HiReader, when was the last time you were truly inspired?
Today, I hope to bring you a sense of hope and aspiration regarding sustainable practices.
We will take a look at some astonishing advancements in instrument efficiency.
So, let us dive in and explore what innovation looks like!
Today's Lesson: Innovation In Sustainability
Modern instruments that shape a greener lab
Number Of The Day
The Scientific Instruments Market Size in 2024 was estimated at 40 billion US dollars. After significant growth in past years, projections extrapolate a market size exceeding 60 billion by 2030! Undoubtedly, AI and automation will continue to drive this development. However, will we see sustainable innovations in a similar fashion?
40 Billion
The Sustainability of Equipment
To judge the sustainability of our equipment, we need to consider:
Sufficiency & Breadth of Performance
Running Efficiency (e.g., energy consumption and heat generation)
Type and Volume of Required Reagents (including sample preparation)
By-products and Waste Generation (from reagents and samples)
Embodied Carbon of the Material
Truly innovative equipment does not only enhance performance but also other measures. This graphic is adapted from a Water's Brochure. On the left you see the Xevo TQ Absolute.
Normally, marketing focuses solely on performance, but let us explore some of the most astonishing opportunities to make equipment more sustainable.
Mass Spectrometry
Some MS systems use nitrogen to remove solvent from ions in the ionization source. More efficient source design and optimized desolvation processes can reduce this consumption.
For instance, Water's ESI mass spectrometers use a gas flow of 20–23 L/min, compared to other systems that use up to 77 L/min. In fact, older instruments consume a liquid nitrogen even in “standby.”
At first glance, these numbers might seem irrelevant, but:
In core facilities, instruments will probably run for 8h each working day. Being conservative we assume 200 workdays.
Traditional Operation: 77L/h * 48000h = 3 696 000L
The 70% higher efficiency translates to unimaginable savings of
2.5 million liters (academic) or 23 million liters (industry)
of nitrogen per year per machine!
Huge shout out to Gunnar Weibchen and Claudia Rathmann from Waters for their engagement and support in this topic!
High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
In HPLCs, we find a number of innovations. From solid-core particles that enable more efficient separations and up to a 50% reduction in run time, which equates to 50% less solvent use and energy consumption in contrast to fully porous silica particles.
Taken from a truly outstanding online article that you can find here.
A similar reduction can be achieved by halving column length and particle size while keeping the flow rate constant.
However, one of the most exciting advancements is the use of modern low-dispersion systems. Many LC-UV instruments still use 4.6-mm inner diameter (i.d.) columns, but switching to 2.1-mm i.d. columns can reduce solvent consumption by up to 80%. For a more forgiving option, 3.0-mm i.d. columns save about 60% of mobile phase use.
Considering that approximately 150 million kilograms of methanol and acetonitrile are used annually, these changes could save 50 million kilograms—the equivalent of 10 Eiffel Towers in weight!
Flow Cytometry
Unfortunately, information about sustainability improvements in flow cytometry is sparse. Nevertheless, the Attune NxT Flow Cytometer provides a newsworthy example:
Conventional flow cytometers require large volumes of fluid and compromise resolution when increasing the sample flow rate.
The Attune NxT, using an acoustic field in its hydrodynamic system, addresses these challenges:
I added a little sentence to this graphic as you can see. If you are interested in the Attune, here is the brochure for you.
It generates 1.8 L of biological waste per day, compared to up to 20 L from conventional systems.
It enables adjustable flow rates of up to 1 mL/min, allowing for dilute samples and less starting material.
The acoustic focusing system facilitates no-wash, no-lyse methods, reducing prep time from 65–130 minutes to 20–40 minutes.
These advancements mean less solvent use upfront and more than 90% savings in hazardous fluid generation.
Applying The Knowledge
When selecting a new instrument, our considerations should go beyond just performance.
Sample preparation requirements is an often underappreciated factor both in terms of process optimization as well as sustainability.
Increasing processing speed enhances efficiency but also carries compound effects. Faster operations consume less energy and generate less heat, thereby reducing HVAC demands.
Therefore, pay attention that even in the high-performance segments, significant sustainability differences exist. And to make you aware of those ReAdvance exists ; )
Upcoming Lesson:
Ever heard of Dry Baths?
How We Feel Today
If you have a wish or a question, feel free to reply to this Email. Otherwise, wish you a beatiful week! See you again the 30th : )
Personal Note From Patrick, The Editor Hi Reader, hope you are doing well! In a previous lesson, we looked at how to account for the energy consumption of your lab equipment. However, there are three reasons why we’re interested in assessing the exact energy use of a specific piece of equipment. Therefore, today we’ll cover what these are and how you can successfully measure them without becoming too technical: Today's Lesson: Measuring Energy Consumption How to quantify electricity use...
Personal Note From Patrick, The Editor Hi Reader, ever since COVID, we have all heard about PCRs. The Polymerase Chain Reaction, which elongates DNA or RNA chains. As it is a standard method used in almost every Life-Science laboratory, it is a topic we have to cover. Here is everything from the environmental impacts of PCR to how we can make it more sustainable: Today's Lesson: Making PCRs More Sustainable How we can save resources, time, and money. Number Of The Day A single PCR run...
Personal Note From Patrick, The Editor Hello Reader, how many tips do you think the average scientist uses each week? As outlined in a previous publication, it can be quite simple to reduce up to 65% of the plastic waste generated in experiments—even under sterile conditions. Today, we will dive deeper into how we can reduce plastic waste in a rather unique way. In other words, it’s not just about the tips themselves, but also about what surrounds them. Today's Lesson: Pipette Tip Refill...
