Study of proper placements of HEPA-filter units in order to prevent airborne contamination of autoclaves in aseptic production by using computational fluid dynamics

Journal article, 2012

Autoclaves are common process equipment used in the pharmaceutical industry. This type of process equipment can cause temperature differences relative to ambient air. During unloading autoclaves used for aseptic production, entrainment of room air into the loading chambers may occur creating contamination risks. To minimise these risks, high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter units with unidirectional flow can be used to provide the chamber openings with clean air protection. This paper describes the use of computational fluid dynamics to simulate unloading of autoclaves used for aseptic production in try to improve the understanding of contamination risks of the autoclave chamber and present solutions of proper placement of HEPA filters in order to protect the openings of autoclaves.