Resource-saving cleaning in life science industries with snow jets

Cleaning technology plays a key role in the manufacture of pharmaceutical and medical products. Today, however, the necessary product purity (protection of patients and users) is bought with an enormous use of energy and waste of water. In order to effectively reduce this use of resources, an innovative, safe cleaning solution based on carbon dioxide snow is to be developed as part of a joint project (5 companies, 2 institutes). In order to lower approval hurdles for new technologies and to increase industry acceptance, a comprehensive basic validation for life science applications is being carried out in parallel. The project consortium is composed in such a way that a comprehensive solution is created for a wide range of applications. In addition to the high individual benefit (new products, improved production processes) for the individual project partners, this also results in a large general benefit for the medical and pharmaceutical industry (resource savings) as a whole.

The specific share of the NMI in the overall development is found in the subject area of the fundamental validation of the process, in particular the assessment of products with complex geometries. Since conventional methods do not allow the direct examination of the narrow lumen inner surface, a new test method is to be developed for checking the cleanliness and cleaning effect on surfaces in a narrow lumen. Three partially complementary approaches will be pursued, using test specimens, direct examination of the surface after preparation, or a direct detachment method without preparation.