A Sustainable Future – Water and Energy Conservation in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Related Vendors

EDL Anlagenbau Gesellschaft mbH

Italvacuum, Srl

ProMinent GmbH

Siemens AG

Water reclaim and reuse ensures future growth

In an effort to drastically reduce raw water consumption and wastewater production from its product manufacturing process, this same healthcare products manufacturer implemented a water reuse system. The primary driver was strict regulations on wastewater discharge from the facility. Failure to recover their wastewater and reuse it as feed water would have resulted in severe financial penalties,crippling the facility’s growth prospects.

The wastewater includes a proprietary organic compound introduced during the manufacturing process. It is critical to remove this contaminant from the wastewater stream before it can be returned to the feed of the system for reuse. Additionally, while it was important to remove the organic compound, it was also desirable to selectively retain a proprietary inorganic compound in the wastewater stream. By removing the organic contaminant and leaving the selective inorganic compound intact, the wastewater stream could be returned to the feed system and used again, safely and efficiently.

Membrane solutions such as ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis, nano filtration, micro filtration and ceramic membranes were all considered as possible solutions for this process. Ultimately, nano filtration was selected because of its process characteristics in removing the organic contaminant while having minimal impact on the selective inorganic compound in the process.

The company was able to recover and reuse more than 52 million gallons a year of its waste stream. This equates to a savings of approximately $3.4 million over a 10-year period. These savings do not include the regulatory penalties avoided or the financial impact of the facility’s ability to grow in their respective marketplace.

Tight water management is a serious and critical point for pharmaceutical manufacturers – throughout the entire water operations. Unique designs and proven, innovative integrated operations can provide creative solutions that result in significant operational cost savings, greater regulatory compliance, and ultimately, reduced business risk. In addition, companies can implement ‘green’ solutions, which support public and shareholder expectations with the benefit of greater marketplace competitiveness.

* The author is Global Director – Pharmaceutical, Siemens Water Technologies

(ID:27333590)