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Industrial waters 163

membranes. In this case pH control is critical, since at higher pH levels
chloramine dissociation takes place resulting in damage to the membrane.

References
Cheryan, M. (1 998). Ultrafiltration and microfiltration handbook. Technomic,
Basel, pp. 349-369.
Environment Australia (2001). Cleaner production - recovery and reuse of
filter backwash water - Coca-cola Amatil (NSW) Pty Ltd. Environment Australia
web site, www.ea.gov.au/industry/eecp/case-studies/cca.html (Accessed
February 2003).
Levine, A.D. and Asano, T. (2002). Water reclamation, recycling and reuse
in industry. In Lens, P., Hulshoff Pol, L., Wilderer, P. and Asano, T. (eds.)
Water recycling and resource recovery in industry. IWA Publishing, London, pp.
29-52.

3.5 Pure waters in the pharmaceutical industry

3.5.7 Background
The pharmaceutical industry is a global one with multinational companies
carrying out research and development activities, clinical trials and production
on different continents and supplying the products to virtually every country of
the world. The industry is relatively unaffected by the “bear” and “bull” markets
that typically exert a dramatic effect on other high-technology industries, such
as electronics. The market for pharmaceutical products continues to grow as
new drugs are developed to treat more and more previously untreatable
conditions. This development is being sustained or even accelerated by the new
biotechnology-based products passing through clinical trials and coming onto
the market.
A pharmaceutical company uses water for many different purposes, many of
these being unrelated to the pharmaceutical activities of the company. For such
general applications for water, such as for boiler feed, heat transfer, toilet flushing,
showering, laundering, fire control, etc., recycle and reuse considerations are no
different to those withinother industrial sectors: they are applications that require
a water feed and generate an effluent stream, and may or may not be suitable
applications for utilising recovered water based on water quality, quantity and
processing costs. However, there is nothing about these applications that is
changed by their being carried out within a pharmaceutical organisation.
Water is used extensively in the pharmaceutical industry and it is the most
frequently used ingredient of pharmaceutical preparations. There are a wide
range of products and intermediate products that require a reliable supply of
water during their manufacture, including: