Carbon nanotube synthesis and detection : limiting the environmental impact of novel technologies
Name
503139028-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
55.95 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ddab9425ef856b03f70487d513181221
Author(s)
Plata, Desirée L
Advisor(s)
Philip M. Gschwend and Christopher M. Reddy.
Alternative Title
Limiting the environmental impact of novel technologies
Date Issued
2009
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Driven by commercial promise, the carbon nanotube (CNT) industry is growing rapidly, yet little is known about the potential environmental impacts of these novel materials. In particular, there are no methods to detect CNTs in environmental matrices (e.g.,sediment) and thus, there is no way to study their transport or gauge ecological exposure. Thermal methods were developed to quantify CNTs in coastal sediments down to 10 ug per sample, which is sufficient to for CNTs in laboratory air, but not sufficient to measure contemporary levels of CNTs in the environment (which were estimated to be present at pg g' sediment levels using a dynamic mass balance model). In addition to the CNTs themselves, potential impacts of CNT production were assessed by monitoring emissions from a representative synthesis. An ethene-fed chemical vapor deposition process generated several compounds of environmental concern, including the greenhouse gas, methane, the hazardous pollutants, benzene and 1,3-butadiene, and toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. By identifying critical CNT precursors (alkynes), I delivered these compounds without thermal pre-treatment and achieved rapid CNT growth. This approach reduced carbonaceous emissions by more than an order of magnitude, and lowered initial feedstock requirements and energetic demands by at least 20%, without sacrificing CNT yield.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2009.
Includes bibliographical references.
Subjects
Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering.
Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
MIT Department
Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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