27.03.2024
Three questions for Richard Vallin, Process Industry Technical Manager
Between innovative and existing solutions, discover the challenges of cleanrooms in the process industry sector.
A deciphering with Richard Vallin, Technical Director Industry at Equans France.
What major topic will Equans be covering at the next ContaminExpo in Lyon?
The ContaminExpo trade show in Lyon is dedicated to cleanroom fundamentals (cleanroom contamination control and cleanroom air treatment) and brings together regional companies around workshops, debates and conferences. An expert in cleanroom design for 30 years and owner of Europe's largest HVAC design office through its Axima entity, Equans will be attending and holding a plenary conference conducted with Aspec on Thursday, March 28 at 11:30 am.
On the occasion of this meeting, I will discuss with Olivier Allieres, 4 main points:
- Topics related to air treatment issues in cleanrooms (mixing rate, diffusion, pressure, dust, noise level, decontamination, filters, qualification criteria & equipment sizing etc..)
- The latest regulatory developments, and in particular the different approaches to determining airflow
- The various case studies, adapted to each sector of activity, including the gigafactory, hospital and pharmaceutical worlds on which Equans has developed genuine expertise
- The best practices that can be applied
Since we're talking about "cleanrooms", who are they for and what needs do they meet?
A cleanroom is a confined area in which, thanks to an air-conditioning system, a player will be able to operate or manufacture a product, minimizing the risks of contamination, dust, microbes or other harmful micro-organisms. It can be used, for example, to protect a food or pharmaceutical product throughout the production chain, preserving its contents until it is sealed and stored in an airtight environment. The main sectors concerned are electronics and high-tech, healthcare, hospital, biotech, food processing, paint booths and datacenters.
There are almost as many cleanrooms as there are customers; each designed, with degrees of customer requirement (ISO classes), to meet the needs and specificities of its owner in the most optimal way. For example, anhydrous rooms, a variant of clean rooms, have the specificity of guaranteeing virtually zero absolute humidity (water weight), one of the essential safety and performance criteria in the electric mobility sector (gigafactory batteries). They are therefore particularly popular!
What are the main issues involved in cleanroom air treatment?
There are many issues at stake, due to the closed, sealed environment, generally under pressure and made up of one or more rooms. But the most important thing to remember is that if cleanrooms require such unprecedented levels of technical skill and rigor, it's because they are the guarantors of both the quality of the end product (and we're talking here about medicines, foodstuffs or even car batteries) and the health of the people who are operated on in them, in the case of a hospital operating theatre! Air treatment in cleanrooms is therefore a response to issues of well-being, health, food and sustainable development, hence the passion and professionalism that drive its members.
More concretely, within cleanrooms, the first thing to watch out for is particle contamination, whether living, inert or chemical. To prevent external aggressors from polluting the products present in the cleanroom, and spreading into the air, the cleanroom is pressurized. On the other hand, when contaminants are present in the cleanroom, the room is depressurized to prevent them from escaping to the outside. All this takes place in protected systems, potentially with ventilated suits to confine operators. In this type of room, we'll be using a double-flow ventilation system, with all fresh air, with contaminants blocked by single or double BIBO filters. The filters in these BIBOs are regularly replaced, disinfected and autoclaved.
