Evaluating and Minimizing Water Usage and Wastewater Generation in Integrated Bioprocesses Using Process Simulation and Scheduling Tools

Water of various qualities is consumed in large quantities in the biopharmaceutical industries. It is used for preparing media and buffer solutions and for equipment cleaning. It is also used for generating steam of various qualities. The supply of purified water and the treatment of wastewater water is a common bottleneck during throughput increase projects. This presentation shows how process simulation and scheduling tools may be applied to evaluate the demand for water at various levels of purity and easily size water supply and wastewater treatment systems. The study also examines the effect of moving portions of the process to single-use systems (disposables) that do not require cleaning and sterilization.