Improving the risk assessment of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) requires that uncertainties in their potential releases during their complete life cycle are quantified and, as far as possible, reduced. To date, most research has focused on releases of ENM during their use and from wastewater treatment plants. Few studies have considered releases during solid waste treatment, despite the high potential for releases during these processes. This work presents an assessment of ENM flows to waste treatment processes for each European country (EU28, Norway and Switzerland). Probabilistic material flow analysis was used to model the flows of ENMs from production, manufacturing and use to waste management processes (landfilling, incineration and recycling). Modelling was based on information on the occurrence of ENMs in product applications and on the life cycles of these nanoproducts, focusing on the flows in solid waste. Data were collected to calculate the proportions of ENM-containing waste products that enter landfills, incineration and recycling plants, considering the uncertainties associated with each data source. Results show that solid wastes containing nano-Ag, -TiO2 and –ZnO mostly flow to sorting and recycling plants, while solid waste containing carbon nanotubes is most often directly disposed. Due to low data availability, many uncertainties remain in the model and its output. Most reliable results were obtained for Austria and Switzerland. These results are useful to highlight hotspots of ENM releases during waste management. However, knowledge about ENM behaviour in waste treatment processes needs to be implemented in the model to obtain final results regarding ENM flows to the environment and possibly back to reprocessing.

中文翻译：

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欧洲特定国家对ENM流向填埋，焚化和回收利用的概率评估

改善工程纳米材料（ENM）的风险评估要求量化并尽可能降低其在整个生命周期中潜在释放的不确定性。迄今为止，大多数研究都集中在使用过程中以及废水处理厂释放的ENM。尽管在这些过程中有很高的释放潜力，但很少有研究考虑过固体废物处理过程中的释放。这项工作对每个欧洲国家（EU28，挪威和瑞士）的废物处理流程中的ENM流量进行了评估。概率材料流分析被用来模拟从生产，制造和使用到废物管理过程（填埋，焚化和回收）的ENM流动。建模基于有关产品应用中ENM的发生以及这些纳米产品的生命周期的信息，重点是固体废物中的流动。考虑到每个数据源的不确定性，收集数据以计算进入填埋场，焚化厂和回收厂的含ENM废物的比例。结果表明，含有纳米银，-TiO2和-ZnO的固体废物大部分流向分选和回收工厂，而含有碳纳米管的固体废物最常直接处置。由于数据可用性低，模型及其输出中仍然存在许多不确定性。奥地利和瑞士获得了最可靠的结果。这些结果有助于突出废物管理过程中ENM释放的热点。然而，