Promising Practices for Alternatives Assessment: Lessons from a Case Study of Copper‐Free Antifouling Coatings (original) (raw)
Related papers
2018
This paper provides a state of the art review of substitution and alternatives assessment approaches to advance chemicals management efforts globally. The paper provides: − an overview of informed substitution and alternatives assessment − a review of current alternatives frameworks, methods and tools as well as current challenges and associated needs to advance the science and practice of alternatives assessment − a landscape of substitution and alternatives assessment provisions in existing international and national policies and an outline of considerations for future policy design to support the transition to safer chemicals and technologies − lessons learned from substitution case examples − options for actions for a range of stakeholders including scientists, government officials and enterprises.
The Architecture of Chemical Alternatives Assessment
Risk Analysis, 2015
Chemical alternatives assessment is a method rapidly developing for use by businesses, governments , and nongovernment organizations seeking to substitute chemicals of concern in production processes and products. Chemical alternatives assessment is defined as a process for identifying, comparing, and selecting safer alternatives to chemicals of concern (including those in materials, processes, or technologies) on the basis of their hazards, performance, and economic viability. The process is intended to provide guidance for assuring that chemicals of concern are replaced with safer alternatives that are not likely to be later regretted. Conceptually , the assessment methods are developed from a set of three foundational pillars and five common principles. Based on a number of emerging alternatives assessment initiatives, in this commentary, we outline a chemical alternatives assessment blueprint structured around three broad steps: Scope, Assessment, and Selection and Implementation. Specific tasks and tools are identified for each of these three steps. While it is recognized that ongoing practice will further refine and develop the method and tools, it is important that the structure of the assessment process remain flexible, adaptive, and focused on the substitution of chemicals of concern with safer alternatives.
Advancing Alternatives Assessment for Safer Chemical Substitution: A Research and Practice Agenda
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 2018
Alternatives assessment has emerged as a science policy field that supports the evaluation and adoption of safer chemistries in manufacturing processes and consumer products. The recent surge in the development and practice of alternatives assessment has revealed notable methodological challenges. Spurred by this need, we convened an informal community of practice comprising industry experts, academics, and scientists within government and nongovernmental organizations to prioritize a research and practice agenda for the next five years that, if implemented, would significantly advance the field of alternatives assessment. With input from over 40 experts, the agenda outlines specific needs to advance methods, tools, and guidance in five critical areas: hazard assessment, comparative exposure characterization, life cycle considerations, decision making, and professional practice. Fifteen research and practice needs were identified ranging from relatively simple efforts to define a minimum hazard data set to the development of more complex performance and decision-analytic methods and data integration tools. Some research needs involve adapting existing approaches to the alternatives assessment context, while others will require the development of entirely new methods and tools. The proposed research and practice agenda is ambitious. Implementing it will require expanding the current network of researchers from academia, government, and industry, as well as increased funding for methodological, application and evaluation research.
Managing the Use of Copper-Based Antifouling Paints
Environmental Management, 2007
Copper is the biocide of choice for presentday antifouling (AF) paints. It is also a major source of copper loading in to the marine environment and, as such, might cause local copper levels to exceed water quality criteria. The present study is multifaceted and looks into the overall impact of copper-based AF paints on copper concentrations along a 64-km stretch of the Indian River Lagoon and at Port Canaveral, Florida. This preliminary study is one of the first to outline issues and present background evidence on the current status of copper and copper-based AF usage in Florida and to address the need for management. Previous measurements of copper levels in these waters show a history of copper contamination close to marinas, boatyards, and at Port Canaveral that often exceed state and federal water quality standards. Further, we estimate that the total annual copper input into the Indian River Lagoon is between 1.7 tons/year (sailboats) and 2.1 tons/year (powerboats) from boats in 14 marinas. We estimate the copper input into Port Canaveral to be about 1.4 tons/year from seven cruise ships. A brief survey of marina operators and boat owners revealed attitudes and practices associated with AF paint usage that ranged from excellent to inferior. Management recommendations are made for a proac-tive approach to improving AF paint selection and application, assessing the environmental status of copper, and redefining existing management practices for sustainable AF paint usage and environmental health.
2018
Copper, most commonly in the form of Cuprous Oxide (Cu2O), is used in the majority all marine antifoulings globally, but some paint companies do not allow their Cu2O based antifoulings to be used on aluminium hulls. This is because aluminium is more anodic in the electrochemical series than copper, and if the two are directly connected in sea water the aluminium will corrode away. This galvanic reaction only occurs if copper metal is in direct contact with aluminium, and since modern Cu2O based antifoulings contain virtually no metallic copper there appears to be no valid reason for the ultra-cautious approach regarding the use of Cu2O based antifoulings on aluminium hulls. A number of different copper-based commercial antifoulings were applied on suitably prepared Marine-grade aluminium panels, along with an un-coated control panel. The panels were immersed in seawater. Furthermore a laboratory experiment was also undertaken where coated aluminium panels were submerged in a salt wa...
