Bulk biological manufacturing facility receives award for sustainability

CRB, with a local partner, was responsible for the site selection, engineering design, procurement and validation (VMP & DQ) of this state-of-the-art greenfield biological manufacturing facility located in Ireland. The plant will produce bulk biological products using three 1,000-liter perfusion bioreactors.The facility consists of four separate buildings, totaling 24,400 square meters, connected by a central spine/walkway. The four buildings include:

• Production building
• Central utilities plan
• Warehouse
• Administration and laboratory building

A sustainable design

The project philosophy included designing and building sustainability into BioCork. Ultimately, the plant is 40% more energy efficient and has a 97% smaller carbon footprint than Centocor’s other biotech facilities. Additionally, the facility design prevented the discharge of 22 tons of nutrients into Cork Harbor. Other sustainable design elements include:

• A greywater recovery system to use captured rainwater in sanitary and ancillary process applications e.g. boiler makeup water and flushing toilets.
• Highest efficiency (90%) reverse osmosis units to minimized water wasted
• Sophisticated rainwater and runoff containment, monitoring and diversion system to protect the Cork Harbor
• Energy-efficient variable frequency drives (VFD) on air handling units, chillers, pumps, and compressors
• Lighting controlled by occupancy sensors throughout the site
• Eighty-percent recirculation of air within clean room air-handling units
• Gas-fired boilers designed for bio-diesel as an alternative fuel source
• Southerly alignment of the administration and laboratory areas to facilitate passive solar heating
• Applied energy management software to monitor, trend and manage energy use for improved energy efficiency, cost control and reduced carbon footprint
• Innovative radiant cooling system and AHU heat wheels used for office areas

This project received an ISPE Facility of the Year Award for Sustainability.