Characterization of the effluent from a nanosilver producing washing machine.
Journal article, 2011
The increasing number of nanomaterial based consumer products raises concerns about their possible impact on the environment. This study provides an assessment of the effluent from a commercially available silver nanowashing machine. The washing machine released silver in its effluent at an average concentration of 11μgL(-1), as determined by inductive coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The presence of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was confirmed by single particle ICP-MS as well as ion selective electrode measurements and filtration techniques. Size measurements showed particles to be in the defined nanosize range, with an average size of 10nm measured with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and 60-100nm determined with nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). The effluent was shown to have negative effects on a natural bacterial community as its abundance was clearly reduced when exposed to the nanowash water. If washing machines capable of producing AgNPs become a common feature of households in the future, wastewater will contain significant loadings of AgNPs which might be released into the environment.
Author
Julia Farkas
Norwegian Institute for Water Research
University of Oslo
Hannes Peter
Uppsala University
Paul Christian
University of Manchester
Julian A. Gallego-Urrea
University of Gothenburg
Martin Hassellöv
University of Gothenburg
Jani Tuoriniemi
University of Gothenburg
Stefan Gustafsson
Chalmers, Applied Physics, Microscopy and Microanalysis
SuMo Biomaterials
Eva Olsson
Chalmers, Applied Physics, Microscopy and Microanalysis
Ketil Hylland
Norwegian Institute for Water Research
University of Oslo
Kevin Victor Thomas
Norwegian Institute for Water Research
Environment International
01604120 (ISSN) 18736750 (eISSN)
Vol. 37 6 1057-62Subject Categories
Chemical Sciences
DOI
10.1016/j.envint.2011.03.006
PubMed
21470683