Reducing Wastewater Incineration And Carbon Emissions

By Dr. Niklaus Künzle, Senior Director and Head of Global Process Technology and Innovation for Small Molecules, and Dr. Andreas Sieber, Associate Director for the Solid Technologies Process Technology and Innovation Group

As the pharmaceutical industry works to develop more sustainable processes for large-scale drug manufacturing, companies are coming to terms with the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. In fact, the key to reducing CO₂ emissions and recycling higher volumes of solvent is often to engineer specialized approaches with flexible technologies that can be adapted for different products. At Lonza, a global contract development & manufacturing organization in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and nutrition markets, we have developed the Vision ZERO Initiative as one arm of our improved sustainability mission, which seeks to reduce emissions, water consumption, waste, and work incidents.

Lonza has developed several KPIs to achieve by 2030, including reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by 36% each, waste by 24%, and industrial water consumption by 50%. Presently, we are striving to reduce the environmental impact of small molecule production by devoting resources to state-of-the-art production facilities, resource saving processes, solvent recycling, and low energy waste treatment. After identifying certain projects as ideal candidates for wastewater incineration reduction (WIR), Lonza has implemented customized plans for each client to reduce wastewater incineration and carbon emissions. These initiatives have already resulted in an annual carbon emissions reduction equivalent to the emissions of 54,000 economy flights from London to New York. Download the full article to explore how Lonza is developing tailored solutions to build a more sustainable future.