Ten-fold increase in production of a key drug for dialysis required installation of dry-running vacuum system and leads to further orders
Kidney disease affects some 30,000 people in the UK, who depend upon dialysis machines.
Patients on dialysis must control the level of phosphorous in their blood, and for many people, that is best achieved by taking Renagel - a formulation produced by the Genzyme using a process that depends upon a dry vacuum supply. Such is the demand for Renagel that a major expansion is underway at Genzyme's manufacturing operation.
It will result in a tenfold increase in the production of sevelamer hydrochloride, the active ingredient in the formulation.
Rietschle's Twister VSA800 dry screw vacuum pumps have been specified for the drying process, applying vacuum at 600mbar (Abs) to the horizontal belt dryers.
Director of engineering, Ian Thorne, said that Twister pumps had been selected for the Sevelamer production plant on the basis of technical capabilities, not price. "Rietschle's package met our duty requirements using a dry-running vacuum system that handles entrained spray and is corrosion resistant.
It gave us a complete solution on a single skid, which was designed and built exactly to our specifications." Following the installation of the twin VSA800 package, Genzyme has placed orders for a further three dry running Twister vacuum pumps: a VSA800/400 skid, and a cool running VSB200 package, in addition to Rietschle's latest Barracuda liquid ring pump.
