Orion’s VOC emissions to air have reduced radically in 2009. Some two thirds of them come from the ethanol used as a solvent in the manufacture of tablet mass at the pharmaceutical plants in Espoo and Turku. As explained under “EN1 Materials use”, Orion has reduced the use of solvents and aims to reduce it even further by applying manufacturing processes which enable the use of water instead of solvents.

Since late 2007, the environmental permissions of Orion’s manufacturing plants set much more stringent emission limits for VOC emissions than before. To fulfil these requirements, Orion has changed its processes and increased the efficiency of solvent recovery and the treatment of outlet air. Very stringent emission limits apply to dichloromethane (DMC or methylene chloride) and chlorinated hydrocarbons in general. Current environmental permissions require very efficient recovery of methylene chloride and as a result, Orion has stopped using it in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Small amounts are still used in laboratories, but no emissions of the substance are released to the air or elsewhere to the environment.

Fermion’s challenges include methylene chloride, dimethylformamide and N-methylpyrrolidone, which have not been possible to replace in production as of yet. To meet the emission limits of these solvents, Fermion has installed efficient systems for the treatment of volatile organic compounds to its plants. Their recovery rate is so good that the plants now meet the emission limits with flying colours. In 2009, methylene chloride emissions were down to 1.1 tonnes whereas in 2007, before the treatment systems were taken into use, emissions amounted to approximately 40 tonnes.  

Solvents are relatively expensive. The solvents used in the manufacturing processes in Hanko and Oulu are regenerated by distillation for re-use. The Oulu plant uses the regenerated solvents in its processes, whereas the Hanko plant uses a major part of the distillate as a fuel in the VOC treatment plant, i.e., it is turned to energy for use by the API manufacturing processes.

Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides originate from the boiler facility of the Espoo plants, which uses heavy fuel oil.