Category: Pharmaceutical manufacturing

EPA announces most energy-efficient manufacturing plants of 2022

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announcing that 86 U.S. manufacturing plants earned the agency’s ENERGY STAR certification in 2022, a designation reserved for manufacturing plants in the top 25% of energy efficiency in their sector. Together, these plants saved over 105 trillion British thermal units (Btus) of energy and prevented more than 6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the emissions from the electricity use of more than 1.1 million American homes.

“Industrial leadership in energy efficiency is critical to achieving our nation’s climate goals. The savings from ENERGY STAR certified plants demonstrate how energy efficiency is both helping our manufacturing sector reduce costs and propelling America’s transition to a clean energy future.”

EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan

The industrial sector accounts for 30% of U.S. greenhouse emissions, primarily from energy use in manufacturing plants. ENERGY STAR certified plants have reduced their energy consumption through a variety of energy efficiency projects and management practices. For example:

  • Primient’s Loudon, Tenn., and Lafayette, Ind., wet corn mills reduced their CO2e emissions by installing and optimizing combined heat and power systems.
  • Ash Grove’s Seattle, Wash., cement plant automated the support equipment in their grinding mills to cease operation when the mills do.
  • Astra Zeneca’s Newark, Del., pharmaceutical plant installed a heat recovery system that reduced natural gas usage by approximately 20% and a heat exchanger that provides free chilled water during winter months.
  • General Motors’ Fort Wayne, Ind., auto assembly plant recovered waste heat from the engine jackets and exhausts ducts of its landfill gas cogeneration units, reducing the plant’s winter natural gas consumption. Additionally, the company’s Flint, Mich., assembly plant updated more than 90% of its lighting, installed light emitting diodes (LEDs) with motion sensors to decrease light levels after a period of inactivity, and continued to focus on reducing energy during non-production periods.
  • Nissan North America’s Canton, Miss., vehicle assembly plant formed a team to track compressed air leaks, leading to an annual reduction of approximately 1,700 cubic feet per minute of compressed air. The company’s Decherd, Tenn., powertrain assembly plant created scorecards to benchmark the shutdown performance of facilities, assigned countermeasures to shops not meeting targets, and provided recognition to top performers.
  • Titan America’s Troutville, Va., and Medley, Fla., cement plants have completely converted production to Portland Limestone (Type IL) cement, with up to 15% less embodied carbon than standard Portland Cement. Since 2015 the two plants also have achieved a 12% reduction in electricity use and an 18% reduction in CO2, respectively, from improved energy management.
  • Cemex’s Miami, Fla., cement plant increased its energy performance in 2022 by modifying a finish mill, optimizing the ball charge on the largest mill, and identifying and correcting potential energy losses while also increasing the production of Portland Limestone (Type IL) cement.

Manufacturing plants use EPA’s ENERGY STAR energy performance indicators or, in the case of petroleum refineries, the Solomon Associates Energy Intensity Index scoring system to assess their energy performance. Plants that score a 75 out of 100 or higher — indicating that they are more energy efficient than 75% of similar facilities nationwide — are eligible to earn ENERGY STAR certification. ENERGY STAR certification is available for 20 manufacturing sectors, from cement and steel to glass and commercial bakeries.

All ENERGY STAR certified manufacturing plants in 2022

Alabama

  • Georgia-Pacific, Brewton (integrated paper mill)
  • Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, Lincoln (automobile engine)
  • Tuscaloosa Organic Baking Co (commercial bread and roll baking)

Arizona

  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Phoenix (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Drake Cement, LLC, Paulden (cement manufacturing)
  • Holsum Bakery of Tolleson (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Mesa Organic Baking Co. (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Salt River Materials Group, Clarkdale (cement manufacturing)

Arkansas

  • Flowers Baking Co of Batesville (commercial bread and roll baking)

California

  • Ardagh Glass Inc., Madera (container glass manufacturing)
  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., San Luis Obispo (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Escondido (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • J.R. Simplot Company, Helm (nitrogenous fertilizer)

Colorado

GCC, Pueblo (cement manufacturing)

Rocky Mountain Bottle Company, Wheat Ridge (container glass manufacturing)

Delaware

  • AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Newark (pharmaceutical)

Florida

  • CEMEX USA, Miami (cement manufacturing)
  • Titan America, Medley (cement manufacturing)

Georgia

  • Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, Tallapoosa (automobile transmission)

Illinois

  • Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Robinson (petroleum refining)
  • TreeHouse Foods, Inc., South Beloit (cookie & cracker baking)

Indiana

  • General Motors Company, Roanoke (automobile assembly)
  • Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, Greensburg (automobile assembly)
  • Klosterman Baking Company, Morristown (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • New Horizons, Fremont (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Primient, Lafayette (corn refining)

Iowa

  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Dubuque (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Iowa Fertilizer Company, LLC, Wever (nitrogenous fertilizer)

Kentucky

  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., London (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • TreeHouse Foods, Inc., Princeton (cookie & cracker baking)

