"It is estimated that global disposable technologies will expand and develop at an average annual growth rate of 17.8% in the 2016-2021 market."
Are you familiar with single-use technology?
The growing interest in manipulating the given number of goods in the process to embrace new innovations. I am talking about the researchers and biologists of modern times, who are encouraged to use new technologies to relieve the environment of the burden of biological industries. Bio-manufacturers need to be more gainful. They must focus on increasing yields, making more skilful use of available resources and reducing irregularities by improving both quality and performance. It is essential to familiarize them with single-use technology, a not-that-new innovation on the market that is more flexible and allows for rapid product improvement.
Below is a short recap of a Life Cycle Assessment study done by General Electric Healthcare (now Cytiva), presenting different effects over the entire life cycle of single-use tehcnologies in the biopharmaceutical process.
Valuable Single-use of technology
To ensure the significant emergence of this technology, you should be aware of the exemplary benefits of this technology:
- Reduction of CIP/SIP (Cleaning-In-Place (CIP) and Sterilization-In-Place (SIP) needs
- productivity growth
- Time saving
- Easy discarding
- Minimum Energy demand and limited use of water
LCA Evaluation of the environmental impact over the product life cycle
Results of the LCA study in 2016-2017
We can see the main features of the LCA study. The study emphasized the comparison of conventional stainless steel systems and single-use systems.
Projected perceptions for the period 2016-2017 suggest that monoclonal antibody (mAb) layout fallouts are geographically sensitive. Stainless steel is particularly suitable for the electric grid sanitation. A one-off process is for both dynamic grid and transport systems. Therefore mAb results for both methods are measured superficially. Finally, the end-of-life disposal of single-use components does not contribute to the result of the entire life cycle.
To clarify a bit more: single-use innovations have a lower impact than conventional methods for mAb processes, with some exceptions consisting of precautions and the geographical factor. It is recommended to look over these results very carefully. The special relationship between important variables may require specific scenarios to interpret the results, as this is still ongoing research.
Surprisingly, the previous LAC 2010-2012 research successfully found that a system with a one-time process scientifically minimizes the use of resources such as energy water. Below you will find the figure illustrating the key aspects in relation to both types of research:
Comparison of research evaluations of both 2010-2012 and 2016-2017
So if we conclude, we should be glad to know that our industries are using new technologies to protect us from harmful environmental factors. Single-use technologies help biomanufacturers to keep the processing environment clean and safe from potentially harmful substances while lowering the costs and energy consumption of the manufacturing facility.
This post is a recap of Cytiva's LCA Study, which can be found on the link below.
https://www.cytivalifesciences.com/en/us/solutions/bioprocessing/knowledge-center/single-use-and-sustainability
