User-friendly design in the CIP room

If a pharmaceutical factory were a human body, the CIP room would be its kidneys in which everything is rinsed and cleaned. Artelia has designed Xellia’s CIP equipment with an emphasis on usability.

Cleaning of process equipment is a vital task in the production of medicine – a process in which hygiene and sterility are stalwarts. At Xellia Pharmaceuticals on Amager, Denmark, Artelia have designed six storage vessels meant for cleaning the equipment used in the medicinal production. All tanks are placed in the same room. That is no coincidence.

The primary purpose of placing all this equipment in one room is to make it easily manageable. Our focus throughout the process has been on the interior design of this room, which we call the CIP room, and on the utility ceiling above,
Bjarne Særmark
Bjarne SærmarkSenior Specialist
Mechanical – Pharma

CIP is short for Cleaning In Place, signifying the first phase of cleaning and sterilisation of all Xellia facility piping ahead of the SIP phase (Sterilisation In Place). It is a complex process. In the CIP phase, all piping is rinsed with DI water, free of ionised minerals, whereupon a nitric acid amalgamation is lead through the distribution piping system. Finally, the system is rinsed with WFI water to rinse the acid out. During the SIP phase, all machinery is sterilised with clean steam and heated to 130 degrees Celsius. Then nitrogen is pumped in to bring out any excess water. Only then, the machine is adequately clean and ready for the production of medicines. These are the processes which form the base of the CIP room design.

“Our layout is based on careful calculations of pump volume, the width of isolation, piping flow and, in general, our wide experience with this type of production facility. We have aimed for a layout which is user-friendly, even if the spatial conditions are somewhat restraining. Optimally, the CIP room would be five meters wider than now, but you have to work with what you’ve got – and then apply common sense,” says Bjarne Særmark.

Due to the narrow space in the CIP room, two of the tanks – those meant for sewage – are placed in the basement while the remaining tanks are placed just above, containing treated water, nitric acid and WFI water meant for injections. On top of this come an extensive piping system, four heat exchanger controlling the overall facility temperature, as well as a tank in which condensate water from the piping is reused to the benefit of both the environment and project economy. This has been a clear objective for both Xellia and Artelia, as has the system usability.