spills in the period of 1988-2007. The majority of these chemical spills occurred at industrial plants, while pipe/hose leaks accounted for the highest proportion of total chemical spills, resulting in the largest portion of chemical spills causing surface water impacts. A comprehensive spill management planning framework is proposed to facilitate the development of municipal spill prevention, control, and emergency response plans. In order to develop a spill management framework, simulation models termed MMCS (MATLAB-based Monto Carlo Simulation) and EMMCS (Extended MMCS) that characterizes temporal and spatial randomness and quantifies statistical uncertainty have also been developed. The MMCS model simulates the probabilistic quantifiable occurrences of inland chemical spills by time, magnitude, and location based on North America Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, while the EMMCS model quantifies the risk of drinking water quality violation due to inland chemical spills. The models can also quantify aleatory and epistemic uncertainties through integrated bootstrap resampling technique. Benzene spills into the St. Clair River Areas of Concern are used as a case study to demonstrate the models. The probabilistic occurrences of various NAICS codes are found to be 1.2 to 5.1 over a 10-year period. The violation-causing NAICS-based spill occurrences and the associated risks of drinking water quality impairments at the Ontario‘s intakes are found to be less than 1.4 and 37%, respectively. No drinking water quality is found to be impaired at the Michigan intakes. Uncertainty analysis indicates that simulated spill characteristics can be described by lognormal distributions and the NAICS-based risks of violation at the Ontario‘s intakes are Weibull distributed. A hypothetical case, benzene spills in the Mimico Creek watershed is used to investigate the possibility of spill characteristic transfer from one area to another area.

Cumulative Effects of Chemical Spills Using a Spatial Temporal Dynamics Analysis Algorithm

The increasing number of accidents involving chemical spills demands development of not only feasible emergency strategies, but also a consistent framework to protect the environment and prevent accidents. This can be possible only by a sound understanding of the environmental impact of spills and their potential long-term effects. Furthermore, the impact assessment of chemical spills can not be done disregarding the spatial-temporal pattern of previous exposures reciprocally influenced by both chemical and environmental properties. In this context, the thesis proposes a general framework to quantify the cumulative effects of chemical spills at any given point of a certain area based on a “present” history of exposure coupled with chemical and environmental properties designated as relevant to predict possible pictures o f future exposure and estimate in advance potential alarming levels of pollution. To achieve this purpose, the following objectives are set up. The first objective is to develop a four-dimensional model to simulate a single-spill event based on certain assumptions about chemical and soil characteristics. The second objective is to develop an algorithm to assess the cumulative effects of chemical spills on a selected area using the model for a single-spill event while taking into account the effects of those spills of the spatial-temporal zone adjacent to the study area.

Cumulative Effects of Chemical Spills Using a Spatial Temporal Dynamics Analysis Algorithm

The increasing number of accidents involving chemical spills demands development of not only feasible emergency strategies, but also a consistent framework to protect the environment and prevent accidents. This can be possible only by a sound understanding of the environmental impact of spills and their potential long-term effects. Furthermore, the impact assessment of chemical spills can not be done disregarding the spatial-temporal pattern of previous exposures reciprocally influenced by both chemical and environmental properties. In this context, the thesis proposes a general framework to quantify the cumulative effects of chemical spills at any given point of a certain area based on a “present” history of exposure coupled with chemical and environmental properties designated as relevant to predict possible pictures o f future exposure and estimate in advance potential alarming levels of pollution. To achieve this purpose, the following objectives are set up. The first objective is to develop a four-dimensional model to simulate a single-spill event based on certain assumptions about chemical and soil characteristics. The second objective is to develop an algorithm to assess the cumulative effects of chemical spills on a selected area using the model for a single-spill event while taking into account the effects of those spills of the spatial-temporal zone adjacent to the study area.