Researchers in Japan have developed an innovative bioreactor that can turn waste from pharmaceutical and other biomanufacturing processes into energy. This technology, created by scientists at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Kagoshima College, helps solve a major challenge in the industry: how to safely and efficiently dispose of high-strength wastewater and solid organic waste while also generating clean energy. Normally, pharmaceutical plants burn solid waste and treat wastewater in large, energy-intensive facilities, which is not sustainable. This new bioreactor, called the anaerobic baffled continuous stirring (ABCS) reactor, uses naturally occurring microorganisms to break down waste in an oxygen-free environment. This process, called anaerobic digestion, produces methane gas\u2014a valuable energy source\u2014while also cleaning the waste. The reactor is split into two parts: one that stirs the waste to speed up the breakdown process and another with barriers (baffles) that prevent solid waste from clogging the system. This design allows the reactor to run smoothly for over 100 days without stopping and produces 1.62 times more methane than traditional methods. The study, published in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, shows that this technology could help pharmaceutical companies reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and make their waste management more eco-friendly. Instead of relying on incineration and large-scale treatment plants, plants could use this bioreactor to turn waste into energy right on-site, making the process more sustainable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Researchers in Japan have developed an innovative bioreactor that can turn waste from pharmaceutical and other biomanufacturing processes into energy. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pharmaceutical-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3486,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3481\/revisions\/3486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}