Concurrent development and assessment of emerging technology: a case study on carbon nanotube production

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K21106
• Project/Area Number (Other): 18H05942 (2018)
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund (2019); Single-year Grants (2018)
• Review Section: 0401:Materials engineering, chemical engineering, and related fields
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Teah Heng Yi 早稲田大学, 理工学術院, 次席研究員(研究院講師) (70822485)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-08-24 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: single-wall CNT / CVD synthesis / LCA / industrial ecology / nanotechnology

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Improvement in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods to efficiently synthesize high-quality carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is critical to commercialization of CNTs. Methods with less environmental impacts are preferable for sustainable chemistry. However, in the field of material sciences, the environmental impacts are rarely quantified. Here we provide a systematic investigation on the life cycle greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission of two emerging CNT synthesis methods: on-substrate and fluidized-bed CVD. Based on years-long experiments, we show the impacts of important configurations. We find that the life cycle GHGs of CNT production ranged from 28.55 (on-substrate) to 0.48 (fluidized-bed) kg CO2e/g CNTs. Considering the scale-up effects to industrialized levels, CNT production can be as low as to present carbon fiber (0.02 kg CO2e/g materials).

Free Research Field

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

This research promotes an environmentally-conscious framework to develop emerging nano-materials in laboratory. We ensure the recommended CNT synthesis pathway is practical and well-aligned with the Japanese vision of achieving a low-carbon society for sustainable future.