Portable Spectroscopy in CBRNE: Intentionally Small, Accidentally Sustainable

The defense and security space (i.e. CBRNE) seems an unlikely area of science to consider “sustainable” compared to more typical green-chemistry industries. Many technologies that cater to this application area often pride themselves on “disposable” or “one-use only” equipment. Portable spectroscopy equipment designed for the CBRNE domain has focused on the size, weight, power consumption, ease of use and more – but does this make it sustainable? The evolution of portable spectroscopy equipment for CBRNE applications has been rapid over the last 20 years, and this presentation takes a step back to review how these changes have also embraced sustainability; albeit unintentionally. Using CBRNE application examples this presentation will talk about the future of sustainability in portable spectroscopy, challenges surrounding those practices, and how future users can leverage these technologies to improve sustainability practices in their application spaces.