newsletter # 03March 2017

By performing a Life Cycle Assessment, the differences in environmental impact between a conventional finishing process and a “nano-finish” have been quantified.

The examined finishes provided the textiles with antimicrobial properties, UV-protection, soil-repellency or flame retardancy.

EcoTexNano has come to the end of its exploration about the safe use of Nanomaterials in the textile finishing

industry.

Its key findings concern the impact on the environment and human health when using nanomaterials for textile

finishing. The data gathered during the project was used to substantiate the updated proposal of the “BREF”

documents on the responsible use of nanomaterials in textile finishing.

In order to offer a direct support for the textile finishing industry, EcoTexNano has developed a free-of-charge

and user-friendly tool. This tool allows textile finishing companies to acquire knowledge about the environmental

impact and exposure risks related to the incorporation of nanomaterials in textiles.

EcoTexNano examined how nanomaterials are addressed in CLP-, REACH- and biocidal products regulations in

order to make specific proposals for updating these regulations.

Sustainable and safe use of nanomaterials in the textile finishing industry

Safe use of nanomaterials in the textile finishing industry

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ArticlesLife Cycle Assessment in textile finishes 1

The EcoTexNano Tool 5

Nanomaterials in EU legislation 6

Life Cycle Assessment of nanomaterials in textile finishes

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The LCA assessment was performed according to the ILCD methodology, as prescribed by the European Commission.

This methodology includes different impact categories that are assessed separately during the life cycle analysis.

PILOT SCALE TRIALS

Performed at VINCOLOR (Spain) Performed at Fratelli Piacenza (Italy)

Upholstery Fabrics Luxury garments fabrics

2 functionalities:• Soil-release• Flame retardancy

3 functionalities:• Soil-release• Antimicrobial• UV-protection

Both Vincolor and Piacenza made use of the padding technology to apply 3 of the tested functionalities: antimicrobial, UV-protection and soil release.

Coating technology was only used in Vincolor, when applying the flame retardancy property to the fabric.

Impact categories prescribed by the ILCD-method.

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Flame retardancy

During the production trials, Montmorillonite nanoclay was used to replace the conventional flame retardant. The LCA results showed significant environmental benefits when replacing the conventional product with nanoclay.

The explanation can be found especially in the waste streams: Special care should be taken during the disposal of sludge and solid wastes containing halogenated compounds, originating from conventional products.

By contrast, Montmorillonite nanoclay is biodegradable and has a very low effect on the environment and human health. However, during the trials it was found that the “nanoclay coating” does not have any fastness to washing. Therefore it is not yet an alternative for any commercially available flame retardant. Further development of the application of nanoclay for textile finishing is needed.

Impact distribution of chemicals - conventional finishing compared with “nano finishes”

Flame reaction of treated fabric with conventional finish Flame reaction of treated fabric with "nano"finish

UV-protection

UV-protection was applied to the textiles by means of a Titanium dioxide nano-dispersion.

So far, no no non-nano-based process exists. Therefore no comparison was possible.

Environmental impacts associated with the application of nano-TiO₂ are mainly related to the wastewater pollution. Nano-TiO₂ could disrupt and aquatic ecosystem’s carbon and nitro cycles. Waste water treatment plants are capable of removing the majority of TiO₂ nanomaterials from the influent. However particles with dimensions between 4 and 30nm can still be found in the treated water and are released to the surface waters, where they can interact with living organisms. TiO₂ can also be present in sludge originating from the waste water plant and still end up in the environment if the biomass is deposited on land.

It can be concluded that human toxicity has been revealed as one of the main potential environmental impacts associated to the use of this chemical.

However, release into the environment can easily be limited by using automated control in the dosing and dispensing of chemicals and by limiting the volume of the padding liquor.

The risk assessment performed indicated that exposure during the finishing process is very limited because of the liquid state of the chemicals.

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Soil release

A soil release finishing was applied both by Vincolor and Piacenza. The results are very different for both companies; In Vincolor the overall environmental impact was much greater for the nano-finishes than the conventional finishes. However, the same products applied in the trial performed in Piacenza lead to an overall higher impact of the conventional technology rather than the nano-based one.

This great difference could partly be caused by the difference in fabric composition leading to different performances of the chemical on the textile and therefore to the use of different amounts of chemicals.

Antimicrobial

In the case of antimicrobial functionalisation, all impact categories appear with higher value in the nano-based process than in the conventional one. It has to be noted, that the amount of chemicals used in the nano finish process is more than the double amount of chemicals used in the conventional process, which is directly related to the higher impact obtained.

The most prominent differences concern: human toxicity (non-cancer effects), freshwater eutrophication and Mineral fossil & renewable resource depletion.

