Energy Scenario In Pharmaceutical Industry

Energy efficiency becomes the need of the hour. The pharmaceutical industry is incredibly energy intensive as it needs to maintain critical environments for production in terms of temperature, humidity, room pressurization, cleanliness, and containment.

Energy Consumption

Unlike others in the commercial sectors, most energy consumption in pharmaceutical manufacturing arises from the systems that support processes like heating and cooling, apart from the process itself. In pharmaceutical operations, utilities are major energy-intensive equipment, and energy consumption in the utility's equipment (refrigeration plants, pumps, fans, and air compressors) ranges from 50-60% of the overall electrical consumption.

Other equipment like production (reactors, centrifuges, and vacuum pumps) has a 15-25% share, effluent treatment (effluent transfer pumps and CTs) has a share of 10-15%, solvent recovery systems have 5-10%, and miscellaneous (lighting and raw power) contribute <5% share in overall electrical energy consumption.

In thermal energy consumption, process support activities like effluent treatment systems have a share of 30-40%, solvent recovery has 15-25%, and process heating and miscellaneous has a share of 20-30% in the total thermal energy consumption.

Sustainability in Pharmaceutical Industry

Due to the highly competitive marketplace, pharmaceutical manufacturers understand that improving efficiency plays a big part in reducing operating costs for pharma.…