Metrology for the harmonisation of measurements of environmental pollutants in Europe

General Information

European Green Deal’s ambition for zero pollution requires the development of highly sensitive techniques to detect ultra-low amounts of pollutants and to determine their isotope ratios. Mass spectrometry is a key method for non-radioactive polluting elements determination and is of increasing importance for long-lived radionuclides. This project will bridge the gap between both methods and will establish new tools for tracing pollutants. Measurement uncertainties and detection limits will be significantly reduced using newly developed reference materials and SI-traceable measurement procedures with an immediate impact for tracking pollution sources by commonly available mass spectrometers.

Hereon will support the development of new sensitive methods for the quantification of environmental critical elements such as Cr, Cd, Ni, Sb or Pb in different natural waters such as sea water. In addition Hereon is involved in the development of a new Certified Reference Material for inorganic pollutants in sea water. Such Materials are mandatory to validate the accuracy of analytical methods as well as to make data series from different studies traceable and comparable, which is in particular essential for long term environmental investigations.

EU-Programme Acronym and Subprogramme Area	The European Partnership on Metrology (EURAMET)
Project Type	Research & Innovation Action (RIA)
Contract Number	Grant Agreement 21GRD09
Co-ordinator	Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (DE)

Funding for the Project (€)	Funding for Hereon (€)
2,326,816	140,000

Contact Person at Hereon

Dr. Daniel Proefrock, Institute of Coastal Environmental Chemistry, Department Inorganic Environmental Chemistry, KUA, Phone: +49(4152)87-2846 E-mail contact

Participants

Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (DE), Cesky Metrologicky Institut (CZ), Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et Aux Energies Alternatives (FR), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (CH), Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover (DE), Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e. V. (DE), Institut Za Nuklearne Nauke Vinča University of Belgrade (RS), Institute for Energy Technology (NO), Institutul National de Cercetare-Dezvoltare pentru Fizica si Inginerie Nucleara ‘Horia Hulubei’ (RO), Jozef Stefan Institute (SI), Laboratoire National de Métrologie et d'Essais (FR), LGC Limited (UK), Montanuniversität Leoben (AT), National Metrology Institute of Turkey UME (TR), Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NO), NPL National Physical Laboratory Management Limited (UK), Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (DE), Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (FI), Technical University of Denmark (DK), University of Aarhus (DK), University of Helsinki (FI)

Last Update: 08. January 2024