Waste-water solutions

Michael Costello of Siemens Water Technologies and Veolia's Michel Bouvet discuss waste-water management and its role within the pharmaceutical industry.

What are the specific challenges currently facing the area of waste-water management within the pharmaceutical industry?
Michael Costello. Specific challenges include increased regulation, reduced volume limits, limits on specific contaminants and rapidly rising costs. There are three main drivers associated with waste-water treatment: lowering operating costs, adhering to regulatory requirements and operating in an environmentally friendly manner.

Lowering operating costs is imperative for all organisations to remain competitive. Lowering these costs, however, must never lower product safety or product quality.

Adhering to regulatory requirements can be challenging as requirements become more stringent and more specific. Operating in an environmentally friendly manner is the responsibility of the industry as we share the natural resources and environment of our communities.

Capital costs for waste-water solutions can be expensive. Total cost of waste-water solutions must be factored into operating budgets. Understanding current and future regulations, waste-water technologies that are available and selecting the right water partner will ensure the most cost-effective and safe operation. 

Michel Bouvet. Regulatory changes and possible impact of anticipated regulatory changes drive strong waste-water treatment improvements. Pharmaceutical contaminants can cause long-term problems; this is a fact. But very little attention has been given to metabolites potential contribution. Challenges are no more in COD reduction, which only represents a global pollution measurement; they are in detection of contaminants and metabolites. This will imply strong R&D partnerships between pharmaceutical industry and water companies to achieve dedicated quick responses. Moreover, this is not only water but also sludge quality from waste-water treatment which remains an issue as contaminants and metabolites could be adsorbed into it. Consequently, existing and future technologies and environmental strategies must take into account the entire cycle of waste streams. New waste-streams strategy include specific treatment of high polluted streams such as on site decontamination (oxidation, thermal treatments) as well as concentration of streams for outside destruction.

The pharmaceutical industry requires several kinds of high quality water for product manufacturing. How can companies ensure they have a sufficient supply of water where it is needed?
MC. The most important factor for any pharma manufacturer is to ensure that they have sufficient supply and sufficient quality of their feed water, which depends on selecting the right partner for their water needs. The right partner will have a full portfolio of technologies, trained staff and most importantly experience with local installations with similar challenges.

Many water solutions providers have a limited technology portfolio that can severely limit the options available to the pharma manufacturer. Choosing the right partner with a full line of products and technologies and experienced personnel allow the pharma manufacturer and the water solutions provider the opportunity to design the most effective solution to ensure proper performance while maintaining budgets. Lastly, it is important not to isolate the projects into design islands (such as pre-treatment, make-up, storage and distribution and waste treatment), but rather approach the overall water system holistically.

Whether the feed water is surface water or groundwater, private or municipal, or highly specialised, it is critical to design the water system around the pharma manufacturer's specific needs.

MB. Quality is driven by both experience and latest standard compliance without compromising process security and products quality. From WFI to clean steam or PW, large companies like Veolia can provide package systems for PW or distribution skids after having tested them by our commissioning team prior to shipment (factory acceptance test (FAT). We also have developed a comprehensive mobile range of solutions for implementing quick and flexible solutions related to your demand. Our large range of equipments as well as the size and global organisation of our company allow us a fast answer with respect with all pharmaceutical standards.

The industry is also facing increasingly stringent regulations for its effluent waste water. In your view, what is the best way for pharmaceutical companies to ensure they comply with these regulations?
MC. Ensuring waste-water compliance includes three critical factors: understanding current and future regulatory requirements, understanding technology choices, and selecting the right waste-water partner.

Like ensuring feed water performance, waste-water performance should not be looked at individually but rather as part of the overall water program in a manufacturer's plan. Quite often, the waste water of one operation can become the feet water of another operation with minor filtration or treatment. This approach can drastically reduce the volume of waste-water produced (saving waste disposal costs) as well as drastically reduce the feed water requirements for production (saving raw water costs). Interestingly, the water quality in manufacturing can usually be improved through this process.

There are many case studies and examples of this success available for review by pharma manufactures interested in this type of comprehensive water management program.

MB. The constant evolution of environmental regulations as well as the problem of public image, the global awareness about sustainable development, all of these reasons push pharmaceutical companies to reinforce and to show to the public their sustainable development strategy. We have been engaged for several years in the way of sustainable development. The protection of the environment and the management of water resources as well as waste-water treatment are the key elements of Veolia core business. Therefore, strong regulation survey and continuous solutions improvements are a must for us. And with the help of our R&D facilities, we can provide the right answer for the best economical value. This includes not only water discharge limitations targets but also water make-up and consequently discharges volume reduction. When it is feasible, recycling and reuse of water will reduce water footprint and provide substantial savings.

This implies the necessity to build strong partnerships with water companies to develop new tools to drive those evolutions.

How do you see the field of pharmaceutical waste-water management developing over the next few years?
MC. It is clear that regulations for contaminant levels will continue to advance, lowering the allowable discharge limits of specific contaminants. This advancement will come as we better understand the health implications of industrial waste water on our communities and environments. This advancement will also come with newer manufacturing processes and new drug products such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. The cost of water, and the cost of waste-water disposal will continue to rise for the foreseeable future.

Perhaps the biggest impact of waste-water regulations is the specific contaminant management rather than general wastewater treatment. Waste-water systems are likely to become more specialised in targeting and treating critical waste compounds to very low trace levels to avoid negative health and environmental impacts.

Specialised products engineered to achieve advanced filtration performance on specific contaminants are already available, and will likely become more prevalent in waste-water treatment programs. Experience and empirical data, as well as embracing innovation are necessary elements for a water solutions provider to lead the industry.

MB. Waste streams management becomes more and more complex to achieve due to both regulation evolution and new pharmaceutical molecules to remove.

We think those partnerships will integrate the whole water cycle: new molecules will require new specific water qualities we must be able to produce with the new right equipment. This will require anticipation and the need to share information. And those new molecules must be removed before discharge.

Consequently, the partnerships will be global and will require strong commitments. We must be able to bring contractual guaranties not on the life of equipments but on water quality (guaranties of results) all along the equipment time life.

This must be done also according to a certain number of criteria which are unanimously emphasised in the pharmaceutical sector such as improvement of employees' safety and health, management of industrial risks and development and use of less polluting energies

In few words, the waste-water management will be included in a more ambitious sustainable management target which should take into account the utilities management.

The Panel:

Michael Costello is Global Director of Life Sciences at Siemens Water Technologies. Costello directs the water and waste-water business for pharma and life sciences for Siemens and has over 25 years of process experience in pharma. Michael has developed new solutions, patented technologies and designed hundreds of pharma facilities all over the world.

After some years in R&D, related to micro pollutant evolution and degradation in soil and water, Michel Bouvet has been involved in industrial water treatment, especially on the areas of corrosion, scaling, fouling and waste-water treatment improvement.

Nowadays, he's more specifically in charge of sales management related to water and waste water for the European industrial sector and is engaged in the way of sustainable development.