If you work in the pharmaceutical sector in any of the countries where businesses fear the sword of some carbon tax or an emissions scheme would soon fall, then you would simply love what Jason McConville has recently discovered. McConville, a scientist from the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy, found that environment-friendly solvent ethyl lactate can be used in the manufacturing and processing of pharmaceuticals to cut the carbon footprint of pharma companies.
“Many pharmaceutical companies are striving to lower their carbon footprint, and one way of doing this is to use renewable ingredients in their products,” stated McConville.
He further said that many contemporary drugs use petroleum-based products during their processing, which come from non-renewal sources like oil. Ethyl lactate is made using lactic acid and ethanol, and reduces the environmental impact because both the constituents can be naturally produced using corn fermentation.
The study is yet to be published in the forthcoming copy of Pharmaceutical Technology, but McConville broke the news for the university website.
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