Environmental Assessment of SWNT Production

Assessment of environmental attributes of nanomanufacturing during process development will lead to development of competitive, safe and environmentally responsible manufacturing technologies. An environmental comparison of arc ablation, CVD and HiPco processes was undertaken by developing models for each process. Since no data are yet available for environmental or health impacts of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), the results from this analysis can only indicate the impact of resource and energy use during processing. Given the potential benefits and concerns over the use of SWNTs, and the fact that many new (and existing) businesses are currently working towards commercialization, assessment of the tradeoffs among the technological, environmental and economic characteristics is critical.