Environmental impacts of graphene at industrial production scale and its application in electric heating technology

Although graphene has shown great promise in various fields with advantageous performance, the potential environmental impacts of the consequent large-scale production and application are of increasing concern. However, most studies have focused on laboratory-scale or hypothetical mass manufacture of graphene. This study evaluates the environmental impacts of graphene at industrial production scale based on actual factory and its application in electric heating technology using the life cycle assessment. Results show that electricity is the hotspot of environmental impacts for graphene and the novel graphene electric heating element, and their impact categories concentrate on global warming potential, fine particulate matter formation potential, human carcinogenic toxicity potential, and human non-carcinogenic toxicity potential. The thermal exfoliation route has significantly superior potential environmental performances than the oxidation–reduction route in industrial production of graphene. The environmental burdens of graphene and its electric heating applicants would further reduce in the future.