Louisiana

  • Flowers Baking Co of New Orleans (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Garyville (petroleum refining)

Maine

  • Lepage Bakeries Park Street, LLC (commercial bread and roll baking)

Michigan

  • AbbVie, Wyandotte (pharmaceutical)
  • General Motors Company, Flint (automobile assembly)
  • Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Detroit (petroleum refining)

Minnesota

  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Fergus Falls (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Flint Hills Resources, Pine Bend (petroleum refining)
  • Lamb Weston/RDO Frozen, Park Rapids (frozen fried potato processing)
  • Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Saint Paul Park (petroleum refining)

Mississippi

  • Nissan North America, Canton (automobile assembly)

North Carolina

  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Gastonia (commercial bread and roll baking)

Nebraska

  • Koch Fertilizer, Beatrice (nitrogenous fertilizer)

New Jersey

  • AbbVie, Branchburg (pharmaceutical)

Nevada

  • Flowers Baking Co of Henderson (commercial bread and roll baking)

New York

  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Olean (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Auburn (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • TreeHouse Foods, Inc., Tonawanda (cookie & cracker baking)

Ohio

  • AstraZeneca, West Chester (pharmaceutical)
  • Bimbo QSR Ohio, Airport, Zanesville (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Bimbo QSR Ohio, Eastpointe, Zanesville (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, Marysville (automobile assembly)
  • Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, East Liberty (automobile assembly)
  • Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, Russells Point (automobile transmission)
  • Honda Development & Manufacturing of America, Anna (automobile engine)
  • Klosterman Baking Company, Springboro (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Klosterman Baking Company, Cincinnati (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Canton (petroleum refining)

Oklahoma

  • Koch Fertilizer, Enid (nitrogenous fertilizer)

Oregon

  • Dave’s Killer Bread, Milwaukie (commercial bread and roll baking)

Pennsylvania

  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Sayre (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Reading (commercial bread and roll baking)

Puerto Rico

  • Merck & Co., Inc., Las Piedras (pharmaceutical)

South Carolina

  • Argos USA, Harleyville (cement manufacturing)

South Dakota

  • GCC, Rapid City (cement manufacturing)

Tennessee

  • Buzzi Unicem USA, Chattanooga (cement manufacturing)
  • Crown Bakeries, Nashville (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Crown Bakeries, Dickson (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Nissan North America, Decherd (automobile engine)
  • Primient, Loudon (corn refining)

Texas

  • AbbVie, Waco (pharmaceutical)
  • Barcel USA, Coppell (cookie & cracker baking)
  • ExxonMobil Product Solutions, Beaumont (petroleum refining)
  • Flowers Baking Co of El Paso (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Flowers Baking Co of Houston (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Flowers Baking Co of Tyler (commercial bread and roll baking)

Utah

  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Salt Lake City (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • TreeHouse Foods, Inc., Odgen (cookie & cracker baking)

Virginia

  • Lynchburg Organic Baking Co. (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Flowers Baking Co of Norfolk (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Titan America, Troutville (cement manufacturing)

Washington

  • Ash Grove Cement, Seattle (cement manufacturing)
  • Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Anacortes (petroleum refining)

Wisconsin

  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Milwaukee (commercial bread and roll baking)
  • Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., La Crosse (commercial bread and roll baking)

Wyoming

  • J.R. Simplot Company, Rock Springs (nitrogenous fertilizer)

About the ENERGY STAR Industrial Program

Since 2006, the ENERGY STAR Industrial Program has annually certified manufacturing plants for performing within the top 25% of energy performance in their industries nationwide. ENERGY STAR certification is available for 20 manufacturing sectors. More than 250 plants have achieved this distinction since 2006. For more information, see: ENERGY STAR plant certification. For a list of all certified plants, see: ENERGY STAR Certified Building and Plant Locator. To learn more about how EPA and industry work together, see: Industrial Energy Management.

About ENERGY STAR

ENERGY STAR® is the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, providing simple, credible, and unbiased information that consumers and businesses rely on to make well-informed decisions. Thousands of industrial, commercial, utility, state, and local organizations — including nearly 40% of the Fortune 500® — rely on their partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deliver cost-saving energy efficiency solutions. Since 1992, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped American families and businesses avoid more than $500 billion in energy costs and achieve 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions. More background information about ENERGY STAR’s impacts can be found at www.energystar.gov/impacts.

Recycled gold from SIM cards could help make drugs more sustainable

Read the full story from Imperial College London.

Researchers have used gold extracted from electronic waste as catalysts for reactions that could be applied to making medicines.

Cold chain traceability system tackles food, pharmaceutical waste

Read the full story at Environment + Energy Leader.

A cold chain traceability system powered by an Internet of Things platform that will help keep food and medical products safe throughout transport as well as improve supply chain sustainability is being developed by Ericsson and DeltaTrak.

Sustainable Chilled Water Systems in Pharmaceutical Plants

Read the full story at Chiller & Cooling Best Practices.

