Polyfire project-an example of an industrial research project promoting safe industrial production of fire-resistant nanocomposites

New developments based on nanotechnology have to guarantee safe products and processes to be accepted by society. The Polyfire project will develop and scale-up techniques for processing halogen-free, fire-retardant nanocomposite materials and coatings based on unsaturated polyester resins and organoclays. The project includes a work package that will assess the Health and Environmental impacts derived from the manipulation of nanoparticles. This work package includes the following tasks: (1) Identification of Health and Environment Impacts derived from the processes, (2) Experimentation to study specific Nanoparticle Emissions, (3) Development of a Risk Management Methodology for the process, and (4) A Comparison of the Health and Environmental Impact of New and Existing Materials. To date, potential exposure scenarios to nanomaterials have been identified through the development of a Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA) of the new production processes. In the next step, these scenarios will be studied and simulated to evaluate potential emissions of nanomaterials. Polyfire is a collaborative European project, funded by the European Commission 7th Framework Programme (Grant Agreement No 229220). It features 11 partners from 5 countries (5 SMEs, 3 research institutes, 2 large companies, 1 association) and runs for three years (1st September 2009 - 31st August 2012). This project is an example of an industrial research development which aims to introduce to the market new products promoting the safe use of nanomaterials.