As the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries across the globe and India in particular are keen on cleanroom technologies which offer additional benefits in terms of energy conservation, flexibility and selective functionality, manufacturers are now incorporating latest cleanroom trends catering to their needs.
Higher standards of regulatory requirements, emerging advanced technology and increasing energy costs, have all contributed to higher demand for quality at minimal costs. Pharmaceutical companies are scouting for high end cleanroom technologies that not only give them an edge on quality, compliant to all stipulated regulatory standards for their research but are also consciously stepping up efforts to reduce energy costs by adopting non-conventional sources of energy like solar and wind.
Moving in this direction, the Hyderabad based Dr. Reddy's labs private Ltd have installed solar powered cleanroom technologies in their premises. “We at Dr. Reddy's have slowly moved from conventional energy to non-conventional energy. At present we have 30 per cent of all our units running on solar energy. We have initiated this as a part of our corporate social responsibility to reduce pollution and save environment. Though initially it is a bit costly, but in the long run we have greater benefits saving on energy costs,” said G. V. Prasad, Chairman Dr Reddy’s Labs.
Particularly in India, the pharmaceutical companies which have installed cleanrooms for their research and manufacturing units are a bit worried with the rising energy costs, as the earlier versions of cleanrooms are high on energy consumption. Keeping this in mind, cleanroom manufacturers are now incorporating new trends that are not only energy-efficient but also affordable and flexible with selective functionality.
Of late the pharmaceutical industry in Andhra Pradesh has become very particular about having cleanrooms that consume lesser energy and is flexible. As the power tariff in the state have gone up many folds during the past few years, pharma companies are asking cleanroom manufacturers to provide them with energy efficient cleanrooms.
“The new trend in cleanrooms is energy conservation. Apart from this, many new trends have been emerging as designers are now designing highly integrated cleanrooms accommodating all the customer needs,” says, Gopal Reddy, Senior Marketing Manager Iclean Technologies in Hyderabad.
All cleanrooms are not identical, however; they vary depending on the size or scale of an operation, the types of materials that are being handled, the operation’s budget, and various other factors.
Design is not the only element that is important when it comes to cleanrooms; monitoring equipment, filtering equipment, apparel, and proper training for cleanroom workers are all important aspects.
Emerging cleanroom trends Research is the backbone of new drug development, and for pharma industry the regulatory standards are very high, as it involves sensitive chemical reactions to develop molecules for medical formulations. And all this happens in controlled conditions offered by cleanrooms.
Having learned this most of the pharma companies are looking at expert designers that come out with trendy clean room designs that give them every thing they need. Industry experts opine that highly regulated and sensitive pharma and biotech industry needs efficiency, energy savings, sustainability along with flexible functionality. Thus cleanroom designs that provide solutions to check contamination and maximize usable space are also in demand.
According to Gopal Reddy,most of the pharma companies are looking at cleanrooms that are not only well in line with current style but also should provide better solutions to check contamination. Many look for trendy cleanrooms with coved surfaces, smooth component transitions, and seamless or heat-weld seams with all architectural features integrated together.
According to industry experts, many companies are becoming more selective about functionality. Most of the firms are adopting a modular building project execution plan using metal stud and dry wall as they facilitate shorter project execution models, they point out.
Of late there is an increase in demand for a ‘walkable ceiling’. This is nothing but a flat ceiling that is not only safer during the construction process, but also simplifies maintenance after construction is completed. Efficiency has become essential for construction time-frames, as well as for the overall design of the cleanroom.
Another important trend in cleanrooms is the demand for flexible modular designs. “Flexible facilities that can be reconfigured for different products are becoming the trend due to product lines being disapproved or dropped. This kind of a model requires a wide-open layout with modular areas facilitating multi-product flexibility,” opined Gopal Reddy.
Companies are looking for more modular and flexible designs, but they also want high-quality construction. While emphasising on cleanrooms need for upholding quality, S.V. Krishna Prasad, Cito Healthcare in Hyderabad said, “While all companies are looking for more efficient ways to operate their clean rooms, we do not think that anyone will compromise the quality of the materials used, because compromising on standards will impact the end result.
Economic recession and impact on cleanrooms
Maintaining cleanroom is a costly affair. With the advent of global economic recession and due to funds crunch, many companies are now focusing on energy conservant cleanrooms. Owing to the the economic winter, companies, particularly in the western world,are taking up only few projects.
“USA, EU and the ones that are going on at a slower pace and embarked on cost cutting measures post recession. This has definitely impacted the growth in cleanroom technologies, but at the same time manufacturers of cleanrooms are coming up with cost-effective designs that deliver the same quality at affordable rates,” said Gopal Reddy.
Though most of the leading companies across the globe had temporarily halted funding cleanroom manufacturing or gone slow, the number of cleanrooms in the United States continue to rise annually and there has been an increase in cleanroom sales in European countries. The demand for clean rooms is slowing picking up and especially in the emerging markets like India, China and other third world countries,the business prospects are quite bright.
In order to fuel demand,cleanroom suppliers have to adopt new industry trends, offer new designs, and models that are energy-efficient and could be quickly constructed. “There are a number of companies looking to update cleanroom facilities by remodelling or renovating,” explains Gopal Reddy.
A few years ago, the use of self-powered HEPA filters in a pharmaceutical application was not an acceptable design practice. But with cleanroom designers bringing in more adaptive and useful trends, today more companies are installing negative pressure plenums and clean air delivery through self-powered HEPA filters as a more economical way to achieve validated cleanroom conditions.
Technology innovations
As pharma companies require cleanrooms to eject high toxic fumes and gases from their manufacturing units,engineers are incorporating new technology innovations in cleanrooms. “Toxic Industrial Compounds (TICs) are becoming a major issue in industrial environments. For that reason, we are developing a new class of media with nanoparticle adsorbent technology and nanostructured fibres of unique composition to filter out these harmful molecules,” says, Jayesh Doshi, CEO of Exceed Filters.
Future filter media will have integrated nano structures that have large capacities to adsorb TICs. By selecting a specific type of structure, one can selectively filter toxic compounds and obtain very high air quality.
Growth prospects bright
As India is fast becoming a research hub for global pharma and biotechnology industry, the growth prospects for the cleanroom technology industry are quite high. Experts say that the future of clean room technology is bright with more and more pharma companies expanding their units in different parts of the country. With designers coming with new trends like energy conservant cleanrooms, pharma firms will get highly sophisticated cleanrooms that don't waste energy.
Cleanroom designers need to work with more innovative thinking to create rooms that conserve energy without compromising on cleanliness. Future designs could include monitoring systems that speed up or slow down fans when particulate levels change, using only the energy it needs to maintain particle levels.
“The need for clean air is increasing. Advancement and improved manufacturing processes producing nano material will create a new market segment for filter industry,” opines Doshi.