Application of Liquid Ring Vacuum Pumps in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Liquid ring vacuum pumps, due to their unique working principle and structure, play an indispensable role in the pharmaceutical industry, especially in processes that require extremely high standards of cleanliness, safety, and reliability.

Key Applications of Liquid Ring Vacuum Pumps in the Pharmaceutical Industry

The core advantage of the liquid ring pump is that its working medium (water) is in direct contact with the pumped gas. This allows it to handle moisture, condensable vapors, and small amounts of solid particles common in pharmaceutical production while achieving isothermal compression, making it highly suitable for handling flammable and explosive solvent vapors.

Here are some key application scenarios:

1.Vacuum Filtration and Suction Filtration

Description: This is one of the most common applications in pharmaceutical production. For example, it is used in steps such as the separation after crystallization of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), mother liquor recovery, and catalyst filtration, where a stable vacuum level is required on a large filter bed to quickly dry the filter cake.

Advantage: Liquid ring pumps can steadily maintain the required vacuum level and handle the liquids and solvent vapors that may be entrained during the filtration process, preventing damage to the pump.

2.Vacuum Distillation, Concentration, and Drying

Description: In API synthesis, extract concentration (e.g., traditional Chinese medicine extraction), and equipment like vacuum drying ovens (e.g., double-cone dryers, freeze dryers), a low vacuum environment must be created and maintained to lower the boiling point of materials, allowing them to evaporate at lower temperatures and prevent the destruction of heat-sensitive drug components.

Advantage: The isothermal compression characteristic of liquid ring pumps prevents solvent vapors from decomposing or exploding due to excessive temperature during compression, ensuring high safety.

3.Solvent Recovery

Description: Large quantities of organic solvents (e.g., ethanol, acetone, dichloromethane) are used in production processes. Liquid ring pumps can be used to extract these solvent vapors and convey them to condensation recovery systems, thereby reducing solvent consumption and environmental pollution.

Advantage: Capable of safely handling various flammable and explosive organic solvent vapors.

4.Deaeration of Pharmaceutical Liquids

Description: In the production of liquid preparations such as injections and oral liquids, oxygen dissolved in the liquid can affect drug stability and shelf life. Vacuum is used to remove dissolved oxygen and other gases from the liquid.

Advantage: The gentle and stable vacuum environment provided by liquid ring pumps is suitable for sterile processes with extremely high cleanliness requirements.

5.Central Vacuum Systems

Description: Large pharmaceutical factories establish central vacuum stations that provide vacuum source to multiple points of use (e.g., various reaction kettles, filters, dryers) throughout the workshop simultaneously via a pipeline network.

Advantage: Liquid ring pumps are reliable and simple to maintain, making them ideal as the core equipment of central systems, enabling centralized management and optimized energy efficiency.