Partnerships
Tools
ADMGRID
Advanced Materials Guidance for Risk Informed Deployment (AdMGRID)
Designed to guide users through a tiered testing framework to help characterize the durability, degradation, potential for advanced materials including release and environmental health and safety implications of nano-enabled products. AdMGRID is an update to NanoGRID, but specifically includes differences between conventional and advanced materials, including materials generated from advanced and additive manufacturing. Demo Video
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NanoGRID
Nano Guidance for Risk Informed Deployment
Designed to guide users through a tiered testing framework to help characterize the durability, degradation, potential for nano-scale material release and environmental health and safety implications of nano-enabled products.
Demo Video
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NANO INSURANCE
Insurance for Nano-focused Small Businesses
Helps nano-focused small businesses better understand the insurance process, as well as the steps they can take to reduce product uncertainties that might cause an insurer to either decline to insure or only offer a policy that is prohibitively expensive (requires Google Chrome).
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LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR NANO-ENABLED PRODUCTS
Life Cycle Assessment Supports Nano-Enabled Product Development
for Small Businesses
Proactive and systematic approaches like Life Cycle Assessment can help small businesses identify stages of their product life cycle that require improvement - either from an efficiency or safety standpoint - and produce safe and sustainable nano-enabled products.
Video
PYFELCI
Python Based Forecasting Environmental Lifecycle Effects (PyFELCI)
Assessment of life-cycle environmental impacts during the development of novel technologies may help reorient research along trajectories that mitigate or minimize unintended deleterious consequences. There are no commercial software packages that execute anticipatory LCA computations. Rather, existing studies have been supported by custom software solutions, typically developed within academic or government research groups. Among the most sophisticated of these is called FELCI, developed by the US Army Corp of Engineers Engineer Research & Development Center (ERDC). This project has developed a Python-based code called PyFELCI. To foster adoption and further development of new tools for advancing and automating methods of anticipatory LCA, PyFELCI can be made freely downloadable and open source in two versions: 1) a US Army Corp ERDC version available on a secure file-sharing server approved for DoD use, and 2) a public version hosted on a box.com server open to anyone with the link.
Demo Video
Report and Manual link
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Resources
NanoTRACK
NanoTracking Model
Determination of transport of engineered nanomaterials within the aquatic environment is an important area of study due to knowledge and capabilities gaps, leading to uncertainty. This demonstraction shows the capability of the Particle Tracking Model (PTM), currently parameterized for aquatic transport of sediment particulates, to predict the transport pathways of nanoparticles introduced into complex hydrodynamic flowfields. A scenario was developed in which nano-TiO2 was introduced into the flowfield within an area near Cleveland Harbor as an instantaneous point source due to a weather event. Results show transport pathways are highly dependent on flow conditions as well as the amount of material introduced into the system. It is understood that this is the first stage of more accurate predictions of nanoparticle fate. Future efforts will focus on utilizing previously developed data and relationship to account for nanoparticle specific transport processes.
Modeling Transport of Nanoparticles: Pilot Study
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OECD – Guidance Document on Aquatic and Sediment Toxicological Testing of Nanomaterials
This document provides internationally recogonized guidance for aquatic ecotoxicity testing of nanomaterials for sediment and water to determine hazard. Specifically, this guidance addresses practical aspects of carrying out valid tests with nanomaterials including interpreting and reporting the results. It addresses modifications or additions to toxicity test guidelines and test methods intended to incrementally improve the accuracy, intra-laboratory repeatability, inter-laboratory reproducibility and intra-laboratory reproducibility of test results. The guidance is also likely applicable to testing of nano- and microplastics and other ultrafine particles. The guidance represents the best professional judgement of a wide international community of subject matter experts lead by researchers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center – Environmental Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Alberta. Guidance document link
International Organization for Standardization
ISO – Guidance and methods to evaluate the release of nanomaterials from polymer composites
This document evaluates the utility of available methods to assess material released from commercial polymer composites in support of product use and safety decisions, and describes what revised or additional methods are needed. The document is based on several available frameworks including the Engineer Research and Development Center – Environmental Laboratory NanoGRID tool and guidance. Development of this standard was lead by ERDC-EL and diverse international subject matter experts. Guidance document link
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING EMISSIONS SAFETY
Know Your Print
3D Printers may emit ultrafine particles and/or volatile organic carbon emissions (VOCs) during use. The type and extent of emissions depend on the kind of printer and print settings, type of material being printed and additives that may be present in the feedstock material. This infographic provides a brief knowledge summary that can be posted near 3D printers to inform the user of applicable environmental health and safety considerations and precautions.
Link to infographic