Progetti di ricerca

In line with the current guidelines for Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) chemicals and materials, INTEGRANO proposes a general assessment approach based on quantitative evidence to be applied in practice for specific Nano Materials (NMs) design cases referred… Leggi tutto to inorganic, organic and carbon NMs. The development NMs dedicated novel impact categories (ICs) for nano-toxicity and eco-nanotoxicity assessment will enable the integrated application of standardised assessment methodologies. The following four NMs Life Cycle Stages (LCS) are addressed: synthesis, incorporation, use phase and end-of-life. The application of the stage-gate SSbD process through the LCS addresses performance in the five dimensions (5D s): Safety, Environmental, Economic, Social and Functional. Generation of dedicated response functions will allow associating Key Decision Factors (KDFs, such as: concentrations, processing parameters, etc.) to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs, such as: occupational safety, CO2 emissions, job creation potential, NM cost, antibacterial functionality, etc.). SSbD NMs solutions will be obtained by Multi Objective Optimisation Design (MOOD) dedicated algorithm. A dedicated digital Decision Support Toolbox (DST) will elaborate design case specific data and run MOOD algorithm to sort the set of multi-optimal SSbD options, which are simultaneously complying with all the targeted KPIs referred to the 5Ds. The digital supported decision process will help scientists, material engineers, Nano-Enabled Products (NEPs) designers, policymakers and decision-makers to takle the SSbD challenge, allowing for dramatic reduction of Research & Development (RTD) and approval leadtime as well as minimising costs and increasing the transparency of the data, by making the industrial uptake of nanotechnologies more sustainable and viable. INTEGRANO allows the integration with other existing SSbD frameworks by transposing results into other scoring metrics and enabling data exchange.

Although previous EU funded projects have defined tools and concepts to ensure safety of nano-enabled products through design, many hurdles still hinder the implementation of these procedures in real production processes. ASINA will use the production value chains (VCs) of two representative… Leggi tutto categories of nano-enabled products (NEPs): coatings in environmental (clean) nanotechnology and nano-encapsulating systems in cosmetics, to formulate design hypothesis and make design decisions by applying a data-driven approach and methodology (the “ASINASMM”). Molded on industrial six sigma practices, the ASINA-SMM can be easily adopted by manufactures to deliver NEPs designed to be as safe as possible, so achieving ASINA vision to increase stakeholders (entrepreneurs, scientists, regulators, innovators, policy makers, consumers) confidence in SbD nanomanufacturing. The methodology encompasses distinct phases that ASINA will follow to deliver SbD solutions and supporting tools, at TRL6: define NEP, its intended use, production technologies and known quality, safety and cost requirements; measure performance attributes (techno-economic features, hazard and exposure potential along the entire life cycle) in relation to material (M) and process (P) design options; analyse data gathered from internal and external sources and derive/combine response functions, to identify the best compromise between possible design options; design new versions of the product/process that minimise risk, maximising performance; establish a pilot action to verify the capacity of ASINASMM to deliver practical, relevant, reliable and reproducible M- or P-SbD solutions. By its end, ASINA will provide a roadmap to generalise ASINA-SMM, and maximizing the positive impacts of further products, designed to improve environmental quality and human health/wellness, offering the transparency required to promote consumer acceptance and, as a consequence, the growth of reference industrial sectors.

Polyurethane (PUR) products, which include foams for building, construction, automotive and furniture and bedding, are petroleum-based and usually lack important properties. The need for sustainability in these industries leads to the development of cost-efficient processes and sustainable added-value products from low carbon… Leggi tutto footprint materials. The main objective of BIOMAT is to establish an Open Innovation Test Bed (TB) for the benefit of industries and SMEs, aiming to facilitate the cross-border partnership and accelerate innovation in nano-enabled bio-based insulation materials for these industries. Through the creation of a Single-Entry Point (SEP), SMEs and other industrial parties will have open access at a competitive price to physical facilities (pilot production lines) and services (characterisation, nanosafety, standardisation/ regulation, business/marketing plans as well as technological and business-oriented mentoring) which will be focused on manufacturing and testing of nanoparticle-enabled functional PUR-based foams for the above mentioned industrial sectors. The SEP will follow all EC guidelines related to the establishment of new entities providing services through different testbeds across Europe. BIOMAT ecosystem will cover the entire Value Chain (VC) from fundamental biomaterials and functional nanoparticles to the final products and their proof of concept in an industrial environment, thus accelerating the market uptake of the new nano-enabled sustainable bio-based products. BIOMAT will, therefore, fill the existing gaps in the VC of these industrial sectors, by providing new services and support at different levels the use of such materials in these key industries.

Aim of the project is evaluate the impact of the microplastics on live cells and organisms exposed to these materials by inhalation or in aquatic environment. In this work we focus the attention to the toxic potential of no-commercial MPs, keeping into mind… Leggi tutto that eventual adverse effects of MPs could be caused both by the physical properties of particles and also other factors, e.g. delivered chemical pollutants. In particular, microparticles obtained from waste plastics will be used. Waste plastic granules were obtained from plastic recycling plants and the micron-sized fraction recovered in lab after serial mechanical sievings. The smallest fractions of the plastic granules, considered as representative of the environmental MPs, are characterized by polymers mixtures and other residues (additives, metals, etc...) and will be been used to perform toxicity tests using in vitro and in vivo systems representative of an inhalation and aquatic exposure scenarios respectively. The toxic responses, as well as the modality of the MP interactions with the biological structures will be been investigated in Polaris Laboratories (Unimib), according to standard toxicological tests (cell viability, pro-inflammatory response and cell cycle analyses). The target will be epithelial cells, fibroblasts and cells involved in the inflammatory response, exposed to increasing concentrations of MP suspensions. Before proceeding with biological tests the microplastic granulates must be adequately characterized in size and morphology. Therefore, plastic heterogeneous fractions will be mechanically grinded in User laboratory to obtain MP fractions of < 100 μm and < 50 μm. MPs will be morphologically charaterized by polarized light, fluorescence and Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) localized in Lead users facility( UNIMIB). Preliminary observations of these MPs samples are shown in Figure 1. Moreover, polymeric composition of the MP fractions will be analyzed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy (Nicolet In5 FTIR) also available in DISAT department of UNIMIB. Preliminary data obtained by this analytical approach revealed that MPs are mostly constituted by polyethylene and polypropylene.