In the chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, special solutions are needed for customised manufacturing processes at a variety of locations. Wherever laboratory systems, pilot plants or flexible, small-sized production and process facilities are used to handle hazardous materials, for example, strict requirements have to be met in terms of engineering and design.
The author: Bernhard Scheller Managing Partner, Ruland Engineering & Consulting
When preparing the design of a production plant and a technological process, it is important to identify the optimal solution in close cooperation with both the owner and the future operators. The customer product is hence the focus of all services at Ruland Engineering & Consulting. Customised, end-to-end solutions for handling all kinds of liquid and pasty substances are called for, from preliminary consulting through planning and implementation to after-sales service. The design of the plant and the technological process varies according to the type and quantity firstly of the product and secondly of the filling containers. Maximum plant efficiency, short production set-up times and simple access for servicing are three aspects that need to be considered as early as the planning phase. In the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, absolute hygiene and precision are a must for many plants in order to guarantee products of consistently high quality. Customised control and visualisation of the entire plant is an important and integral component of this concept.
Even the production of small batch sizes, often combined with frequent and fast batch changes, demands special care and diligence when designing the plant. The Whirlwind system represents an excellent choice for cleaning such plants, long piping routes and valuable products or ingredients. It enables the product to be extracted from the piping in two steps in an environmentally friendly way making minimal use of resources. The product is initially forced out by an air or gas flow. In the next step, the piping system is cleaned by adding cleaning agents to this flow. The line is then dried. In contrast to conventional separation methods, the Whirlwind technology is also suitable for standard fittings such as valves and sensors. The only limitations concern large nominal width changes within the line or blocking elements like displacement pumps. However, even these obstacles can be overcome using a bypass.
Documentation under control
Pilot plants or test systems are needed to carry out research work on innovative products or investigate the feasibility of potential processes. They should be designed to allow easy expansion, so that the plant can later be upgraded for industrial production. The development and implementation of a method for manufacturing environmentally compatible ionic liquids cost-effectively and continuously on an industrial scale is a typical example.
The documentation for each process plant accounts for a large proportion of the project work. This is especially true in the pharmaceutical industry, where meticulous and thorough documentation of sterile processes is prescribed by the regulatory authorities. All welds and piping must be checked with an endoscope and documented accordingly. The traceability of each individual production step is ensured with the help of a modular automation system.
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