Undergraduate students of the Chemical Engineering Department of the Bioprocess Study Program attended a guest lecture from Mr. Andreas Vihs with the theme “Advanced and Modern Lyophilization Techniques.” This guest lecture was held on September 8, 2022, and was accompanied by Dr. Muhammad Sahlan M.Eng. as a lecturer in Protein Engineering courses.
Mr. Andreas Vihs is an Area Sales Management of Martin Christ Gefriertrocknungsanlagen GmbH, a lyophilization or freeze dryer manufacturing company that was founded 75 years ago and is located in the city of Osterode, northern Germany. In Indonesia, Martin Christ is distributed by PT. ITS Science Indonesia was established in 1997. Also, present to accompany Mr. Andreas is Mrs. Sara Wijayanti as Life Science Division Manager of PT. ITS Science Indonesia.
At the lecture, Mr. Andreas Vihs who previously worked as a Development Engineer and Project Manager at Roche (Switzerland and Germany) explained the theoretical basis and working principles of the freeze drying process, the latest technology used, and its application to Life Science research including in the Pharmaceutical industry. “Freeze drying technique is a method of preserving a material (eg peptides, microbes, algae, etc.) which is very safe so that it does not damage/do not eliminate the biological activity of the material’s molecules,” said Andreas.
The types of freeze dryers produced by Martin Christ vary widely, starting from a laboratory scale with a condenser capacity of 2 kilograms and a pilot scale commonly used in R&D laboratories to a production scale with a condenser capacity of up to 500 kilograms which can be integrated with other supporting tools such as isolator and robotic system for loading sterile product samples.
BaTherere three main components of a freeze dryer, namely a vacuum pump, a condenser, and a drying chamber. Thus, with only these three components, the lyophilization process can be carried out. But of course, apart from these three components, Martin Christ has equipped his tools with the latest technologies that are capable of monitoring and ensuring that the lyophilization process runs according to the desired target.
“The technology is “Process Analytical Technology (PAT)” using the following technologies: (1) Wireless Temperature Monitoring (WTM) plus 2.0; (2) Checking Freezing Point + Process Monitoring using LyoControl Sensor; (3) Comparative pressure measurement with Pirani and manometer; (4) LyoCam 2.0 (camera integrated with software); (5) Martin Christ Controlled Nucleation – LyoCoN software and the last one is New Membrane Technology called Lyoprotect® Membrane,” concluded Andreas.
***
Public Communication Bureau
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia