| The scientific instruments market, including all its innovations, was estimated at an astonishing $40 billion in 2023.
When it comes to sustainability, approximately 50% of a laboratory’s electricity consumption is attributable to their instrumentation Similarly, billions of liters of reagents are required annually to run instruments.
Surprisingly, even in the high-performance segment, significant efficiency differences exist. That means you can become more sustainable by saving reagents, reducing maintenance, and optimizing time when choosing the right instruments.
Truly innovative equipment does not only enhance performance, it is more efficient too. This graphic is adapted from a Waters’ brochure featuring a comparison of the Xevo TQ Absolute to its competitor models
Let us review some inspiring examples to provide you with a sense of what could be of help to you:
Mass Spectrometry
Some MS systems use nitrogen to remove solvent from ions in the ionization source. More efficient source designs and optimized desolvation processes can reduce this consumption.
For instance, Waters’ ESI mass spectrometers require a gas flow of 20–23 L/min, compared to other systems that use up to 77 L/min. In fact, older instruments consume liquid nitrogen even in “standby” mode.
At first glance, these numbers might seem negligible, but consider that in core facilities, instruments typically run for 8 hours each working day, 200 workdays à year (=48000 hours):
> Traditional Operation: 77 L/min × 48,000 min = 3,696,000 L
> Sustainable Operation: 23 L/min × 48,000 min = 1,140,800 L
In many industrial settings, instruments operate 24/7, enabling more than 23 Million liters of Nitrogen savings!
On Top, modern instrument come with vacuum pumps that achieve comparable pumping capacities at only 500 watts, whereas traditional oil pumps consume between 1,500 and 3,000 watts.
High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
In HPLC, several innovations have emerged. For example, solid-core particles or halving column length and particle size enable more efficient separations, reducing run times by up to 50%.
= This also means 50% less solvent use and energy consumption compared to conventional machines.
However, one of the most exciting advancements exists in column diameter.
While conventional LC-UV instruments still use 4.6-mm inner diameter (i.d.) columns, switching to 2.1-mm i.d. columns can reduce solvent consumption by up to 80%. Although extra column dispersion or internal backpressure can become a challenge, even more forgiving alternatives with 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 weight of 10 Eiffel Towers!
Investigating Protein Interactions – SPR
Beyond time and reagents use, efficient handling of samples is key. Older SPR (Surface Plasmon Resonance) instruments that enable the study of affinity of two ligands require approximately 150 µL of sample. Newer models, such as the Alto, reduce this amount to just 2 µL while requiring lower protein concentrations overall.
Although the concrete sustainability of this innovation has to be judged based on Life Cycle Analysis data, this instrument runs on DMF-powered cartridges, meaning it has no internal fluidics. As a result, maintenance and repair requirements for this part are eliminated altogether.
Imagine the reduced stress when less sample volume is needed, and expensive service calls are avoided—not to mention the lower carbon footprint associated with fewer service expert visits.
How This Knowledge Helps You:
Reagent use, running time, and sample preparation requirements are often undervalued when searching for new instruments. Importantly, faster processing speeds have compounding effects: reduced energy use, less heat generation, and therefore lower HVAC demands.
To evaluate the sustainability of equipment, consider these 5 core factors:
- Sufficiency & Breadth of Performance
- Operation 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 Materials
A personal tip: think outside the box. Don’t opt for the standard, instead choose what benefits you. For example, nowadays, very short 10×2.1 mm cartridge columns in HPLC systems are available. They save up to 88% of running time and 70% of solvent. However, they come with a lower resolution. If you need peaks as sharp as possible this is nothing for you. If you use an LC-MS system, broader peaks are not an issue, however, saving time, money and waste is.
| Ultimately, the question is whether we want to embrace optimization or stick with the conventional.
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