Solvent recovery in the pharma industry is a critical process. The pharmaceutical sector is heavily reliant on all kinds of solvents to a large extent. Solvents are a vital component of the drug production process. However, many solvents create more waste during their utilization. Solvent recovery equipment and systems can play a big role in sustainability and will reclaim valuable solvents during the manufacturing process. Solvent recovery reduces waste to the environment and impacts operational costs. Let’s take a closer look at solvent recovery included in pharmaceutical operations.

Understanding Solvent Recovery in Pharma Industry

Solvent recovery in the pharmaceutical industry is an important process. Solvent recovery involves the recovery and use of solvents used during, after or as a part of any operations such as synthesis, extraction and purification in the pharmaceutical production. Many companies elect to install solvent recovery in which they purify our used solvents for the purposes of reuse rather than disposing of them. The use of solvent recovery provides a lot of advantages in terms of sustainability both economic and environmental.

Key Aspects of the Solvent Recovery Process

The solvent recovery operation is comprised of a number of steps. These steps provide assurance that the reclaimed solvent will meet required quality standards.

• Collection:

  Used solvent is collected from numerous production areas and it is essential that segregation is done carefully in order to year contamination.

• Pre-treatment:

  The used solvent that is collected will generally be a combination of used solvents and impurities. In order to handle this, a series of pre-treatment steps can be done to remove impurities. Commonly, filtration methods or decantation methods can be used. We also have our own advanced filtering units which can crude method and with advanced efficiency remove solid or particulate matter.

• Distillation:

  The most common method for purifying solvents. The distillation method allows for the separation from the recovered solvents by boiling point. Some solvent mixtures will require fractional distillation. We have fabricated a number of state-of-the-art solvent distillation Systems with provide recover solvents at high purity rates.

• Purification:

  The distillation method may not provide purity that satisfies all of the restrictions for the solvent. Pure solvent in the recovery process may need the inlet to be the residual impurities removed by additional purification technology such as membrane separation or adsorption. We provide a variety of purification technologies which will get the solvent quality to a range that is acceptable.

• Quality Control:

  A laboratory will analyze the recovered solvent , excluding water, purity, and other required specifications or measurement. The solvent can be assured to be beneficial for reuse or repurposing only after it meets these specifications. We have strict quality control protocols and procedures for recovered solvent quality initiatives, including the use of highly sophisticated analytical systems. The effectiveness of solvent recovery in pharma industry hinges on rigorous quality checks.

Benefits of Solvent Recovery Systems

Implementing solvent recovery systems can provide important benefits, affecting financial, social and environmental aspects of pharmaceutical operations. 

• Cost savings:

  Recovering solvents and reusing these solvents greatly reduces the need to purchase virgin solvents. It greatly reduces the need to purchase virgin solvents while recovering solvents and reusing these solvents. This produces substantial cost savings over time. Additionally, the reduction in waste disposal components also contributes to economic benefits. Our cost-effective solvent recovery systems yield a basic payback for our capital… almost immediately. 

• Environmental Benefits:

  Solvent waste is toxic waste and poses potential environmental harm. Disposal of solvents is often challenging and costly. The solvent recovery process itself minimizes the amount of solvent waste produced, and thus reduces the environmental impact pharmaceutical manufacturers have. Additionally, you can use solvent recovery systems practices that align with the principles of green chemistry. Following the practices of green chemistry is one of ourprinciples to help encourage all actors partake in sustainable practices. We help protect the environment through our solvent recovery systems.

• Resource Conservation:

  Solvents are inherently valuable resources. You conserve valuable resources when you recover and reuse your solvents. This also leads to less reliance on raw materials acquisition. Then, consider recycled solvents, or even transitioning to a circular economy. Alaqua’s solvent recycling technologies allow businesses to develop processes that can greatly benefit your resources and precious materials.

• Enhanced Safety:

  Dealing with and disposing of large quantities of waste solvents can lead to safety issues. Waste reduction is a significant component of solvent recovery equipment. As a result, they help create a safer workplace and significantly reduce the probability of spills and leaking of solvents. We have designed our systems with safety in mind: all our equipment complies with strict safety standards. 

• Regulatory Compliance:

  Environmental regulations are growing more intense. By implementing solvent recovery, businesses can show our commitment to protecting the environment, as well as relieve some of the burden of environmental responsibility away from our company. This helps companies mitigate our exposure to regulations and possible penalties. We help companies comply with our environmental obligations, and the company aims to have systems that meet global regulatory standards.The adoption of solvent recovery in pharma industry often aligns with regulatory requirements.

Recovery Equipment for Solvents

There are many options for solvent recovery equipment, as your decision depends on the type of solvent, amount of solvent, and the contaminants or impurities involved.

• Distillation Systems:

  As previously mentioned, distillation is a common form of recovery. There are many forms of distillation, such as simple distillation, fractional distillation (multiple simple distillations), and vacuum distillation. We offer various distillation systems to fit many of your pharmaceutical applications.

• Evaporators:

  Evaporators operate as a physical separation process for removing volatile solvent from a non-volatile solute. The rotary evaporator is the most common laboratory evaporator. The falling film evaporator is more common for industrial-sized materials. Our company has many different evaporation technologies that are efficient and reduce effects on the feed material.

• Membrane Filtration:

  Processes like nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, based on molecular siz,e can help remove solvents from impurities. Our company has unique membrane filtration methods for efficient energy separation. 

• Adsorption Systems:

  Specific impurities can be removed from solvents by activated carbon or similar adsorbent systems. These can be effective for removing colors and odors from solvents. We have adsorption systems that can be tailored to the contaminant.

• Chromatography Systems:

  Preparing chromatography can be effective for recovering high-purity solvents, especially high-value solvents. We have an exemplary separation performance in its chromatography systems.

Conclusion: Embracing Solvent Recovery

Pharmaceutical solvent recovery is not only an option but a requirement. The economic and environmental benefits of solvent recovery are clear. With solvent recovery systems in place, pharmaceutical companies can save money and lessen their environmental footprint. The solvent recovery process, with solvent recovery equipment from Alaqua Inc., will improve the sustainability of the pharmaceutical industry, and solvent recovery is definitely a step towards going green!