some of the talks from our summit focused on innovations for laboratory equipment.
I noticed that most of the awareness still focuses on (single-use) items.
But innovations are also available for our instruments! Therefore, I thought you might enjoy hearing about it.
Next week I show how to run equipment more sustainably, today we learn about the features of greener instruments:
Today's Lesson: Sustainable Equipment
What makes laboratory instruments more sustainable
Number Of The Day
The University of Oxford works with Warp-it, a platform to “forward” or sell items that are no longer in use. Whether this is a chair or a PCR cycler. So far, they could avoid 67 519 kg of waste, saving more than 650 000£. This also means an reduction in emission by approximately 295 000 kg CO2e.
650 000£
What Makes Sustainable Instruments?
The most important realization is that even in the highest-performing segment, vast differences in sustainability exist.
However, let us start with the most important aspect that is related to sustainability: scientific performance
Sufficiency
The better your equipment performs, the more sustainable it is because it will require fewer repetitions and smaller amount of sample. Improving your results, saving you time and benefiting the environment.
Additionally, operating power can make an instrument more sustainable. For example, new Ultra Performance-Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) instruments can reduce typical 15-minute gradients to about half that time, in turn requiring less time and thus, fewer resources.
This graphic is an edited combination from a publication about HPLC vs UPLC performance and a Waters post.
Energy
Most scientists are aware that energy consumption is an important aspect, but few realize that also in the highest performance segment, significant differences persist.
For example, modern vacuum systems, particularly environmentally friendly pumps, offer substantial energy savings.
Taking an example from Waters’ mass spectrometers: new pumps achieve similar pumping capacities at around 500 watts, whereas a pair of traditional oil pumps consume between 1500 and 3000 watts.
Heat
Every running machine produces heat. As we know, this is especially enjoyable in summer!
Consider that the more heat a machine dissipates, the more electricity A/C systems consume to keep temperatures stable.
These numbers are based on a flyer from Waters I was handed on the Analytica Conference in Munich, Germany!
It is not yet a major topic but more and more companies are reporting on the heat dissipation of their products. This is important since nothing is more annoying than a shutdown due to overheating, especially as summers get hotter every year.
Reagents
When it comes to the reagents your equipment uses, there are two critical factors:
A) Can you switch to greener alternatives?
For example, switching to shakers that use fewer refrigerants (Thermo Fisher) or using Ethanol/Isopropanol instead of Acetonitrile for your HPLC.
B) How much of a reagent is used. This can include the sheath fluid of a flow cytometer or nitrogen in mass spectrometry (Thermo Fisher & Waters).
However, changing reagents can come with practical challenges. This includes tubing when using hydrogen instead of helium in gas chromatography or method revalidation, which is especially challenging and expensive when FDA approval is required.
Components
As science grows (ok, people willing to do Post-Docs might be an exception…), so do our impacts. Therefore, all everything that reusable or recyclable is great.
This is a benchtop water sterilizer from Avidity Science which now carries exchangeable cartridges. These cartridges contain the matrix to purify the water. Normally, they would just be thrown away. In fact, "recycling" was not the main limitation. So far the issue was that removing the matrix from the plastic shell was not possible – until Avidity Science found a way. Modern fume hoods as this one by WALDNER use less energy and might come with automatic closing mechanisms. On top, new innovations for more sustainable material for benches and the surfaces are coming!
Although it is difficult to determine the embodied carbon in your products (i.e., which materials they contain, how they were sourced, delivered, and discarded), certifications might help to some extent. Also, consider that overall size of instruments is important for space and resource use.
In some cases, more sustainable options might be obvious, such as using LED instead of mercury lamps in microscopy.
When it comes to plastic, it is not just about packaging. Reduction of plastic use can also apply to components, like column packaging made from recycled polymers. Producers are increasingly considering PFAS-free products due to impending regulatory constraints too.
Applying The Knowledge
Before your next purchase, check measures such as performance, energy consumption or dissipated heat, as even in the high-performance segment, big differences exist – your laboratory will benefit!
By the same token, remember that reduced running times or reagent needs can improve your research flow – this can be a great argument for convincing colleagues.
You can learn more about Wellcomes support right here or from their talk in our summit!
Finally, keep an open eye for supportive schemes, such as grants from the Wellcome Trust that allow for additional funding to afford more sustainable equipment. Nevertheless, be wary of greenwashing, as some companies start to throw around (useless) numbers and labels. What does not make sense to you is probably also not more sustainable.
Upcoming Lesson:
How To Run Your Equipment More Sustainable
Asking You
More sustainable MS systems can cut nitrogen consumption by +70%, how many liters can be saved within a year?
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