Industry

Pharmaceuticals

Equipment Capacity/Flow Rate

2m3/week

Compounds of Concern

Various APIs

Influent Concentration

20 mg/L

Treatment Targets

0.01 mg/L

Unit Energy Consumption

5 kWh/m3

Industry

Pharmaceuticals

Equipment Capacity/Flow Rate

2m3/week

Compounds of Concern

Various APIs

Influent Concentration

20 mg/L

Treatment Targets

0.01 mg/L

Unit Energy Consumption

5 kWh/m3

Background: Removal of APIs from pharma wastewater

We were approached by a pharmaceutical company generating small batches of wastewater with persistent APIs.

The presence of hazardous APIs meant that they were unable to discharge their wastewater. Instead, they had to tanker it offsite, at a cost of up to 300 EUR/m3.

Martin Tarugarira

Wastewater consultant

Schedule a call with one of our wastewater treatment consultants at your convenience. Or you can send us an enquiry.

Problem: Removal of APIs from pharma wastewater

The pharmaceutical company had a comprehensive wastewater treatment system already in place, but there were a selection of persistent APIs which could not be removed by the existing technology.

The client came to us to trial how our technology would enable them to reuse the water, rather than trucking it off site for incineration.

Their priorities included:

  • Simple to operate (hands off)
  • Removal of >99% API
  • Interested in removing API for CSR purposes (responsible manufacturing)
  • Save on costs for tankering away

What’s it like to work with Arvia?

“The Arvia team is highly experienced, personable and able to answer difficult questions on both the chemistry and the operation / running cost elements of the equipment.  I have found Arvia to be pro-active in following up on our project and interested in finding solutions to provide an automated solution as per our specification and to reduce overall cost.”

EHS Coordinator

Our solution: Removal of APIs from pharma water

We deployed the Nyex Rosalox™ treatment system in order to tackle the containing the API containing wastewater. This was a compact and fully automated solution.

Arvia’s solution provided a <2 year ROI.

Technology alternative was a Multiple Effect Evaporator (MEE). Arvia’s solution was ¼ of MEE capital cost. MEE was a higher OPEX solution too.

The Nyex Rosalox™ treatment process combines adsorption with electrochemical oxidation in a single, scalable unit. As the contaminated water flows into the reactor tank, pharmaceutical contaminants are concentrated onto the surface of our proprietary Nyex™ adsorbent media, which is non-porous with high electrical conductivity.

A low electrical current is simultaneously passed through the media bed to fully mineralise the adsorbed contaminants to H₂O, H₂ and CO₂, without the production of sludge. Unlike activated carbon, Nyex™ media is effectively regenerated in-situ and the process can continue without interruption or incineration to renew the media.

The treated water then flows from the reactor tank ready to be safely discharged.

How this works

Free industrial wastewater consultation

Tell us what organic compounds you need to remove from your water and our consultants will give their recommended approach which might involve:

  • Engineering assessment of your water profile
  • Treatability trial to scope the pilot
  • Optioneering to determine best solution

Results

Results from the trials show a comprehensive removal of the persistent APIs of >99% and to below the limit of detection (LOD). The energy used was 5kWh/m3.

People who read this also liked these case studies

03.3.2023

CASE STUDY: Pharma CIP Washwater Treatment to Reduce AMR

A pharma company asked us to help them stop the spread of AMR by removing APIs and COD from wash water.

03.3.2023

CASE STUDY: Removal of Triton X-100 from Pharmaceutical Wastewater

Removal from 15 mg/L was demonstrated and a reduction to 0.01 mg/L was reached in less than 6 minutes residence time using about 0.70 Euros worth of energy per m3.

03.30.2023

CASE STUDY: Removal of Pharmaceutical Residues and APIs

A comprehensive removal of APIs of >90% and often to below LOD (the limit of detection).

Our water treatment process is used by many types of industries

Life sciences

We remove APIs and hard-to-treat micropollutants from wastewater for pharma, CDMOs, animal health, biotech and biopharma sectors.

Speciality Chemicals

We help specialty chemical companies clean their process water, removing active ingredients, biocides, recalcitrant COD and micropollutants.

Agrochemicals

Our industrial wastewater treatment process is very effective in removing organic chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides and insecticides.

Manufacturing

We provide industrial wastewater treatment solutions removing biocides and other micropollutants in wash water and blowdown water.

Aquaculture

Our aquaculture wastewater treatment removes pesticides used to treat sea lice, as well as medicines and off-flavours found in RAS facilities.