Chiller & Cooling Best Practices Magazine spoke with Tom Pagliuco, Executive Director Global Energy Engineering at AbbVie, Inc. about best practices for optimizing chilled water systems in today’s pharmaceutical operations.

Pagliuco has a wealth of experience in energy management having served in energy leadership roles at leading pharmaceutical companies such as Schering-Plough Corporation and Merck, as well as Allergan, which AbbVie recently acquired. He spearheaded numerous energy-initiatives that gained wide-spread recognition for several companies from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR® program – including earning eleven ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence awards since 2009.  

AstraZeneca: Energy and Environmental savings through continuous monitoring and advanced energy analytics

Read the full case study.

AstraZeneca is a global biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of prescription medicines. The campus in Gaithersburg is one of three of AstraZeneca’s global strategic R&D centers. With 9 buildings across the campus, there are significant savings opportunities associated with the operations of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for offices, labs, and manufacturing areas. Implementing a continuous HVAC controls and monitoring system using advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities has been identified as a key strategy to achieving higher efficiency and reducing environmental impacts for the campus. To implement this strategy, AstraZeneca engaged a third-party vendor through a 3-year energy monitoring contract to provide virtual sub-metering and dashboards for tracking and monitoring energy usage.

Webinar: Sustainable Packaging Opportunities in Life Sciences

Tuesday, March 17, 1 pm CT
Register here.

For decades pharmaceutical companies have had to choose the health of patients over the health of the planet. Providing access to drugs around the world typically means an excess of temperature-controlled packaging such as Styrofoam. However, this packaging is also one of the most toxic for the environment.

In our webinar, learn how to overcome that challenge by choosing sustainability without having to compromise compliance or patient health. This webinar explores:

  • Why pharmaceutical packaging is a growing concern
  • The challenges of pharmaceutical/biopharma packaging
  • How pharma and biopharma can develop more sustainable packaging lines and the benefits
  • New materials that help get products to patients safely while lowering their carbon footprint

Sanofi reduces chemical, water use more than 90% with continuous manufacturing

Read the full story at Supply Chain Dive.

Sanofi’s new manufacturing plant in Framingham, Massachusetts, will produce 80% less carbon dioxide emissions compared to the company’s first-generation facility and will reduce water and chemical usage by 91% and 94%, respectively, according to details released by the company.​

The company’s new facility opened last month and uses continuous manufacturing, a process that promises to speed up drug development. It called it “one of the world’s first,” in the release.

Sanofi says the facility will connect research and development processes with production, which it says will speed up the time to market for new medication.

Pharma Industry Emissions Outpace Automotive, Study Finds

Read the full story in Environmental Leader.

The pharmaceutical industry is significantly more emission-intensive than the automotive industry, according to a new study from McMaster University (via Science Direct [Journal of Cleaner Production]). The intensity of pharmaceutical emissions is about 55% higher than that of automotive, though there is a great level of variability in emissions between peers with comparable revenues, the report indicates.

Scientists mine for potential drugs in the Berkeley Pit and other industrial sites

Read the full story in Chemical & Engineering News.

The Berkeley Pit, an old mining site now filled with toxic waters, seems like an inhospitable place for organisms big and small. But scientists have found life there. The microbes thriving in the heavy-metal-laden, acidic “lake” synthesize molecules that help keep them alive in this extreme environment. Because those compounds are so potent, researchers hope they can help humans fight too—against antibiotic-resistant bacteria and diseases like cancer. Read on to learn about how scientists are searching the pit and other human-made noxious sites, not only for life but also for lifesaving treatments.

Relevance of regulatory constraints in designing pharmaceutical manufacturing processes: A case study on waste solvent recovery

Hirokazu Sugiyama, Yusuke Morikawa, Mai Matsuura, Menghe Xu (2019). “Relevance of regulatory constraints in designing pharmaceutical manufacturing processes: A case study on waste solvent recovery.” Sustainable Production and Consumption 17, 136-147.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2018.09.003.

Abstract: This work deals with the relevance of regulatory constraints on the outcome of process design in pharmaceutical manufacturing with a case study on waste solvent recovery. The role of the investigated process was to separate and purify tetrahydrofuran from an azeotropic mixture with water and methanol. As the technologies to overcome the distillation boundary, zeolite membrane, pressure swing, azeotropic distillation, and entrainer processes were considered as alternatives, and were modeled and evaluated with regard to economy, environmental impact, and environmental, health, and safety hazards. The target concentration of recovered solvent, which cannot be altered because of regulations, was imagined to be modifiable, and two design problems, initial and extended, were formulated. A type of pressure swing process that was found to be optimal in the extended problem was equal to or better than any of the optimal alternatives in the initial design problem. Remarkably, the net present value of this alternative was about 17% larger than the maximum in the initial design problem. These results confirmed quantitatively that the way in which regulatory constraints are taken into account makes a difference in the outcome and that the appropriate formulation of a design problem is critical for pharmaceutical manufacturing processes.