Comparative life cycle assessment of stainless steel and single-use bioreactor units: A laboratory scale case study

In recent years, the biopharmaceutical industry has witnessed a surge in the adoption of Single-Use technologies; however, concerns about environmental sustainability have arisen due to the substantial amount of solid plastic waste generated by implementing such technologies. This study presents a comparative Life Cycle Assessment grounded in an industrially applied case study at a pharmaceutical facility in Italy, using primary operational data. The assessment evaluates two distinct laboratory scale bioreactor units reflecting the actual equipment configuration at the facility: a conventional stainless-steel bioreactor (SSB) and a single-use bioreactor (SUB). The assessment followed a cradle-to-grave approach over a 20-year operational horizon, normalising the results to the functional unit of 1 g of protein produced in a bioreactor. Five end-of-life scenarios for the single-use bioreactor were explored: landfill, incineration, incineration with energy recovery (IER), recycling and a combined recycling with IER scenario. Results across all 16 evaluated impact categories consistently show that the SSB exhibits a higher environmental burden than the SUB. In the Climate Change impact category, producing 1 g of protein in the SSB emitted 14.9 kg of CO2-eq., whereas the SUB emitted 8.7 kg of CO2-eq, assuming landfill as the base case disposal method. Electricity consumption was identified as the dominant environmental driver for both systems. The study also demonstrates that end-of-life management is not a marginal factor. The environmental profile of the SUB varied across disposal scenarios, with IER providing the most ecological benefits. These findings confirm that the disposal of plastic components emerges as a critical factor in assessing the environmental sustainability of single-use technologies.