Abstract
The biopharmaceutical sector has traditionally focused on cost-efficient process design and capacity planning to meet rising demand. Recently, sustainability pressures have increased, driving efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of manufacturing and supply chains; however, strict quality and sterilization requirements can limit the implementation of fully circular resource-use strategies. In this space, adopting an industrial-cluster systems view could unlock opportunities to improve sustainability of industrial clusters through coordinated material and energy exchange, supporting resource efficiency at cluster level and still meet sector-specific quality/sterilization requirements. In this work, we present life cycle assessment (LCA)-based comparative analyses to investigate the potential of industrial symbiosis within monoclonal antibody (mAb) manufacturing, whereby LCA process models are based on comprehensive techno-economic analyses that quantify resource inputs and waste streams. The presented results discuss impact reduction pathways including integrating renewable wind-based electricity, low-grade waste heat use, heat recovery through incineration and mechanical recycling of single-use plastics. The compound reductions of industrial symbiosis and energy source decarbonization are estimated, corresponding to 75% reductions in GWP potential, 70% in fossil resource scarcity and 60% in water use, thus highlighting the benefit of adopting a large-scale system view rather than siloed approaches.