Life Cycle Assessment on Different Synthetic Routes of ZIF-8 Nanomaterials

Vasileios Ntouros, Ioannis Kousis, Dimitra Papadaki, Anna Laura Pisello and Margarita Niki Assimakopoulos
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Vasileios Ntouros: Group Building Environmental Research, Department of Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University Campus, 157 84 Athens, Greece
Ioannis Kousis: CIRIAF, Interuniversity Research Center, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Dimitra Papadaki: Group Building Environmental Research, Department of Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University Campus, 157 84 Athens, Greece
Anna Laura Pisello: CIRIAF, Interuniversity Research Center, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti 67, 06125 Perugia, Italy
Margarita Niki Assimakopoulos: Group Building Environmental Research, Department of Physics, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, University Campus, 157 84 Athens, Greece

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-22

Abstract: In the last twenty years, research activity around the environmental applications of metal–organic frameworks has bloomed due to their CO 2 capture ability, tunable properties, porosity, and well-defined crystalline structure. Thus, hundreds of MOFs have been developed. However, the impact of their production on the environment has not been investigated as thoroughly as their potential applications. In this work, the environmental performance of various synthetic routes of MOF nanoparticles, in particular ZIF-8, is assessed through a life cycle assessment. For this purpose, five representative synthesis routes were considered, and synthesis data were obtained based on available literature. The synthesis included different solvents (de-ionized water, methanol, dimethylformamide) as well as different synthetic steps (i.e., hours of drying, stirring, precursor). The findings revealed that the main environmental weak points identified during production were: (a) the use of dimethylformamide (DMF) and methanol (MeOH) as substances impacting environmental sustainability, which accounted for more than 85% of the overall environmental impacts in those synthetic routes where they were utilized as solvents and as cleaning agents at the same time; (b) the electricity consumption, especially due to the Greek energy mix which is fossil-fuel dependent, and accounted for up to 13% of the overall environmental impacts in some synthetic routes. Nonetheless, for the optimization of the impacts provided by the energy use, suggestions are made based on the use of alternative, cleaner renewable energy sources, which (for the case of wind energy) will decrease the impacts by up to 2%.

Keywords: ZIF-8; metal organic frameworks; life cycle analysis; environmental impact assessment; nanomaterials; synthesis procedure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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