Simulating Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Transport in Surface Water Systems Using the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP)

Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to perform new chemical reviews of nanomaterials identified in premanufacture notices. However, environmental fate models developed for traditional contaminants are limited in their ability to simula...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology 2017-10, Vol.51 (19), p.11174-11184
Main Authors: Bouchard, Dermont, Knightes, Christopher, Chang, Xiaojun, Avant, Brian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attachment
Carbon
Coastal plains
Computer simulation
Contaminants
Creeks & streams
Empirical analysis
Environment models
Environmental behavior
Environmental impact
Environmental protection
Georgia
Models, Theoretical
Multi wall carbon nanotubes
Nanomaterials
Nanotechnology
Nanotubes
Nanotubes, Carbon
Rivers
Sediment concentration
Sediments
Simulation
Surface water
Toxic substances
Transport
Water column
Water Quality
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Summary:Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to perform new chemical reviews of nanomaterials identified in premanufacture notices. However, environmental fate models developed for traditional contaminants are limited in their ability to simulate nanomaterials’ environmental behavior by incomplete understanding and representation of the processes governing nanomaterial distribution in the environment and by scarce empirical data quantifying the interaction of nanomaterials with environmental surfaces. In this study, the well-known Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP) was updated to incorporate particle collision rate and particle attachment efficiency to simulate multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) fate and transport in surface waters. Heteroaggregation attachment efficiencies (αhet) values derived from sediment attachment studies are used to parametrize WASP for simulation of MWCNTs transport in Brier Creek, a coastal plain river located in central eastern Georgia, and a tributary to the Savannah River. Simulations using a constant MWCNT load of 0.1 kg d–1 in the uppermost Brier Creek water segment showed that MWCNTs were present predominantly in the Brier Creek water column, while downstream MWCNT surface and deep sediment concentrations exhibited a general increase with time and distance from the source, suggesting that MWCNT releases could have increasing ecological impacts in the benthic region over long time frames.
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.7b01477