Risk assessment of nanomaterials in textile finishing

The textile finishing industry uses a broad range of chemical substances for its finishing processes. The human and environmental risks related to the use of these substances depend on the specific physicochemical and (eco)toxicological properties, the likelihood of exposure under specific operative conditions and the risk management measures implemented on site. A high level of human health protection needs to be ensured by the employers throughout the main production stages. EcoTexNano has included a thorough evaluation of the toxicological profile of the most relevant nanomaterials that can be applied to the functionalization of textiles, as well as a quantitative assessment of the exposure levels to nanomaterials during the application of nanobased finishing chemicals.

In accordance with the obtained data, the toxic effects on the environment and human health can be ranked as follows:

Antibacterial (Silver Salts) > UV protection (TiO2) > PFHxA (C6) > Nanoclay based formulations

It should be noticed that the active substances are incorporated into textile finishing products in quantities below 5%. This implies a critical reduction of the potential hazards.

• The exposure estimations for the dermal route have revealed that the most critical process is fabric cutting. In this step, there is direct contact with the dried material and precisely the fact that fabric is dried, may contribute to the release of nanomaterials.

• The exposure assessment revealed that there are no significant differences between the application of conventional products and nano-based products in respect to the concentration of airborne nanoparticles. In the case of the inhalatory route, the most critical activities are the ones involving the manipulation of liquid solution for padding. In the case of drying and cleaning, inhalatory exposure is less likely, because these processes are usually performed in a closed furnace with its own ventilation system (drying) or in a semi-automatic way with water, causing a high humidity (washing).

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The EcoTexNano ToolA tool for the safe use of nanomaterials in the textile finishing industry

The risk assessment module supports the calculation of the exposure levels to nanomaterials in occupational environments and the prediction quantities released from a specific process. Users can estimate the exposure depending on the operative conditions and applied risk management measures. This way, they can quantify the exposure risks of the worker.

The Environmental impacts module includes 4 indicators :

• Carbon footprint indicates the total greenhouse gases emissions related to the different materials and processes involved in the textile finishing process. The modul makes use of characterization factors of global warming potential proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)

• Resource depletion quantifies the amount of resources lost during throughout the process chain. • Water consumption makes an estimation of the water consumption during the finishing process and earlier in the production

chain, for the production of the materials used. • Energy consumption calculates the total accumulated demand of energy provided by different primary sources.

The EcoTexNano tool is one of the main outcomes of the project and can be used free of charge.

http://itene-ecotexnano.nunsys.net/

In the knowledge sharing space, the user can consult a library with interesting documents, website links and BREF-studies that concern the handling of nanomaterials.

Updating EU legislation on nanomaterials

The question about the harmfulness of nanomaterials exists also on the European level.

The opinion of the EU Scientific and Advisory Committees and independent risk assessors, seems to be that nanomaterials are similar to bulk chemicals/substances. In this sense, some may be toxic and some may be not. Possible risks are related to specific nanomaterials and specific uses. When comparing the REACH-, CLP- and BPR- regulations, sever differences can be found on how they apply to nanomaterials.

• REACH – regulation (EC n° 1907/2006) - This legislation concerns the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances.

• CLP – regulation ( EC n° 1272/2008), concerning classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures.

• The biocidal product regulation – BPR - (EC n° 528/2012) concerns the placing on the market and use of biocidal products.

The REACH and CLP regulations only address nanomaterials indirectly. Nevertheless nanomaterials are covered by the definition of substance set in these regulations. In these sense different particle sizes or forms of the same substance can have different hazards. Thus, if substances are placed on the market both at nanoscale and as bulk, registration dossier and separate classification and labelling may be required. Unlike the REACH-& CLP regulations, the BPR includes stricter conditions and limitations for nanomaterials since the beginning of its publication.

The main examples of these conditions and limitations are that, products containing nanomaterials are excluded from the simplified authorisation procedure, a biocidal product or treated article should be labelled with the name of each nanomaterial followed by the word “nano” in brackets and that each member state should report on the implementation of the BPR every 5-years.These differences can be explained by the time differences in which these legislations arose.

The EC has no plans for a generic ban of nanomaterials, as it considers nanomaterials instrumental when it comes to the protection of human health and the environment. However, it does emphasise the need for transparency of information on nanomaterials and products containing them. The question remains to what extent do the current methodologies ( such as detection, characterization, analysis, grouping and exposure assessment) need to be revised for their applicability to nanomaterials? In October 2012, ECHA established a nanomaterials working group (ECHA-NMWG) with the mandate to "provide informal advice on any scientific and technical issues regarding the implementation of REACH and CLP legislation in relation to nanomaterials. At the moment, this work is still in progress.

EcoTexNano partners