从一个火花:内部环境可持续性

On the other side of the world in Singapore, engineering and science teams have come together to cut down on waste at their facility, focusing on single-use plastics used in the biologics manufacturing process with potential to increase their recycling rate by 20%.

Both projects, along with several others, are advancing as part of a sustainability innovation challenge from AbbVie leadership to employees all around the globe. The ask: Bring us creative ideas – big, small and even outside of your expertise area – to help reduce the company’s environmental impact and accelerate meeting sustainability targets.

在德国最先进的研究实验室和伊利诺斯州,化学家和工程师及时后退追求现代的解决方案——设备大多数人不希望看到在实验室。

在世界的另一边在新加坡,工程和科学团队一起在他们的设施,减少浪费关注生物制剂生产过程中使用的一次性塑料与潜在提高回收率20%。

两个项目,还有其他几个人,是推进可持续性创新挑战的一部分从AbbVie领导全球员工所有。问:带给我们的创意,大,小,甚至你的专业知识以外的区域,来减少公司的环境影响和加速实现可持续发展目标。

Employees who stepped up to the Spark Innovation Accelerator were challenged to pitch solutions in three key areas: climate and energy, water and zero waste to landfill. With over 100 ideas submitted, eight were selected to move forward, with mentors and additional resources provided to each team as they look to achieve milestones this year and beyond.

“We’ve really seen big ideas that create impact, and from people who bring a fresh perspective and that challenged our way of thinking,” Kumor says. “Now we’re putting structure around these ideas, which complement the work we’re doing at a global level to reduce our carbon footprint and reduce waste.”

这些位居榜首的想法至关重要支持AbbVie雄心勃勃的环境可持续发展目标,其中包括减少绝对碳排放到2025年的25%,到2035年实现100%的零垃圾填埋场,乔·Kumor说高级主管,环境,健康,安全和可持续性,AbbVie。

员工加大引发创新加速器球场挑战解决方案在三个关键领域:气候与能源、水和垃圾零浪费。超过100的想法提交,八个选择前进,与导师和额外的资源提供给每个团队看起来今年实现里程碑。

“我们真的看到大思想产生的影响,从那些带来新的视角和挑战我们的思维方式,“Kumor说。“现在我们把这些想法周围结构,补充工作我们做在全球层面减少我们的碳足迹和减少浪费。”

On top of this work he’s making good on a longtime passion – introducing more sustainable technologies to his lab, focusing primarily on how to reduce waste and improve safety through mechanochemistry and reactive extrusion. Translation: performing a chemical reaction using mechanical force, not the chemical solvents that are today’s industry standards.

“We started at a small scale using the ball mill, the modern day mortar and pestle, which through the speed of shaking you trigger energy and create a chemical reaction,” Geneste says. “Now our global team is moving to a bigger scale and we really have the chance to pioneer this technology in the pharmaceutical industry.”

The new approach has been taken by Geneste and an international research team, based in both Ludwigshafen, Germany and Lake County, Illinois, comprised of extrusion experts Thomas Kessler, Alex Ruggles and Andreas Gryczke, as well as process chemists Sarah Co and Travis Dunn. It can eliminate the use of solvents entirely, including the need to purchase, safely handle and dispose of them.

With support from the innovation challenge leaders and mentor, their next step is finding the best cases to apply continuous solvent-free chemistry using reactive extrusion technology and calculating the potential impact.

药用化学家通过贸易,主要研究科学家Herve Geneste每天在路德维希港,德国实验室推进研究中枢神经系统疾病如帕金森症和阿尔茨海默氏症。

除此之外他取得了很好的工作在一个长期的热情——引入更可持续的技术他的实验室,主要关注如何减少浪费和提高安全通过机械化学和反应挤出。翻译:执行使用机械力化学反应,而不是今天的行业标准的化学溶剂。

“我们开始在小范围内使用球磨机,现代研钵和研杵,通过摇动你触发能量的速度和创建一个化学反应,“Geneste说。“现在我们的全球团队是搬到一个更大的规模和我们真的有机会这项技术在制药行业先锋。”

Geneste采取的新方法已经和一个国际研究小组,位于路德维希港,德国和湖县,伊利诺斯州,由挤压专家托马斯·凯斯勒,亚历克斯Ruggles Andreas Gryczke,以及过程化学家莎拉·邓恩和特拉维斯。它可以完全消除溶剂的使用,包括需要购买,安全处理和处理。

在创新挑战的领袖和导师的支持下,他们的下一步是找到最好的情况下,应用连续无溶剂化学利用反应挤出技术和计算的潜在影响。

Together, Niki Wong, principal research scientist, and Gauri Salunkhe, operations engineer, identified a way to recycle waste at their facility, which manufactures biologics and relies on the industry standard approach of using several single-use plastics in the process.

Currently these plastics, which include items like bottles, sterile bags and connected tubing, are safely disposed of after each use. Some recycling methods are available, but they require the plastics to be separated and thoroughly cleaned and sanitized beforehand, which is resource-intensive.

“We saw an opportunity to find a novel method to recycle these mixed plastics and result in a 20% increase in our facility’s recycling rate,” Salunkhe says.

As a challenge winner, the team is now evaluating vendors that can take the plastics and solve some of the sorting and cleaning challenges. In turn, this approach would help accelerate AbbVie’s global target of achieving a 50% combined recycling rate for both hazardous and non-hazardous waste by 2025.

“This challenge is really about raising awareness and encouraging people to make more sustainable choices,” she says.

在新加坡,两名员工激情的环境可持续性看到公开呼吁新的想法并开始头脑风暴。

首席研究科学家一起,妮基黄,吉奥莉•Salunkhe,操作工程师,确定回收废物的设施,生产生物制品和依赖于行业标准方法使用一些一次性的塑料。

目前,这些塑料,包括物品,如瓶,无菌袋和连接油管,每次使用后的安全处理。一些回收方法是可用的,但他们需要分离和塑料事先彻底清洗和消毒,这是资源密集型的。

“我们看到了一个机会找到一个新方法来回收这些混合塑料和导致我们工厂的回收率,增加了20%”Salunkhe说。

挑战冠军,团队正在评估供应商,可以整理和清洁的塑料和解决一些难题。反过来,这种方法将有助于加速AbbVie的全球目标实现综合回收率为50%的2025年有害和无害废物。

“这个挑战是提高意识,鼓励人们做出更可持续的选择,”她说。