Process Skids as Sustainable and Cost-Friendly Solutions in the Biopharma Sector

There’s a lot of pressure on biopharma companies and their input suppliers to bring routine medications and immune system boosters to the market faster. Thus, these businesses are increasingly adopting modular systems to rapidly scale the manufacturing process, keeping costs to a minimum. Key among them are process skids.

A process skid is a self-contained production environment – “a system in a box,” capable of easy transportation with little effort. Multiple skids, entirely fabricated and integrated at cost-friendly offsite locations, can be shipped to the manufacturing site, where the last bit of civil site upgrades happen. Individual modules can be set up, using repeatable processes to the existing production infrastructure increasing throughput and meeting growing demand. Process skids also lend themselves to a high degree of customisation.

Cost-Effective Modular Skid Approach v. Overpriced Onsite Constructions

By reducing the construction and ongoing maintenance effort at the manufacturing site, modular process skids help cut back time-to-production and save on capital costs. With its reduced labor component and repeatable processes, it emerges as a cost-efficient, alternative to traditional constructions. In conventional construction, processing systems are shipped in parts and assembled entirely at the site.

CIP Skids

The CIP skid represents the core of the critical system in pharma applications responsible for removing traces of product residue (“soil”) from inner surfaces of numerous pipes, tanks and fillers without dismantling the equipment. The CIP skid maintains the optimal balance of fluid concentration, temperature and duration, essential to the success of the process. These skids can be fabricated offsite and installed onsite as a standalone system or clubbed with incumbent systems. CIP skids can start up and reach the desired throughput almost immediately.

Bioreactor Skids

These large stainless-steel containers provide a controlled and biologically active environment vital to the generation of antibodies, vaccines, and various pharmaceutical formulations. On a continuous basis, these cylindrical vessels supply a homogeneous milieu that supports both aerobic and anaerobic fermentation processes. Such bioreactor skids come in a range of sizes, from a few liters to several cubic meters, designed to meet the varying demands of the industry. The use of scalable single-use bioreactors is also on the rise and this disposable technology has the added advantage of drastically reducing production time. 

Sustainable Industrial Skid Systems from DDE

There is an increasing demand from the biopharma sector for contemporary manufacturing support systems that return a 100% yield while also minimising the use of scarce natural resources. Companies like DDE have decades of experience in providing high-quality industrial skids that help save costs on future maintenance. These include bioreactors, cross flow skids (tangential flow filtration), as well as mobile and centralized CIP systems.

Mindful of the environment, DDE skid systems have been designed to limit consumption of water, cleaning media, and steam used for sterilisation in flow filtration plants. These are compact, requiring less real estate.