An Inside Look at Spirax Sarco

EPM speaks to Spirax Sarco to understand the role steam systems play in pharma and how the company can help improve sustainability throughout the industry. 

With over 100 years of experience, Spirax Sarco not only stand proud in the FTSE 100, they are a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index, meeting globally recognised corporate responsibility standards.  This is built on a long and successful history of providing steam solutions to customers across multiple industries, including food and drink, healthcare and of course pharmaceuticals. The company’s range of products and services include solutions for the efficient use of steam in applications such as heating and sterilisation. Their service capabilities extend from audits & surveys to training in one of its 59 training facilities across the globe. 

“Wherever we operate, we strive to exceed our sustainability targets, helping our customers to do the same. Our ability to provide engineered solutions that improve our customers’ operating efficiency, reduce their environmental impacts and increase their sustainability is at the heart of what we do, and is where we have our greatest, and most positive environmental impacts” says Angelo Giambrone, healthcare business development from Spirax Sarco.

In a global effort to reduce carbon emissions and embrace more sustainable operations, companies the world over are implementing sustainability plans. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has recently set targets on having a net zero impact on climate and a net positive impact on nature by 2030. AstraZeneca has also launched a similar ‘Ambition Zero Carbon’ programme: committing to having zero carbon emissions from global operations by 2025.

However, every company within the supply chain has a role to play too. Spirax Sarco has set its own plans in motion to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2040, alongside other sustainability goals such as sourcing 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, and also designating board accountability for greenhouse gas emissions. It is also one of over 20 UK companies that has committed to a biodiversity net gain by 2030.

Spirax Sarco isn’t simply looking inwards towards its own operations though. The company estimates that in 2019, its products, services and solutions helped its customers reduce an estimated 7.2 million tonnes of carbon emissions. That’s the equivalent of taking around 3.7 million new cars off the road or planting over 300 million mature trees.

So, where does steam fit within the pharmaceutical industry? 

Steam plays a fundamental part in delivering controllable thermal energy across a range of applications and it ensures that process equipment used in the manufacture of medicines is kept sterile and free from contamination.

“Steam plays a fundamental part,” explains Angelo Giambrone, healthcare business development manager at Spirax Sarco. “There are strict rules governing validation, but through the correct installation, monitoring, testing and management of both plant and pure steam systems, steam helps achieve the exacting standards of product quality.” 

What steps can be taken to improve the effectiveness of existing systems?

In order to understand how systems are performing and may be improved, Spirax Sarco can conduct Steam System Audits (SSAs) and Steam Quality Testing (SQT). These are vital to help identify energy savings and operational improvements, all in order to meet environmental and efficiency objectives. Spirax Sarco works with pharmaceutical companies to assess anything from a single plant room up to an entire steam system. “Our customers increasingly rely on our expertise to deliver unique engineering solutions to achieve enhanced and sustainable operating efficiencies,” adds Giambrone.

Spirax Sarco can help companies gain a better understanding of their energy use through monitoring and measuring. This can reveal opportunities to target improvements in efficiency. Not only does this apply to the pharmaceutical production process, but also to utilities such as hot water and heating throughout the plant. Whether plant or process, both areas are of importance. Improving systems, whether plant or process, can help overcome “issues with system reliability, quality, maintenance or even natural product obsolescence,” Giambrone states.

How is the pharmaceutical industry adapting to the challenges of reducing fossil fuels?

“Plant steam is a large contributor to overall energy consumption of a pharmaceutical plant. A high proportion of the energy consumed in pharmaceutical manufacturing is in the heating and ventilation of the facility,” Giambrone explains. There is a drive to reduce the use of fossil fuels and to lower carbon emissions. The way this impacts on the thermal needs of industry is a problem that is challenging engineering minds, particularly where there are large instantaneous thermal loads required by the process. 

Typically an energy centre uses gas as the primary fuel, which then distributes thermal energy in the form of steam to the plant. The steam has very high energy content when compared to a typical circulating hot water system (26 times more energy per kg than a water circuit working on 80-60^oC flow and return). Steam is also very easily distributed, without the need for circulation pumps to move large volumes of water. However, in the long term the pharmaceutical industry will still need to consider the primary fuel source. While the world currently strives to find an alternative to burning natural gas, there is much development taking place to seek a fuel that can flow through our national infrastructure. “We may find that a breakthrough is achieved in the use of bio-gas or maybe hydrogen – we read and watch with anticipation as these developments progress,” says Giambrone. 

One answer may be through increasing electrification by using electric steam generators. The electrical power can be obtained from a renewable ‘low/zero carbon’ source and this may solve some of the issues; many sites are also investing in their own solar capabilities. However, the high thermal requirement of a plant would place a significant demand on any existing electrical infrastructure.

A solution to help overcome potentially high electrical loads is to use a steam accumulator, which can store the thermal energy produced by the generator.  This can then be released in the form of steam, as and when the process demands it. In effect, it acts like a buffer, reducing the peaks on electrical load, whilst satisfying the peaks of the steam demand. 

Energy storage is receiving increasing focus, as engineers endeavour to harness energy from intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar. Spirax Sarco is using its global expertise to produce innovative solutions relating to storing and delivering thermal energy. This may well pave the way in the future, not only for the pharmaceutical industry, but for many other industries that require heat for their processes. As challenges in the pharmaceutical industry evolve, so do the products and services of Spirax Sarco. Whether it be improving the quality of steam or identifying energy savings and process improvements, the company’s steam engineering know-how, combined with a global presence and an ongoing commitment to innovation, ensures that its customers have the support and technical solutions needed, now and in the future.