Fate of nanoparticles in the aquatic environment Joris TK Quik

173 Pages·2013·4.68 MB·English

Fate of nanoparticles in
the aquatic environment
Removal of engineered nanomaterials from the
water phase under environmental conditions
Joris T.K. Quik
Fate of nanoparticles in the aquatic
environment

Removal of engineered nanomaterials from the
water phase under environmental conditions

Joris T.K. Quik
Quik JTK (2013) Fate of nanoparticles in the aquatic environment. Removal of
engineered nanomaterials from the water phase under environmental conditions. PhD
thesis, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands

© 2013 Joris Quik, all rights reserved.
ISBN: 978‐90‐6464‐692‐8
Fate of nanoparticles in the aquatic
environment

Removal of engineered nanomaterials from the
water phase under environmental conditions

Proefschrift

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor
aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. mr. S.C.J.J. Kortmann,
volgens besluit van het college van decanen
in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 23 september 2013
om 12.30 uur precies

door

Joris Theodoor Kamal Quik
geboren op 22 juli 1982
te Knokke‐Heist, België
Promotoren:
Prof. dr. ir. D. van de Meent
Prof. dr. ir. A.J. Hendriks

Manuscriptcommissie:
Prof. dr. A.M.J. Ragas (voorzitter)
Prof. dr. M. Cohen Stuart (Wageningen Universiteit)
Prof. dr. ir. W.J.G.M. Peijnenburg (Universiteit Leiden)

This research was financially supported by the National Institute for Public Health and
the Environment (RIVM, SOR‐S340030), and by the EU FP6 project NanoInteract
(NMP4‐CT‐2006‐033231).
“The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.”
— Bahá’u’lláh
Contents:
Abbreviations 1
Chapter 1 General Introduction 3
Chapter 2 How to assess exposure of aquatic organisms to engineered 9
nanomaterials?
Chapter 3 Effect of dissolved organic matter on cerium dioxide 35
nanoparticles settling in model fresh water
Chapter 4 Natural colloids are the dominant factor in the 47
sedimentation of nanoparticles
Chapter 5 Nanomaterials in naturalwaters: sedimentation rates and 57
attachment efficiencies for heteroaggregation
Chapter 6 Rapid settling of nanoparticles due to heteroaggregation 77
with suspended sediment
Chapter 7 Empirical versus mechanistic modeling of engineered 91
nanomaterial aggregation and sedimentation in water
Chapter 8 Synthesis 103
Appendices 107
A: Supporting information to chapter 2 108
B: Supporting information to chapter 3 110
C: Supporting information to chapter 4 117
D: Supporting information to chapter 5 121
E: Estimating the attachment efficiency for 127
heteroaggregation of nanoparticles and natural colloids
from sedimentation experiments
F: Supporting information to chapter 6 136
Literature 143
Summary 157
Samenvatting 161
Dankwoord 165
Curriculum vitae and list of publications 169
Abbreviations
List of most common abbreviations used in this thesis.

AA Brabantse Aa(small stream)
B‐DOM Bihain Dissolved Organic Matter
CNT Carbon Nanotubes
DLS Dynamic Light Scattering
DLVO Derjaguin‐Landau‐Verwey‐Overbeek
DOC Dissolved Organic Carbon
DOM Dissolved Organic Matter
EC Electric Conductivity
ENM Engineered Nanomaterials
ICP‐MS Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy
IJ IJsselmeer (lake)
KG Karregat (small pond)
MS Nieuwe Waterweg near Maassluis (brackish)
MWCNT Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes
NC Natural Colloid
nC Fullerene Nanoparticles
60
nm Nanometer (10‐9 meter)
NP Nanoparticle
NTA Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis
NZ Noordzee (North Sea)
PEC Predicted Environmental Concentration
PNEC Predicted No‐Effect Concentration
PSD Particle Size Distribution
PVP Polyvinylpyrrolidone
RL Rhine (river)
SR‐DOM Suwannee River Dissolved Organic Matter
SS Suspended Sediment
TEM Transmission Electron Microscopy
1
Chapter 1
General introduction

3
Chapter 1

1.1 Engineered nanomaterials and nanotechnology
Nanotechnology refers to the manipulation of materials at the nanoscale. The
possibilities of this research field where envisioned by Richard Feynman in a famous
talk in 1959.1 Later, between 1981 and 1992 the term nanotechnology was
popularized and the scanning tunneling microscope and the atomic force microscope
became well established leading to the research field we know today.2 Yet the field of
nanotechnology continues to grow with increased application of nanomaterials in
consumer products.3, 4 The main reason that materials at the nano‐scale are of specific
interest are the changes in physico‐chemical properties which are different at the
nano‐scale compared to the bulk material. These changes are mostly related to the
increase in surface area to volume ratio, resulting in changes in physico‐chemical
properties related to color,5 solubility,6 conductivity7 and catalytic activity8 of
engineered nanomaterials (ENMs).
Increasing quantities of materials at this small size are being produced.9 Although
nanomaterials have many benefits10 the implications of large quantities of these types
of materials entering the environment has not been fully understood.11‐16 While this is
generally the case when novel chemicals are developed, the question remains whether
current guidelines for risk assessment of novel chemicals, such as implemented in the
Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances
(REACH),17 are adequate for ENMs. Risk assessment of chemicals is based on both
exposure and effect assessment.18 The exposure assessment is based on a good
understanding of the environmental behavior of chemicals combined with
quantification of the fate processes using modeling tools. Using such tools, the
predicted exposure concentrations are estimated from the physico‐chemical
characteristics of the aquatic system and chemical in question. The current methods
used for exposure assessment are based on the physico‐chemical behavior of the
dissolved form of a chemical. For this reason we need to investigate the applicability
of these methods for ENMs because it is likely that the inherent particulate nature of
ENMs demands a novel approach to exposure assessment of these materials.19 In
order to adapt or develop new exposure assessment methods we need to fully
understand the fate of ENMs in the natural environment and we should be able to
derive quantitative descriptions of the relevant fate processes.
There have been several definitions of nanomaterials with the most discussed
being the recent recommendation by the EU.20 This recommendation classified
nanomaterials as a new chemical group, defined by its external dimensions between 1
4