From August 4th to 8th, 2025, the 74th Denver X-ray Conference on Applications of X-ray Analysis took place in Rockville, MD, near Washington, DC, with a total of 334 participants. The conference is unique due to the large exhibition of XRF and XRD component manufacturers and its focus on data acquisition. The conference is organized by the ICDD (International Center of Diffraction Data) and the MDI (Material Data Institute). The Clausthal University of Technology was represented by three participants: Prof. Dr. Michael Fischlschweiger, Thore Pohl, and Prof. Dr. Ursula Fittschen. Dr. Sven Hampel from DESY, a graduate of TUC, also participated.
The main focus of the conference is on the plenary session, where outstanding scientists give presentations on a changing topic. This year, Prof. Dr. em. Peter Wobrauscheck from TU Wien organized the plenary session entitled “From Waste to Resource: Nanoplastics, Circular Chemistry and Microanalysis.” There were excellent presentations on the topic by Prof. Dr. Florian Meirer from Utrecht University on the analysis of nanoplastics, by Prof. Dr. Michael Fischlschweiger from TUC on the connection between simulation and material data in the recovery of critical materials from EOF Li-ion batteries, and by Dr. Stefan Vogt from Argonne National Laboratory on the status of the upgrade of the Advanced Photon Source at ANL. The photo shows the speakers: from the left Prof. Dr. Fischlschweiger, Prof. Dr. Meirer, Dr. Vogt and the chair Prof. Dr. Wobrauscheck.
The AK Fittschen contributed a poster by Frithjof Mähler on the topic of Laboratory XANES of slag, which was very well attended. The “General XRF” session organized by Ursula Fittschen was also very well attended, and there were lively discussions on the various presentations. The three keynote speeches by Dr. Burkhard Beckhoff from PTB, Dr. Sven Hampel from DESY, and Prof. Dr. Christina Streli from TU Vienna were particularly well received. Another highlight was the presentation of the Jenkins Award for Lifetime Achievement to Dr. George Havrilla from Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM, USA who has made outstanding contributions to micro-X-ray fluorescence analysis in the laboratory, particularly with the development of 3D confocal micro-XRF. The next Denver Conference will return to Lombard near Chicago for its 75th anniversary.
