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“There’s something interesting about wood, the oldest fuel used by mankind, being used to operate a manufacturing facility for the latest biologic medicines,” says Ibrahim Khadra, Staff Engineer, Global Pharmaceutical Supply Group, LLC |
“There’s something interesting about wood, the oldest fuel used by mankind, being used to operate a manufacturing facility for the latest biologic medicines,” says Ibrahim Khadra, Staff Engineer, Global Pharmaceutical Supply Group, LLC
Woodchips Fuel Boiler
Khadra spent three and a half years in Ireland building a 2.1-megawatt biomass boiler that uses wood chips – that are the by-products (such as branches) from logging in sustainable forests around Cork, Ireland – to fuel operations at Centocor Biologics (Ireland), also known as “BioCork.”
“The woodchips are a carbon-neutral fossil fuel substitute,” says Khadra, “So the facility uses half the natural gas it used to, and carbon emissions are reduced.” The boiler reduces the manufacturing facility’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 22 percent.
New Ways to Care for the Environment
The biomass boiler is the first project of its kind within Johnson & Johnson in the biotech sector (a Cilag AG pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Switzerland also uses a biomass boiler) and the first such installation for a pharmaceutical company in Ireland.
Johnson & Johnson began setting environmental goals in 1987 and in 1999 established a goal to reduce CO2 emissions from facilities worldwide by 7 percent in absolute terms by 2010. By improving energy efficiency, establishing on-site cogeneration and renewable-energy projects, using green power and purchasing carbon offsets, the company is on target to meet that goal. In 2005, when the BioCork facility was being built, there was a strong commitment to reduce the carbon footprint of the new site by approximately 20 percent.
“From the initial design, we looked at a number of ways of further minimizing our impact on the environment, including the biomass boiler,” says Jonathan Sowerbutts, Director of Engineering, Centocor Biologics (Ireland).
Sowerbutts and Khadra emphasize the project could not have happened without the significant organizational support it received.
“It wasn’t a slam dunk,” say Khadra, “Nobody has done this for a biotech facility.” Because of the delicate requirements for producing monoclonal antibodies (the cells that are the basis for biologic medicines), Khadra says, “We had to prove we could make the biomass boiler a clean, contained operation.”
A New Best Practice
“What I’m hoping the biomass boiler project allows is for the impossible to be possible,” says Khadra. “What you see today – the biomass boiler running, how clean of a process it is – you’ve seen the possible.”
To Learn More
Protecting The Environment
2007 Sustainability Report
Climate Friendly Energy Policy
To view this video, as well as other videos from Johnson & Johnson visit the Johnson & Johnson Health Channel on YouTube:
JNJHealth
