Revisiting the Carbon Footprint of Single-Use Technologies in Biomanufacturing: A Bottom-Up Analysis Reveals a Paradigm Shift.

Authors

Jan Reiners, Katharina Bruno-Thakur, Daina Romeo, Weronika Kuśmierczyk, Ferdinand Stückler

Published in

Biotechnology and bioengineering. Jul 05, 2026. Epub Jul 05, 2026.

Abstract

The biopharmaceutical industry increasingly relies on single-use technologies (SUT) for operational flexibility. For a long time, SUT was considered more sustainable than stainless-steel (SST) systems due to water and energy savings. This study re-evaluates this paradigm via a detailed bottom-up analysis of the SUT carbon footprint at the 2000 L scale. Our analysis, based on two real-world facility case studies (a full-SUT and a hybrid-SUT model), shows that the CO2 footprint of SUT is significantly higher than previously assumed. This granular analysis, based on physical disassembly and updated "cradle-to-gate" factors, identifies filters and bags as key emission hotspots. A separate comparative analysis also shows that key SST process steps-favored by the progressive decarbonization of electricity grids-can now have a lower carbon footprint than their SUT counterparts. Our data demonstrates that an operationally optimized hybrid facility design, which combines SUT with SST, can significantly reduce plastic waste and associated emissions. These findings compel a reassessment of sustainability strategies in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and highlight the potential of fit-for-purpose hybrid models as an effective lever for reducing the ecological footprint.

PMID:
42402159
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Jul 2026.

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