Eurofins Knowledge Centre: international collaborations on microplastics research
The global Microplastic Peer Group of the Eurofins international laboratory network held its first face-to-face meeting in Budapest. In addition to discussing the results and experiences achieved so far, the researchers also agreed on the harmonization of methods and tests. Smilarly, the aim was also to compare the methods during an another project, in which Yuanli Liu, a student of Aalborg University in Denmark spent 3 months in Hungary, where she worked in the microplastics testing laboratory of the Eurofins Knowledge Center together with Dr. Gábor Bordós and Bence Prikler based on Hungarian professional experience. They developed a joint research plan that compares the testing methods of the university and the Eurofins laboratory.
Eurofins global Microplastics Peer Group met in Budapest
It was a great honor for us that some of the members of the Eurofins Microplastic Peer Group, recently visited Budapest, Hungary to explore our microplastics laboratory, one of the five laboratories operating within the Eurofins international network to discuss and share experiences in a technical workshop.
Only this year we have created a global Eurofins Microplastic Peer Group to connect all the laboratories in the current network to exchange ideas and work on best practices in the new and emerging field of Microplastics Testing. Currently, we have 5 laboratories in the network (Bergen (Norway), Budapest (Hungary), Madrid (Spain), Sacramento (US) and Melbourne (Australia). Within this network we have the entire array of instrumentation for the testing of Microplastics ranging from TD/PYR GC-MS to FTIR, LDIR and Raman. But the network also includes teams that are currently exploring the idea of setting up their own Microplastics laboratory or are just interested in the topic.
After a couple of online meetings, we were able to have a face-to-face technical workshop in Budapest, Hungary in June 2023. Joakim Skovly and Thomas Naesheim were able to attend from Bergen, Norway as well as Dr Julia Jäger from Melbourne, Australia. We were able to visit the Hungarian Microplastics Laboratory. The team has been at the forefront of microplastics research not only in Hungary, but also at the regional and European level: they have been involved in microplastics measurement for 7 years, we have participated in national and international projects.
We had a very productive meeting. Every team presented on their operations as well as capabilities and the topics that the individual teams have been facing. Together we had a great time discussing what developments and research are taking place. We discovered although we are all using different methodologies to detect Microplastics, sampling, sample cleanup and reporting are topics that we can explore to harmonize. We have set priorities on further meeting. And after a lovely social evening with local food and wine, everyone travelled home with new connections and ideas on how to improve their own operation and what future collaborations we can explore.
Danish-Hungarian cooperation in microplastics research
The Monplas project, part of the European Union's Horizon 2020 R&D funding scheme, helps researchers launch their careers by providing PhD training in renowned research laboratories under the guidance of top researchers in their field. In addition to the host institutions (universities and research centers), industrial partners also participate in this project - the latter are the places where researchers go to gain work experience and professional training. This model worked perfectly between Eurofins Analytical Services Hungary Kft., based in Budapest, and Aalborg University. Both institutions are at the forefront of microplastics research. One of the students of the university, Yuanli Liu, spent 3 months in Hungary, where together with Gabor Bordos, Dr and Bence Prikler, they developed a joint research plan based on the Hungarian professional experience, comparing the testing methods of the university and the Eurofins laboratory.
Tests carried out in several replicates have shown that both methods give reliable, reproducible results, although there is a difference between the final results of the two methods. This draws attention to the need for standardization in the field of microplastics testing, which, when applied together in the field of sampling and testing, could lead to comparable results in the future. This important step would contribute to a more accurate monitoring of the spreading of microplastics, which is essential to understand potential adverse effects and risks.
Since the method comparison experiment was carried out on composite samples collected from the Budapest section of the river Danube, the results provide new information on the microplastic content of the river: on average, microplastics were present at concentrations of 45.4±27.7 particles/m3 according to the method developed at the Eurofins Knowledge Center, which was the basis of previous studies in Hungary. This value is of the same order of magnitude as the data collected in measurements carried out in the previous years.
A scientific paper on the study was recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment at the end of August.