Kamal Singh, Vice President, Power Electronics Division, Danfoss India highlights the impact of energy consumption by the pharma industry on the environment, in discussion with Sachin Jagdale
Which energy consuming processes are used in the pharmaceutical industry?
Energy efficiency, like in any other manufacturing unit, is imperative in the pharma industry too especially with increasing focus on bottom lines and neck-to-neck competition on the rise. In this industry, a major portion of the spend goes into Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) as strict protocol is followed to ensure safe manufacturing of pharma drugs. In this context, energy efficiency is instrumental to lowering operational expenses and increasing predictable earnings, especially in times of power fluctuations and high energy cost volatility.
When it comes to HVAC application in the pharma manufacturing sector, air handling units and chillers consume maximum electricity. However, adopting variable frequency drives such as those by Danfoss can help lower the electricity, thereby reducing up front and operational costs, and maximising uptime in pharma industrial applications.
On the process side, centrifuge pumps for various applications, inlet blower, exhaust blower, coating machine, rapid mixer and mixing vessels consume a lot of energy and here too there is a lot of potential to save energy and costs.
Is the pharma industry among the highest energy consuming sectors in the world?
While energy consumption in the pharma industry is not among the highest, it does use considerable power which can alternately be saved given our country’s energy security problems. The idea is to ensure that each industry is self-sufficient if it has to sustain itself in the long run.
How is such energy consumption affecting the environment?
Since the pharma manufacturing processes are highly automated as compared to any other manufacturing unit, it translates to a considerable share of energy consumption in the country. According to Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), pharma manufacturing facilities registered with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as on March 2014 is the highest for India, at 523 for any country outside the US. With India being the manufacturing hub for pharma, energy efficient practices, if implemented, will ultimately help in reducing the pressure on the already stretched resources in the country.
Can you provide some case studies on the success of your solution in the pharma industry?
One of our major pharma clients, Cipla decided to build a world-class drug manufacturing plant at Goa where it chose the Danfoss VLT HVAC drives to control around 350 AHUs and 20 pumps for maintaining inside conditions and differential pressure in the manufacturing areas. The resultant savings is approximately 40 per cent of the energy compared to the full speed operation.
Who are your pharma clients in India?
Our pharma clients are present in clusters of Gujarat, AP or present Telangana, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh.
How aware are pharma companies about energy conservation? What are your efforts for the same?
Since manufacturing processes in the pharma industry deploy variety of automated technologies, the level of awareness on energy conservation is quite moderate. However there lies a window of opportunity to make the industry adopt more energy efficient technologies at a quicker pace to get lasting benefits.
We provide energy efficient solutions such as the variable frequency drives which help in reducing operating costs and energy consumption. We help in reducing carbon footprint across sectors. For this, we ensure that there is strong awareness on energy efficiency and the use of energy efficient products among stakeholders. With India’s strapped resources, there is a need to address energy problems with a sustainable approach. We believe educating stakeholders to shift to automated energy efficient solutions holds the key to a sustainable tomorrow.
Which other industries do you cater to?
In addition to the pharma industry, we also cater to the textiles, chemicals and food processing sectors, etc. among others
How do you rate your future prospects considering the threats like global warming that loom ahead?
The future looks promising with the central nod for an action plan on climate change and the smart cities that will roll out shortly. With the setting up of an R&D and manufacturing facility in Chennai, we look at jointly developing products along with our customers to tailor products according to their needs and in the process, spread our sustainability story across different sectors in India.
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