20
LYOPHILISATION
The advances in refrigeration technology that are helping to drive pharma to be more sustainable
I
Driving change
n recent years, the topic of sustainable practices in the pharmaceutical industry has become more prevalent, whether that be through discussions on how to affect change, or through strategies designed to reduce carbon emissions. One of the best gauges for judging progress in an industry is through the introduction of new technologies. Here we speak to, Tsyplakov Vladyslav, development director at Mirai Intex about how the company’s air refrigeration technologies could help the pharmaceutical industry become more environmentally friendly. Mirai Intex specialises in the development and manufacture of turbo compression equipment, which has led the company to develop “the safest, most reliable and most environmentally friendly air refrigeration machines,” Vladyslav says. The technology used by Mirai Intex, Air Cycle, works by heating air during the compression stage and cooling down during the expansion process. By repeating this process Mirai Intex’s technology is able to reach and maintain ultralow temperatures to as low as -160°C. Also known as the reverse Brayton cycle, air cycle technology was developed in
the mid 1800s by John Gorrie and is used on aeroplanes for cabin climatisation and ventilation. Mirai Intex’s expertise translates into the field of refrigeration across a number of industries, with its products being suitable for storage applications for biological materials, pharmaceuticals or vaccines and more. The company’s Mirai Cold products come in two configurations - open and closed cycle. Open cycle machines are suitable for storage and cryotherapy applications, coming with a unique humidity extraction device, which ensures great temperature uniformity and allows the customers to forget about defrost procedures. Closed cycle units are equipped with an additional heat exchanger for the secondary working fluid (eg. silicone oil), and are more suitable for process cooling applications such as freeze-drying or solvent recovery. The company’s cooling technology is made sustainable through the fact it uses air as a refrigerant to reach ultra low temperatures. Vapour compression technologies, Vladyslav says, typically use cascade stages to reach lower
We believe that through innovation this is the right way to drive change.
