LCA of tungsten disulphide (WS2) nano-particles synthesis: state of art and from-cradle-to-gate LCA

In the framework of the EU-FP7 research project AddNano, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been adopted for assessing the environmental performances of the gas phase reaction process for the synthesis of WS2 nano-particles. A literature review highlighted data gaps due to lack in cross-communication between stakeholders and the low availability of LCA studies and data concerning nanotechnologies, as well as concerning specific stages of the nanoparticles life cycle. In this framework a from-cradle-to-gate LCA of the large-scale production of IF-like WS2 nano-particles was performed. The strict collaboration with the industry permitted to retrieve primary industrial data, avoiding scale-up simplifications, which represents a novelty in the field of LCA of nanomaterials (NMs). Results prove that the synthesis of nanosized WS2 is highly energy-consuming and the raw material with the higher contribution is the tungsten trioxide, that is also the most important in terms of weight. This study, especially in respect to primary data collection from an industrial process, can stimulate further dialogue with the industry, which in turn can be beneficial to further reduce data gaps.