The Study of Decarbonizing Pharmaceutical Plants in Southeast Asia, posted on ISPE’s “Pharmaceutical Engineering.”

The ISPE bi-monthly magazine ‘Pharmaceutical Engineering’ (November/December 2024) has been published with an article contributed by our employees, Mr. Goto, Mr. Tahara, Mr. Inoue and Dr. Hasunuma. The article introduces our efforts to reduce carbon emissions while identifying hazards and assessing risks from a GMP perspective in order to decarbonize pharmaceutical plants in Southeast Asia.   Summary of the article Title "Decarbonizing Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Facilities for Drug Products’ Carbon Footprint Reduction" Authors ・Mr. Koichi GOTO (MSc), Senior General Manager of the Overseas Strategy Office at CM Plus Corporation, ・Mr. Shigehiro TAHARA, Senior advisor about International Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Facility Engineering of CM Plus Corporation, ・Mr. Yoshiyuki Inoue, Corporate Officer at CM Plus Singapore ・Dr. Hideki Hasunuma, HVAC and Carbon Neutral Engineer at CM Plus Corporation. Abstracts Reducing pharmaceutical's carbon footprint has become a management responsibility. This paper introduces some of the key points, actual methods, and practical examples of our implementation to reduce carbon emissions from the pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in Southeast Asia. In general drug production facilities, a hazard identification and risk assessment from a GMP perspective should always be performed on the proposed energy efficiency improvements identified from an engineering perspective, and the necessary actions should be considered. In some situations, it is possible that a proposed improvement may not be effective or feasible. Therefore, there are considerable hurdles to reduce carbon emission from drug manufacturing plants compared to general facilities. As an example, we will describe our approach for the decarbonization at an operational pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Southeast Asia, with key steps along the way. The paper also includes a note on the sustainability aspects of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). Carbon footprint reduction plan also requires a consideration of the manufacturing facility's life cycle. We hope this paper will help to further reduce the carbon footprint...

https://cm-plus.co.jp/en/news/event/2024_1118/

Diagnosis of Existing Factories for Carbon Neutral (CN) and Environmental Measures for New Factories, Part 2

Starting with the areas that use the most energy is one strategy. Do you know which piece of equipment in the factory consumes the most energy?Generally, heat source and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are the largest energy consumers. Particularly in pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, these systems account for 50-60%, or even more, of the total energy consumption in the factory. Therefore, it is effective to start energy-saving and carbon-neutral (CN) initiatives by examining the energy-consuming HVAC systems. Pharmaceutical manufacturing typically involves batch production (though there are cases of 24-hour operation). During batch production, there are periods when production is halted, but the HVAC system operates continuously, except during maintenance, to maintain the environment and cleanliness. HVAC systems need to supply outside air and pressurize the indoor environment, which requires a large amount of energy. Particularly in regions where summer outside temperatures reach around 40°C and winter temperatures drop below freezing, the thermal load from supplying outside air is substantial. Reducing the energy consumption of these continuously operating and highly loaded HVAC systems can significantly enhance energy-saving effects. What specific methods should be considered? We recommend considering “reducing the airflow volume.” HVAC systems are designed to remove indoor heat generated during production and maintain the indoor temperature at a constant level. This is achieved by circulating and cooling the air. In pharmaceutical factories, ventilation rates (air circulation volume) are defined by the cleanliness classifications of the indoor spaces, often requiring circulation beyond just the heat load. Additionally, to prevent dust from entering from outside, HVAC systems pressurize the indoor environment. To achieve this, outside air is supplied and must be cooled or heated to the same conditions as the indoor environment, consuming energy not only for pressurization but also for processing the thermal load of the outside air. Moreover, manufacturing processes often...

https://cm-plus.co.jp/en/column/carbon_neutral/cn_environmental2/

Diagnosis of Existing Factories for Carbon Neutral (CN) and Environmental Measures for New Factories, Part 1

Let’s start by understanding the energy consumption of your factory. Traditional central monitoring systems, such as BEMS, have primarily been used not only for monitoring equipment but also for understanding the total electricity and gas consumption and reducing demand. However, knowing the overall electricity and fuel consumption of a factory is not enough to devise specific reduction strategies. To reduce the energy consumption of a factory, it is essential to understand what, where, how much, and why energy is being consumed. Recently, energy monitoring equipment and central monitoring systems implemented in factories have become capable of detailed energy consumption tracking. However, in older factories, vital measurement instruments, sensors, and power meters are often not installed, making it difficult to understand the situation of large-scale factories. For the sake of the global environment and the achievement of SDGs, let’s start by promoting the “visualization” of energy consumption. Visualization is not just about installing measuring instruments; it is also possible by organizing existing management documents. You can promote visualization using the following methods: Graphing daily environmental management records of the factory Graphing daily production records Graphing records of equipment updates and equipment management Graphing electricity and gas bills   By graphing and analyzing these data in detail, you can discover many insights. For example, with environmental management records, you might find: “The indoor temperature is 22°C even when not in production.” “The exchange rate should be 20 times/h, but this room is always at 24 times/h.”   From the update records: “This equipment has been used for 20 years.”   From the equipment management records: “There is a significant difference between the pressure at the steam outlet and the use point.” “The unloader time of the compressor is longer than before.”   Through existing records and data, you might find concrete energy-saving...

https://cm-plus.co.jp/en/column/carbon_neutral/cn_environmental1/

Energy Management Solutions “CMP Way”

Home/ Services/ Technical Information Services/ Energy Management Solutions Technical Information ServicesEnergy Management SolutionsWhat is the “CMP Way” advocated by CM Plus? Energy management is the process of visualizing and optimizing the energy usage of an entire facility. CM Plus provides energy management solutions as the “CMP Way”. The CMP Way achieves the development of a production system including utility systems that takes into account sustainability from the two perspectives of “improving productivity” and “reducing energy consumption,” and leads to the continuous achievement of growth. CM Plus serves as a comprehensive engineering consultant for energy-related matters. ・We realize the visualization of energy across the entire facility. ・We enhance the energy productivity of the facility by optimizing energy and identifying waste. ・We support the achievement of medium- to long-term CO2 reduction by incorporating production and maintenance plans. Table of Contents 1.Do you have any concerns about energy management at your facility? 2.What is CM Plus's energy management solution? 1）What is CMP Way? 2）Steps of CMP Way 3）What is the difference between CMP Way and other companies' solutions? 4）Target Facilities 3.CM Plus's Feature and Strengths Do you have any concerns about energy management at your facility? Environment surrounding clients regarding SDGs, carbon neutrality, and other initiatives The current status of the environment surrounding the customer with regard to GHG, carbon neutrality, and other initiatives. Too busy with the day-to-day operations to have sufficient time to address these issues. There is a lack of personnel with sustainability-related technical expertise in the company. Awareness of SDGs and carbon neutrality is high, but response is not sufficient. The company is partially addressing this issue, but it is difficult to develop comprehensive, medium- to long-term measures in terms of time and resources. Why don't you solve the issues at all with “CMP Way”, =CMP Plus' Energy Management...

https://cm-plus.co.jp/en/service/technology_information/energy_management/