Development of Human Health Impact Characterization Factors for Ionic Liquids

In this presentation we outline a methodology to derive human health characterization factors for ionic liquids that can be used in life cycle assessment (LCA) methods to study the health impacts of ionic liquids. Current LCA impact assessment methods such as TRACI do not have human health characterization factors for ionic liquids. Therefore, at this point health impacts associated with processes that use and release ionic liquids to the environment cannot be considered within an LCA framework. Further, there is very little LD50 data -which is needed for deriving the characterization factors- available for ionic liquids. In this presentation we outline an approximate method based on correlations between in vitro data and LD50 that can be utilized to derive ionic liquid characterization factors. The method is illustrated with examples.