DETERMINATION AND ANALYSIS OF CRITERION COMPONENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY ASSESSMENT OF ENGINEERED NANOMATERIALS

Abstract

The specific properties of nanotechnologies open up broad prospects for the purposeful production of nanomaterials with enhanced properties. However, along with this, very few studies have been conducted to identify the negative environmental impact of nanomaterials on the environment and the human body. In the production of engineering nanomaterials, their operation (due to abrasion and wear), as well as during utilization (processing) or placement in waste storage areas, it is possible to release nanoparticles into the atmospheric air and groundwater. The developed criterion of ecological safety of engineering nanomaterials is presented.The components of this criterion are defined. The components of the criterion are particular criteria that assess the safety of a material by the presence of nanophases in it, proximity to a person, the possibility of exposure and potential danger. The characteristics of engineering nanomaterials that determine the impact on the state of the environment and human health are established and should be controlled. These include morphological, physico-chemical and molecular-biological. An algorithm for determining the hazard level of products, which can contain nanoobjects, and an algorithm for carrying out environmental impact assessment according to the proposed scale is presented. The scale of the degree of potential hazard of engineering nanomaterials contains three levels: high, medium and low. Such a scale is universal and allows assessing the dangers of nanomaterials and substances that can contain nanoparticles. The complex of measures for the evaluation and analysis of nanomaterials that need to be carried out to ensure environmental safety when using nanomaterials of different levels of danger is analyzed. Classification of nanoindustry products by the degree of potential danger to public health and habitat will minimize the negative impact of engineering nanomaterials on the environment and increase the level of environmental safety and rational nature management