Energy Consumption and GHG Emissions

Bachem has set a goal of halving its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions per FTE by 2026, achieving climate neutrality by 2030, and to reduce its energy consumption per FTE by 20% until 2026, taking 2020 as reference year. Ambitious plans to reach these goals are on their way at each site and our tasks and performance are published with the Carbon Disclosure Project.

From 2022 on we evaluated and reported our Scope 3 GHG emissions that come along up and downstream of our company’s value chain. As these make up for a large part of GHG emissions when looking at the whole of Bachem’s value chain, the goal is to reduce these in cooperation with our business partners.

Green Chemistry

Bachem continuously redesigns processes to minimize the use and generation of hazardous substances, and to reduce the environmental impact. To that end we develop more environmentally friendly alternatives to established peptide manufacturing technologies in order to complement and extend Bachem’s technology platform. For part of this work, Bachem has partnered with other companies in the industry to join forces. These activities allow Bachem to support customers with the development of efficient and more sustainable manufacturing processes.

Relevant findings are published and presented at international conferences to support scientific progress. Moreover, Bachem is an associate member of the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable to exchange information and ideas with other companies engaged in Green Chemistry, and to contribute to the goals of the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute.

Resource Consumption, and Environmental Impact incl. Waste and Recycling

Bachem continuously monitors and reduces resource consumption and impacts on the environment. The focus in resource consumption is on water as a vital natural source. Systematic control and analysis of annual water consumption is in place, and corrective actions are taken in function of results. Moreover, employees are trained to use all resources responsibly.

Bachem safeguards the environment through emission control, regular HSE routine inspections and environmental audits. By that means risks related to impacts from operations on the local environment around company facilities, especially noise, odor and accidental pollution like spills are minimized.

We work diligently to reduce waste from our facilities by using efficient capture and disposal or recycling procedures. Waste production is being kept as low as possible for technical and occupational health reasons by managing the type and amount of raw materials used, by the way they are applied, and by optimizing reuse and recycling. It is our ambition to efficiently and effectively manage the transport and disposal of effluents and waste in order to maximize safety and minimize environmental impacts.

PFAS and TFA

The presence of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in industrial products is currently a topic of increased public interest, due to their widespread use and environmental persistence. The peptide manufacturing industry relies on PFAS due to their unique chemical properties, which are essential in various stages of peptide synthesis. One important PFAS for manufacturing peptides is TFA (trifluoroacetic acid). The treatment of TFAs and PFAS as emissions from pharmaceutical production is an area in which science and industrial companies are constantly learning.

Bachem has used trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) for years in the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients for drugs intended to treat a broad range of conditions such as cancer, diabetes and rare diseases. For instance, in the manufacturing process in Bubendorf, TFA is used in a watery solution that is highly diluted. Currently, TFA cannot be completely replaced by other chemicals in the manufacturing processes. The production of medical active ingredients is also highly regulated, so that the chemical composition of the manufacturing materials is defined by customers and health authorities from the time of approval and can only be changed with difficulty.

The majority of TFA is disposed of as specialty waste. A smaller portion is routed with the other industrial wastewater from the plant through the sewer system toward water treatment. Bachem is taking measures to minimize the proportion of TFAs in industrial wastewater, while investing into new manufacturing processes and technical innovations to replace, reduce or recycle certain chemical substances.