By HOF Sonderanlagenbau…
HOF Sonderanlagenbau announces CryoProPhase GreenTech cooling advance
Lohra, Germany: Innovative force in high quality tailored lyophilization solutions, HOF Sonderanlagenbau, has announced CryoProPhase as a major clean tech advance in cooling technology that dramatically improves sustainability and environmental performance.
HOF CryoProPhase enables the reduction of air pollution by using air as the only refrigerant. This enables customers to meet the demands of Germany’s TA-Luft and other environmental regulations. It also allows customers to recycle solvents into their processes to reduce overall operating costs and further enhance sustainability.
Solvent recovery
The first CryoProPhase installation for a pharmaceutical customer was developed on partnership with Karlsruhe-based sustainable refrigeration technology specialist Refolution Industriekälte GmbH.
It is the first implementation of HOF’s CryoBlizzard technology in the pharma environment and is a new process that cleans waste gas from solvents like acetone, ethanol and dichloromethane as well as recover them for recycling. This empowers the customer to dramatically reduce environmental pollution as demanded by TA Luft.
Natural refrigeration
The cooling is done over several stages, using only natural refrigerants and heat recovery. The ultra-low temperature stage required for lyophilization is realized with an air refrigeration machine from another HOF partner, Mirai Intex GmbH.
The process can also handle wet gases, such as those from scrubbers, using special heat exchangers that can handle ice production and are separated in two lines with a recovery cycle.
Driven by CryoBlizzard
At the heart of the solution is HOF’s new CryoBlizzard technology, in which the refrigeration circuit is driven by an oil-free turbocompressor–expander unit that runs at up to 88,000 rpm with almost no wear, thanks to ‘floating’ air bearings. The refrigeration medium is cooled in a heat transfer unit and integrated into the chiller. The air that is heated this way is aspirated by the turbocharger and compressed. Subsequently, the energy in the gas chiller is dissipated to the environment and cooled down in an inner heat transfer unit, then chilled in a recuperator, and finally relaxed in an expander, ready for effective re-use.
Most energy is absorbed through heating of the air in the cold medium/heat transfer unit. After the air in the recuperator has been re-heated, it is again aspirated by the compressor and the cycle starts anew.
About HOF Sonderanlagenbau
HOF Sonderanlagenbau GmbH is a world-class and highly innovative special equipment manufacturer of lyophilization freeze-drying, freeze-thaw and loading/unloading systems for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
Founded in 1988, this German family-owned company has become one of the world’s most respected names for high quality just in time freeze drying (lyophilization) solutions, with more than three decades of experience.
Sonderanlagenbau is German for ‘special equipment manufacture’ and in this case, refers to HOF’s lab scale, pilot scale and production scale freeze drying solutions, loading and unloading systems, and freeze-thaw units for the pharmaceutical, biotech and life science industries.
From its advanced manufacturing base at Lohra, north of Frankfurt, HOF designs and constructs specifically tailored freeze-drying and associated solutions for companies all over the world under its motto of “Just in time quality for demanding customers”
HOF Sonderanlagenbau does not offer off-the-shelf products but has instead constructed a fully integrated total design and build environment in which every machine is unique, exactly specified in partnership with customer and manufactured to meet very specific requirements. The partnership ethos extends into ownership, with our comprehensive service and maintenance offerings designed to ensure that no one needs to work on a HOF machine except its own experts.
For the past six years, HOF has been named among the Top 100 most innovative companies in Germany.
Resources
Click on HOF CryoBlizzard NextGen freeze drying and blast freezing technology to learn more.
Click on HOF Corporate Video for more on lyophilization technologies.