Sustainable Development in Biopharmaceutical Industry
Component code / course code: (PBT22_SDB)
Semester: winter / summer
ECTS credits: 3
Lecture hours per week (SWS): 2
Lecturer: Dr. Jürgen Haas
Course language: English
Prerequisite: Basic kknowledge of biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes and process engineering.
Objectives (Learning Outcome):
- Students who have successfully completed this module
- can set biopharma industry sustainable goals in context with the Sustainable Development goals of the United Nations
- possess the theoretical knowledge in tools to calculate sustainable metrics, e.g. Process Mass Intensity
- understand how Life Cycle Assessments are performed, e.g. to calculate CO2 emissions
- know the basics of circular economy and eco-design in context of biopharmaceuticals
- know the essential impact categories on environment and human health
- are able to compare sustainable development topics across industry sectors
- have a basic knowledge about the business drivers for sustainability in biopharmaceutical industry
Lecture topics (content):
- 17 global Sustainable Development (SD) goals of the United Nations
- derived SD goals for the biopharmaceutical industry, e.g. carbon footprint, resource depletion
- policies, programs and initiatives of biopharma companies and suppliers with respect to SD
- principles of sustainability, e.g. Circular Economy, Eco-design
- definition of the development and manufacturing process in terms of system boundaries like „cradle to gate“ and „cradle to grave“, “gate to gate” for mass and CO2 balancing
- metrics, methods, tools to measure “sustainability”, e.g. Process Mass Intensity Tool (PMI), Sustainability Assessment Tool (SAT), Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
- impact categories on environment and human health
- biopharma industry examples for PMI and LCA – comparison with other industries, e.g. automotive
- topics of sustainability, e.g. process technologies, comparison of stainless steel versus single use
- business drivers und business value for sustainable development
- certification, ISO-norms, databases, biopharma industry consortia
Teaching format (e.g. online/in person lecture/Seminar/Lab etc.):
- in person lecture with tasks to deepen topics
- discussion about topics in the lecture
Examination: Written summary (about 20 pages) on an individual topic with a short oral presentation (about 10-15 minutes)
