Estimating the occurrence of nanomaterials in the environment

To perform a risk assessment of nanomaterials in the environment, information on the exposure, i.e. the amounts that are present in the environment, is essential. In contrast to many other known pollutants, the concentrations of nanomaterials in environmental systems cannot be measured directly. In this situation, exposure modelling is a solution to estimate the environmental exposure with synthetic nanomaterials. In order to predict the amount of a nanomaterial in a certain environmental compartment (environmental exposure) present in a certain area, two basic types of models are required - material flow analysis and environmental behaviour modelling.