Nontarget2026 conference

Water authorities and companies aim to be proactive in safeguarding water quality. For that, they need advanced pollution detection. KWR is one of the leading institutes in this field and develops and applies Non-Target Screening (NTS). This technique can analyse compounds that are yet unknown or unexpected in environmental samples. For example, we discovered emerging pollutants or transformation products in treatment systems.  

NTS has been developing since advances in high‑resolution mass spectrometry, allowing us to measure molecular masses very accurately. At the same time, better computational techniques for handling complex data have enabled the development of NTS tools.  

At this conference, the fruits of this effort were shown, as water, food and environmental authorities across Europe are implementing NTS methods and attending this conference to share their experiences and further needs. Additionally, the utility of NTS was shown by scientist from Europe, the USA and Canada, who discovered previously unknown pollutants, especially certain PFAS.  

KWR contributions to Nontarget2026 

Xander presented an algorithm for the retention time alignment of NTS measurements of NTS methods with limited harmonisation, that is a part of his PhD project WaterpatRoon. 

Frederic presented his work on advanced LC-HRMS strategies for tracing transformation product formation during drinking water treatment, introducing an integrated instrumental and data-driven workflow to prioritise and annotate potentially hazardous transformation products formed under realistic AOP conditions. 

Insights

The set-up of the conference provided great opportunities to interact with many researchers and practitioners, and to learn about opportunities and needs to consider in our current and future NTS projects. Hopefully, we will have many new insights and developments to share at the next Nontarget conference.