Answering the Call for Improved Chemical Alternatives Assessments (CAA)
Environmental Science & Technology, 2015
This report is the first output from this work stream. It summarizes the literature on substitution of chemicals of concern (or alternatives assessment, which is the term in use in Northern America), with a focus on the current landscape of substitution practice in OECD member countries. It discusses definitions, principles, frameworks and tools for alternatives assessment, as well as the key drivers and audiences, and it identifies the contribution that OECD can make in this space.
Measuring the Performance of Today's Antifouling Coatings
Journal of Ship Production
The transfer from the self-polishing organotin to tin-free antifouling coatings has created a new learning curve for the shipping industry. This study investigated the hydrodynamic performance of four commercially available antifouling coatings that were subjected to both static and dynamic seawater immersion. The results showed that each coating type developed its own characteristic fouling community and that there were significant differences in drag properties that were further modified by the static or dynamic immersion conditions.
Environmental Health Perspectives, 2015
Background: Given increasing pressures for hazardous chemical replacement, there is growing interest in alternatives assessment to avoid substituting a toxic chemical with another of equal or greater concern. Alternatives assessment is a process for identifying, comparing, and selecting safer alternatives to chemicals of concern (including those used in materials, processes, or technologies) on the basis of their hazards, performance, and economic viability. oBjectives: The purposes of this substantive review of alternatives assessment frameworks are to identify consistencies and differences in methods and to outline needs for research and collaboration to advance science policy practice. Methods: This review compares methods used in six core components of these frameworks: hazard assessment, exposure characterization, life-cycle impacts, technical feasibility evaluation, economic feasibility assessment, and decision making. Alternatives assessment frameworks published from 1990 to 2014 were included. results: Twenty frameworks were reviewed. The frameworks were consistent in terms of general process steps, but some differences were identified in the end points addressed. Methodological gaps were identified in the exposure characterization, life-cycle assessment, and decision-analysis components. Methods for addressing data gaps remain an issue. discussion: Greater consistency in methods and evaluation metrics is needed but with sufficient flexibility to allow the process to be adapted to different decision contexts. conclusion: Although alternatives assessment is becoming an important science policy field, there is a need for increased cross-disciplinary collaboration to refine methodologies in support of the informed substitution and design of safer chemicals, materials, and products. Case studies can provide concrete lessons to improve alternatives assessment. citation: Jacobs MM, Malloy TF, Tickner JA, Edwards S. 2016. Alternatives assessment frameworks: research needs for the informed substitution of hazardous chemicals. Environ Health Perspect 124:265-280;
A Short Review of Laboratory and Field Testing of Environmentally Benign Antifouling Coatings
2014
Unlike traditional biocide-based antifouling coatings, emerging antifouling concepts combining environmentally benign materials and biomimetic concepts may require new antifouling assay methods for evaluating activity before the transition from lab to dynamic field test environment. As a result, many new antifouling assays have been introduced in the past few years, each designed to measure specific parameters. However, it is important to keep in mind that emerging novel antifouling systems leverage on synergism between more than one antifouling mechanisms of action. Thus, to understand antifouling activity, it is necessary to evaluate them in different laboratory and natural field environment conditions as polymers may behave differently in static controlled environment and dynamic conditions of the natural marine environment. For field tests, new ways to elucidate performance in smaller scale experiments before transition to larger panel performance tests are needed. In this paper...
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 2013
Regulators are implementing new programs that require manufacturers of products containing certain chemicals of concern to identify, evaluate, and adopt viable, safer alternatives. Such programs raise the difficult question for policymakers and regulated businesses of which alternatives are "viable" and "safer." To address that question, these programs use "alternatives analysis," an emerging methodology that integrates issues of human health and environmental effects with technical feasibility and economic impact. Despite the central role that alternatives analysis plays in these programs, the methodology itself is neither well-developed nor tailored to application in regulatory settings. This study uses the case of Pbbased bar solder and its non-Pb-based alternatives to examine the application of 2 multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods to alternatives analysis: multi-attribute utility analysis and outranking. The article develops and evaluates an alternatives analysis methodology and supporting decision-analysis software for use in a regulatory context, using weighting of the relevant decision criteria generated from a stakeholder elicitation process. The analysis produced complete rankings of the alternatives, including identification of the relative contribution to the ranking of each of the highest level decision criteria such as human health impacts, technical feasibility, and economic feasibility. It also examined the effect of variation in data conventions, weighting, and decision frameworks on the outcome. The results indicate that MCDA can play a critical role in emerging prevention-based regulatory programs. Multi-criteria decision analysis methods offer a means for transparent, objective, and rigorous analysis of products and processes, providing regulators and stakeholders with a common baseline understanding of the relative performance of alternatives and the trade-offs they present. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2013;9:652-664.