Dry screw vacuum pump: promoting the pharmaceutical industry to achieve “oil-free” clean production
Eliminate oil pollution, improve product purity, reduce comprehensive operation and maintenance costs, and safeguard drug quality and safety.
In the pharmaceutical industry that concerns human health, purity, safety, and controllability of the production process are the supreme principles. Among them, the vacuum system, as the core equipment for key processes such as evaporation, drying, distillation, crystallization, and freeze-drying, directly affects the quality of drugs, production costs, and environmental benefits in terms of its technological selection. Traditionally, oil sealed vacuum pumps (such as rotary vane pumps and slide valve pumps) have been widely used, but their inherent risk of “oil contamination” has become a constraint on modern pharmaceutical clean production. The rise of dry screw vacuum pumps is leading the pharmaceutical industry towards a new era of “oil-free” clean production with its revolutionary “oil-free” technology.
1、 The tragedy of traditional oil pumps: the ‘invisible killer’ of pharmaceutical clean production
Before the popularization of dry pump technology, pharmaceutical companies were plagued by oil pollution for a long time:
Drug cross contamination risk: Pump oil may reflux or form oil mist during operation, entering the process chamber and contaminating drug raw materials, intermediates, or final products. This not only affects drug efficacy and purity, but may also introduce unknown impurities, posing significant safety risks.
Unstable vacuum degree: Process media (such as solvent vapor and water vapor) will undergo chemical reactions with pump oil, causing emulsification, deterioration, and acidification of the oil, resulting in decreased lubrication and sealing performance, fluctuations in vacuum degree, and affecting process reproducibility and product quality consistency.
High maintenance costs and environmental pressure: frequent oil changes, oil filtration, and treatment of large amounts of waste oil and wastewater not only increase material and labor costs, but also generate hazardous waste. The treatment process is complex, and environmental compliance pressure is enormous.
Low energy consumption and operating efficiency: Oil sealed pumps have complex internal structures, high frictional resistance, high energy loss, and relatively low operating efficiency.
2、 Dry screw vacuum pump: How to become the perfect answer to “oil-free”?
The core of a dry screw vacuum pump lies in its working principle: through a pair of precision meshing, non-contact screw rotors, synchronous reverse high-speed rotation is achieved in the pump chamber, thereby realizing the suction, compression, and discharge of gas. The entire process does not require any working fluid (oil or water) to participate in sealing and lubrication, which fundamentally eliminates oil pollution.
Its promotion of clean pharmaceutical production is reflected in the following core advantages:
1. Extremely pure, ensuring drug quality
Due to the complete absence of oil in the pump chamber, the possibility of oil contamination of the process medium is completely eliminated. This is a crucial guarantee for the production of drugs with extremely high purity requirements, such as high activity (HPAPI), sterile preparations, and biological products. It ensures that every step from raw materials to finished products is in a controllable and clean vacuum environment.
2. Excellent corrosion resistance and solvent treatment capability
Modern dry screw pumps are usually manufactured with special surface coatings (such as Teflon, nickel based coatings) and corrosion-resistant materials, which can easily cope with various strong solvent vapors (such as acetone, dichloromethane, alcohols) and corrosive gases commonly used in pharmaceutical processes, without performance degradation due to chemical reactions, and have a longer lifespan.
3. Significantly reduce the overall cost of ownership
Easy maintenance: No need to replace or handle pump oil, daily maintenance is limited to regular replacement of bearings and seals, long maintenance intervals, and small workload.
Energy saving and efficient: with minimal internal flow loss and high isothermal compression efficiency, compared to oil sealed pumps of the same specifications, energy consumption can usually be reduced by more than 20%.
No waste oil treatment cost: fundamentally eliminates the cost of purchasing new oil and processing hazardous waste oil, as well as related management costs.
4. Comply with the strictest regulations and certifications
The “oil-free” characteristic of dry screw vacuum pumps enables them to easily meet the strict requirements of cGMP (Dynamic Good Manufacturing Practice), FDA (US Food and Drug Administration), and EU GMP (EU GMP) for equipment cleaning validation, cross contamination prevention, and data integrity. Its clean and dry vacuum environment is strongly supported by GMP audits.
5. Improve process reliability and flexibility
Dry screw pump starts quickly, maintains stable vacuum degree, and can quickly reach and maintain the required process pressure. Its wide pumping speed range and good water vapor tolerance make it perform well in complex pharmaceutical processes, such as sublimation drying from atmospheric pressure to high vacuum, improving production flexibility and batch consistency.
3、 Application scenario: ubiquitous clean power
Dry screw vacuum pumps are playing an irreplaceable role in various aspects of pharmaceutical production
API production: Ensure high purity in processes such as vacuum distillation, solvent recovery, and crystallization filtration.
Preparation production: used for fluidized bed drying, vacuum stirring, and coating processes to prevent oil stains from affecting the appearance and solubility of drugs.
Biopharmaceuticals and Freeze Drying: Providing clean vacuum in a freeze dryer is a key guarantee for the safety of biological products such as vaccines and antibodies.
R&D and Quality Control Laboratory: Provides stable and clean vacuum sources for various experimental and analytical instruments.
Conclusion
From “oil” to “oil-free” is not only an iterative upgrade of vacuum pump technology, but also a profound change in the production concept of the pharmaceutical industry. Dry screw vacuum pumps, with their inherent genes of cleanliness, efficiency, reliability, and environmental friendliness, perfectly align with the modern pharmaceutical industry’s pursuit of quality, safety, and sustainable development. It is no longer just a simple equipment option, but one of the core driving forces for pharmaceutical companies to achieve higher quality standards, lower operating costs, and greener and more environmentally friendly “oil-free” clean production. Embracing dry screw technology is embracing a purer future for the pharmaceutical industry.
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