Form‐Specific and Probabilistic Environmental Risk Assessment of 3 Engineered Nanomaterials (Nano‐Ag, Nano‐TiO2, and Nano‐ZnO) in European Freshwaters

The release of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) to the environment necessitates an assessment of their environmental risks. The currently available environmental risk assessments (ERA) for ENMs are based on an analysis of the total flows of a specific ENM to the environment and on ecotoxicity studies performed with pristine ENMs. It is known that ENMs undergo transformation during product use and release and in technical systems such as wastewater treatment. The aim of the present study was therefore to perform an ERA of 3 ENMs (nano‐Ag, nano‐TiO2, and nano‐ZnO) based on a form‐specific release model and a form‐specific analysis of ecotoxicological data. Predicted environmental concentration values were derived using a form‐specific material flow model. Species sensitivity distributions were used to derive predicted‐no‐effect concentrations (PNECs) for the pristine ENMs and for dissolved and transformed Ag and ZnO. For all ENMs, the matrix‐embedded form was included in the assessment. A probabilistic assessment was applied, yielding final probability distributions for the risk characterization ratio (RCR). For nano‐Ag, the form‐specific assessment resulted in a decrease of the mean RCR from 0.061 for the approach neglecting the different release forms to 0.034 because of the much lower PNEC of transformed Ag. Likewise, for nano‐ZnO, the form‐specific approach reduced the mean RCR from 1.2 to 0.86. For nano‐TiO2, the form‐specific assessment did not change the mean RCR of 0.026. This analysis shows that a form‐specific approach can have an influence on the assessment of the environmental risks of ENMs and that, given the availability of form‐specific release models, an updated ERA for ENMs can be performed. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:2629–2639. © 2021 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.