Hi Reader, have you ever experienced a real supply shortage in science?
When you cannot get the reagents or supplies you need, research stalls. It costs time, causes stress, and can even lead to instruments breaking down.
However, in many developing countries, this is almost the norm: receiving supplies is frequently uncertain.
Let’s therefore discuss how sustainable practices can help us survive these challenges.
Today's Lesson: Sustainability Against Crises
How greener labs deal better with shortages
Number of the Day
In 2008, acetonitrile prices more than tripled due to a supply shortage. Some estimate that they paid around $100 per liter for acetonitrile. However, fitting today's number, 100% of sources I reviewed were entirely unclear about how much acetonitrile is produced, used, or needed. Even business analyses that estimate the acetonitrile market at $3.2 billion by 2032 do not mention a quantity even once. The lack of transparency is actually directly connected to the shortages we experience:
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When Shortages Affect Science
Research stalling is expensive.
On an environmental level, it can lead to reagents expiring, prepared batches becoming obsolete, and samples no longer being usable.
Large industrial and diagnostic facilities, in particular, may need to shut down instruments - and warming up, recalibration, as well as validation consume additional resources and time.
Whether HPLC, NMR, or MS, each of these workflows is endangered by supply shortages (as we are currently experiencing), and shutting them down and restarting/reestablishing them is costly.
Meanwhile, salaries still need to be paid. Buildings still need to be maintained. Instruments still require space, servicing, and attention.
On a personal level, disruptions can delay your degree or result in someone scooping your publication.
In recent years, several crises have shown how vulnerable scientific workflows can be:
The Acetonitrile Crisis
Acetonitrile is central to HPLC and UHPLC workflows, with pharma and biotech probably consuming half of the global supply.
This makes the 2008–2009 acetonitrile shortage especially interesting - and memorable for those who experienced it.
The shortage was linked to reduced acrylonitrile production because acetonitrile is commonly produced as a by-product of acrylonitrile manufacturing.
This is where chemicals such as acrylonitrile are produced. Of course, there are much newer facilities, but we have to be honest: some of them do look like this. Shortages, for instance, those caused by failures and incidents will probably also result from this (as we will see in more detail when we talk about helium).
Additional disruptions, including production interruptions in China around the 2008 Olympic Games and the effects of Hurricane Ike on the U.S. Gulf Coast, further worsened the situation. ([Pharmaceutical Processing World][2])
The result: some laboratories faced delivery times of up to six months. Prices increased dramatically.
One chromatography article reported that high-quality and HPLC-grade acetonitrile reached quotes of over $1,000 for a 4 × 4 L case, with prices increasing by as much as sixfold compared with summer 2008. ([Chromatography Online][3])
However, even when the crisis started to subside, issues remained.
The quality of many batches simply wasn’t high enough for sensitive analytical work.
You can read about how acetonitrile is synthesized and that about 15 percent of acrylonitrile is converted into acetonitrile and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) - the latter being an obvious sustainability concern in itself. However, even documents such as the Technical Support Document for the Petrochemical Production Sector: Proposed Rule for Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Air and Radiation do not mention quantities at all. Just demonstrating how almost nobody knows the true scale of these industries.
In other words, many labs had to dramatically reduce throughput or switch to alternative methods.
And that brings us to sustainability because switching to methanol and ethanol as alternative eluents is more often possible than many think.
However, using smaller columns or optimizing gradients can also help reduce consumption by more than 50%.
A Little Throwback
You might think that such supply shortages might only affect dedicated chemicals or special items... But just think about gloves.
Malaysia produces about 60% of the world’s nitrile gloves and accounted for 75% of U.S. imports of non-hard rubber medical gloves by quantity in 2020.
And this concentration matters. Not only were there issues with labor rights, but supply also becomes insecure when it comes from a single region.
This picture is from a Yahoo Finance report discussing increased glove prices. However, if you want to read more about the rather problematic conditions in these glove manufacturing facilities, I highly recommend this article. And yes, major glove manufacturers such as Kimberly-Clark were involved in operating such facilities.
As you know, during the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for medical and surgical gloves increased sharply.
And while demand increased, borders closed and later there was even a fairly severe outbreak at one of the Malaysian production facilities…
From then on, you probably know the story…
Where are gloves scientifically and safely required, and where are they simply part of routine?
Your skin will thank you. Wearing gloves for too long can also lead to skin softening due to sweat and transpiration, making it more vulnerable once you take the gloves off.
When Shortages Can Cost You Millions...
The last example I want to share with you today is about helium - because we are currently experiencing it.
Helium is crucial for instruments such as NMR and MRI systems, as well as for gas chromatography.
On the left, you see a schematic of the components of an NMR provided by ETH Zurich, while on the right, you can see what a cut-open NMR actually looks like.
The problem is that, for example, NMR magnets require a constant helium supply (often delivered monthly or quarterly).
Otherwise, rising temperatures can quench the magnet, potentially leading to instrument failure, with damages ranging from $100,000 to several million dollars (for every single instrument!)
Due to geopolitical conflicts involving Iran, many are now worried about their helium supply.
And even those still receiving helium sometimes pay 10 times more than they did at the beginning of the century…
According to estimates and personal conversations, prices have risen steadily from $5–10 to more than $50 per liter today.
Click to enlarge. Please note that the prices here are denoted for bulk purchases in long term contracts as Million Standard Cubic Feet (MMscf).
The main issue is that there are only a handful of helium suppliers worldwide. This oligopoly makes supply vulnerable and allows suppliers to adjust prices to their preference.
Crisis? Prices go up. Crisis over? Prices stay the same.
This is also why there is almost no publicly available data on helium supply or even official price developments. It is the same lack of transparency as with acetonitrile.
However, recycling helium (>95% efficiency) for NMR is available, even for small instruments with space-saving options!
Applying the Knowledge
Beyond environmental protection or optimizing workflows, sustainability in science can be about safeguarding science.
As we saw today, surprisingly many scientific workflows depend on materials with surprisingly fragile supply chains.
This is especially crucial for those who are from developing regions or
have recently changed suppliers
are building new facilities or are
expanding operations
Because those without valuable long-term contracts are often the first to be cut off.
Installing helium recycling systems can be challenging and costly upfront, but they can pay off for decades to come.
You can read more about exciting innovations in helium recycling, especially by Bluefors in this lesson.
And yes, sometimes the most valuable step is simply knowing what alternatives exist before a crisis begins.
Of course, regulated environments cannot simply change validated methods overnight. But this is exactly why sustainable optimization should begin before the crisis happens.
In other words, just knowing how to employ smaller columns can be a life-saver at times.
Invest in sustainability, and your laboratory essentially becomes more efficient, resilient, and independent.
How We Feel Today
If you have a wish or a question, feel free to reply to this Email. Otherwise, wish you a beautiful week! See you again on the 21st : )
Edited by Patrick Penndorf Connection@ReAdvance.com Lutherstraße 159, 07743, Jena, Thuringia, Germany Data Protection & Impressum If you think we do a bad job: Unsubscribe
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