Piping in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Piping in the manufacturing industry is a critical infrastructure that affects the working and performance of all processes, areas and operations. They are specifically designed and deployed considering the facility requirements, and affects the performance of entire pharma facility.

Generally, piping is a metal conduit for carrying different fluids from one location to another. They are installed and utilized as a comprehensive network to fulfil specific product requirements.

A piping system has several sub-components to interconnect different processes, equipment, and mechanical structures.

In addition to metal conduit, piping network consists of several attached components such as bands and sockets to connect different piping structures, pneumatic components, and instruments.

A piping system is critical to the success of pharma processes and the final finished product, especially for facility design, where piping connects one part of a facility to another for transferring fluid.

Piping in Pharma

Piping in pharma transfers critical fluids such as Steam, Nitrogen and liquid products from one area, machine or process to another. In the pharma industry, due to the criticality of the product, it has stringent requirements in terms of sanitation and quality compared to other industries.

In some cases, piping in the pharmaceutical industry directly comes in contact with the raw materials, intermediate product stages and final product, and to prevent contamination in them, it is necessary to protect piping from contamination, damage and material degradation to ensure the integrity of pharma fluid material. This is ensured by selecting piping manufactured from specialized material that has wider acceptability in pharmaceutical industry and at the same time providing optimum conditions for pharma applications.

The piping for pharma applications must also bear high temperatures and pressures associated with different process requirements. Some processes require high temperatures, and some require high pressure to execute and successfully produce quality products. For this purpose, piping is constructed of material that can bear high temperatures and pressure and does not degrade or affect the pharma process.

Applications of piping in pharma

Let's discuss the application of piping in the pharmaceutical industry.

Interconnecting different equipment parts and processes

A typical application of piping in the pharma industry is interconnecting different processes and equipment parts. They provide an effective and efficient way of transferring fluid to different process stages without physically transferring it.

For example, in injectable filling machine, the liquid product stored in the manufacturing vessel travels to the filling machine through appropriate piping systems.

Some process drivers, such as vacuum or simple pumps, use force to flow fluid across different points. Such as viscous liquid or low-pressure gasses that has the natural resistance in flowing, which can only be possible by applying force.

Upon applying pressure, the fluid will follow the path of the pipe and will reach its destination process or equipment.

Piping for process and equipment must be suitable for use with pharma products and must be compatible with specific requirements, such as SS316L, surface finish, and dead point requirements. These requirements aim to prevent damage to the product and pipe's material.

Compressed Air

Compressed air is an integral part of the pharma industry and is used in various processes and equipment. It is generated by compressing environmental air at high pressure, which is then transferred through an appropriate piping system to the point or area of requirement.

Compressed air is generated by an equipment known as an Air Compressor, which produces compressed air for several areas or entire facility. The air compressor is a dedicated piece of equipment with requirements that cannot be located in the production area to prevent the manufacturing area, process, and product from contamination and foreign body ingress. Instead, it is installed in a dedicated, non-critical product area known as the technical area.

The technical area is built away from the laboratory and production process area. From the technical area, piping transfers the compressed area to its desired location, such as a machine or vessel.

Piping for compressed air must be made of a suitable material such as stainless steel, aluminum, or PVC. The main reason for selecting this material is that it offers strong resistance to different climatic conditions,  chemical and physical corrosion, and prevents material degradation. Additionally, piping from the technical area to the production area passes through extreme regions, such as high heat, dust, and chemically challenging areas that can adversely affect the piping material.

Materials that can withstand these conditions are chosen to manufacture piping for used in compressed air applications.  This helps to increase the life of the piping installed, resulting in efficient compressed air transferring.

Another requirement for compressed air piping is its ability to withstand high pressure. Because air is compressed at high pressure, much higher than the normal atmospheric pressure, ordinary piping cannot bear that much pressure. If pressure requirements are not met, it can result in bursting or leakage and disrupting the operations and wastage of compressed air.

Pharma Water System

Another typical application of piping systems is pharma water systems. There are number of applications in water systems such as interconnecting different sub-components, chemical dosing, and connecting storage vessels to the water system. 

Pharma water system consists of individual components that perform specific functionality. After performing its function, the water is advanced to its next stage to perform another set of functions critical for water purification. In the last stage, the water is thoroughly purified and ready to deliver at its target location for product manufacturing and other applications. 

Stage-wise water transfer is possible through a network of piping systems installed at each stage's input and output. 

Piping also facilitates chemical dosing at different water purification stages according to the process requirement. A pump containing chemicals connects to a particular stage through appropriate piping and is automatically.

Piping is also used to transfer water purified into the storage vessels. Appropriate piping connects the last stage of purification to the storage vessels and allows easy transfer of purified water into the storage vessels.

Water Distribution System

A water distribution system transfers water from the storage vessels to every point of requirement in manufacturing plant through the piping system. 

Its primary purpose is to connect every point, area, and department with water requirements with the water treatment plant. Commonly, piping is laid down at every required location, where water flows when needed. 

Piping for water distribution systems must have the following characteristics.

●The piping must be made of stainless steel 316L. Because water is an essential raw material in the pharma industry, the piping must not contaminate or change its specifications.

● Piping must bear high temperatures, especially for Distilled Water, which is manufactured at high temperatures.

●Since water is transferred through the extensive piping network, it requires high pressure to reach the target location, and for this reason,  the piping must also be able to bear high pressures.

Pharmaceutical-compliant piping material specifications

As discussed above in this article, piping in the pharma industry directly contacts the product. For this purpose, piping in the pharma industry is specially designed to prevent adverse effects on the pharma product. Among many are the material requirements, which we will discover in this section.

Material Composition

The material for the piping in the pharmaceutical industry is Stainless Steel due to the safety and quality benefits it offers over other materials. It meets all the regulatory requirements for pharma product manufacturing.  It possesses excellent resilience to corrosion and product reaction to prevent product hazards. 

However, for the pharma industry, only specific stainless steel type i.e. SS316L and SS304 can be used and no other type can be used to the advantages it offers over others.

SS316L has a low carbon content of the Stainless Steel. It also contains molybdenum, which facilitates resilience to chemical reactions with the product and material degradation. SS316L is used in piping that comes in direct contact with the product or intermediaries. For example, piping for transferring injectable product to the filling machine.

SS304 does not have molybdenum and does not offers advantages as like of SS316L. It is mainly used in non-product contact applications, For example, evaporators and condensers.

Surface Roughness

Surface roughness is the measure of the roughness of a surface and is an essential parameter for all metallic surfaces, including the piping. Its primary purpose is to attain maximum surface finish with minimum possible roughness in the piping material. 

Roughness in surfaces increases the possibility of contamination by harboring or storing contamination or particles. Because rough surfaces require more effort to clean and remove impurities.

The roughness of any material is determined through a value known as Ra, which is termed as average of all peaks and values of a roughness. For pharma applications, the values of Ra must be less than 0.8µm.

Polish

For pharma applications, the piping must be electro polished. Its benefit is that it makes the surface of superior quality and increases the material's resilience against corrosion of different types, such as biological corrosion.

Polish helps to easily clean the piping, because pharma products manufactured of different chemicals and API. If the piping material is not suitably polished it will make the cleaning process more complicated and difficult.

About the Author:

Muhammad Asim Niazi

Muhammad Asim Niazi has a vast experience of about 11 years in a Pharmaceutical company. During his tenure he worked in their different departments and had been part of many initiatives within the company. He now uses his experience and skill to write interested content for audiences at PharmaSources.com.