Single-use technology with a surprising sustainability balance
Water and energy consumption are significantly reduced due to the elimination of cleaning and sterilization processes compared to multi-use technology
Single-use and sustainability
In recent years, sustainability has become a decisive factor for companies striving for long-term competitiveness. New laws and regulations are also increasingly requiring companies to reduce their carbon footprint. Of course, this also applies to the pharmaceutical industry. But even if terms such as “disposable” or "single-use" have rather negative connotations from the perspective of sustainability, they have advantages in comparison to equivalent multi-use instrumentation.
By throwing away or recycling the disposable components of Promass U 500, there is no need for complex cleaning processes such as cleaning and sterilization in place (CIP and SIP). This reduces the water and energy consumption by up to 40 percent and CO₂ emissions are also reduced by the elimination of CIP and SIP. Therefore, the additional energy consumption to produce the disposable components are less important when considering the entire value chain.
Individual parts of Promass U 500 disposable component: Stainless steel tube, flow splitter, o-rings
Recycling process
One benefit in the recycling process of Promass U 500 is the separability of the individual assemblies of the disposable component. This leads to some gains:
- The flow splitter can be disconnected from the stainless-steel tube, and the O-rings can be removed
- The two packaging films and the secondary containment for the disposable measuring tube do not touch any fluids and can therefore be recycled as household plastics
- The stainless-steel measuring tube can be completely recycled as scrap metal after autoclaving
Product Carbon Footprint
How big are the greenhouse gas emissions generated by a product in the different life cycle phases? More and more companies are confronted with questions like this, which is why the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) has gained importance. The commitment of Endress+Hauser to sustainability is deeply rooted in the culture of its family business. For this reason, a PCF Information Sheet is available online for each flowmeter to help all the value chain stakeholders make further progress along this common path.
This “Cradle-to-Gate” PCF includes all processes from the extraction of resources, the production of the components and the final product, to leaving the company. Use and End-of-Life are excluded from this report.
