Open Access

The EU’s Zero Pollution action plan aims at reducing pollution in air, water and soil to levels no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems. As part of this, the Industrial Emissions Directive was revised in 2024 which includes a magnitude reduction in the permissible associated emission level of a range of pollutants, affecting many industrial processes. Pollutants such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are increasingly causing concern. Up to now there is only little knowledge on which industrial processes emit PFAS, at what concentrations, and no European standard exists (only national standard in Belgium and France) for measuring PFAS emissions. Therefore, the Euramet project MetZeroPol will be develop methods to measure PFAS and used to identify key PFAS species from real industrial processes. Furthermore, the members are involved in the new CEN/TC 264/WG 48 - “Emissions and ambient air - Determination of PFAS” group in order to uniformly regulate the standardization of analysis methods for PFAS emissions from industrial plants.

BPA unterliegt einer kontinuierlichen behördlichen Kontrolle und ist als besonders besorgniserregender Stoff (SVHC) gelistet. Besondere Besorgnis besteht hinsichtlich seines häufigen Nachweises in Oberflächengewässern, obwohl es leicht biologisch abbaubar ist. In mehreren Studien wurden die Quellen und Wege von BPA in die Umwelt untersucht, wobei festgestellt wurde, dass seine Hauptverwendung als Monomer in PC nur marginal zu den BPA-Freisetzungen in die Umwelt über seinen Lebenszyklus beiträgt. Um die tatsächlichen Freisetzungen von BPA aus PC unter umweltrelevanten Bedingungen besser zu verstehen, wurde eine neu entwickelte Methodik (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, BAM) angewendet, die ein neuartiges beschleunigtes Bewitterungsprotokoll für Polycarbonat-Materialien in Kombination mit einem sensitiven Analysenverfahren umfasst, welches eine Bestimmung von BPA im Ultraspurenbereich ermöglicht. Das Bewitterungsprotokoll erreicht eine 13,6-fache Beschleunigung im Vergleich zu mitteleuropäischen Wetterbedingungen und simuliert Umweltstressoren (globale Strahlung, Regen, Temperaturschwankungen) in einer Bewitterungskammer, wobei gleichzeitig die BPA-Freisetzung mit einem validierten LC-MS/MS-Verfahren unter Verwendung einer organischen Isotopenverdünnungskalibrierung bestimmt wird. In parallelen Freilandversuchen wurden die Trübung und die Vergilbung („Yellowness-Index“) der zu untersuchenden Proben als Referenzparameter untersucht.

Cancer is a severe disease characterized by high mortality and complex pathophysiology; however, its early and accurate diagnosis remains inadequate. Conventional diagnostic approaches often fall short, particularly for dense tissues, and are frequently invasive, costly, and of limited availability. This reinforces the need for a compact, economical, and ultrasensitive assay that is operationally simple and interpretable. We present an efficient electrochemical detection platform for the cancer biomarker mucin 1 (MUC1). A fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) surface was modified with an iron-based metal–organic framework (FeMOF) intercalated with palladium nanorods (PdNR). FeMOF was prepared using Fe3+/Fe2+ precursors at a 1.2/1 mmol ratio and dual ligands, i.e. tetrahydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone and 2-aminobenzene-1,4-dicarboxylic acid. AntiMUC1 antibodies were immobilized on a modified electrode via p-phenylenediamine (PDA) (FTO/FeMOF@PdNR/PDA/antiMUC1Ab) and evaluated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and voltammetry. The designed sensor demonstrated an excellent binding affinity for the MUC1 antigen. Among these techniques, the EIS method stands out for its technical performance, as evidenced by the high sensitivity (detection limit 0.074 fg mL−1), quantification limit 0.24 fg mL−1, and high analytical sensitivity (1.39 × 103 Ω fg−1 mL−1 cm−2). The negligible cross-reactivity with interferent biomolecules, rapid response (10-minute equilibrium), regenerability up to 5 cycles, high reproducibility (RSD ∼1–3%), and long-term stability (up to 35 days) further validate the suitability of the proposed MUC1 immunosensor. This study presents an ultrasensitive biosensor that is compact, cost-effective, and easy for individuals at home to use after further development into a kit-based end product. Moreover, its excellent functionality for spiked serum samples shows promise for next-generation clinical diagnostics.

This study focuses on the green synthesis of Ag–Au nanoparticles using Tagetes erecta extract and their potential application in electrochemical detection and estimation of ampicillin in raw milk. The Ag–Au nanoparticles were covalently bonded to the hydroxylated fluorine-doped tin oxide electrode surface through silane chemistry enabling the effective interaction of the 5' thiolated-aptamer with the nanoparticle-modified surface for aptasensor development. The aptasensor displayed a limit of detection of 0.40 ng mL−1 and a stability of 30 days. Moreover, the aptasensor demonstrated reliable performance with both spiked milk samples and real milk samples, detecting a concentration of 194 ng mL−1 in raw milk with results closely matching with those obtained by the LC-MS technique.

Micropollutants, including various emerging contaminants, are continuously released into the environment. Detecting their presence using conventional analytical methods is often expensive and time-consuming, making large-scale monitoring impractical. To effectively protect ecosystems and human health, rapid and cost-efficient screening methods are essential. Furthermore, the need to monitor the entire water cycle for micropollutants is becoming increasingly critical, particularly from a One Health perspective, as climate change and growing demands for water reuse amplify environmental challenges. – Antibody-based methods, commonly referred to as immunoassays, offer a promising solution. These rapid and cost-effective techniques can fill information gaps and provide sensors and process analytical technology with short response times. A wide range of immunoanalytical formats is available, from laboratory-based methods to portable analyzers and online sensors. Ensuring the availability of high-quality antibodies is essential to the reliability of these approaches. This talk presents how a whole range of immunoanalytical methods can be employed to trace emerging contaminants in the environment. An indicator for specific industrial inputs is bisphenol A which is also an endocrine disruptor. Additionally, pharmaceuticals serve as important markers of human impact on the water cycle. Natural tracers, such as endogenous hormones and bile acids, help track wastewater pathways, while anthropogenic markers - most notably caffeine - serve as indicators of human activity, frequently appearing in environmental water samples.