HVAC Efficiency Within a Controlled cGMP Environment
Jason Rifkin, Equilibrium
Patrick Goetz, Southland Industries
In the summer of 2007, a client made a strategic decision to decommission its existing cGMP cell banking facility and replace it with a new cGMP cell banking facility. These facilities are expensive to design and build and, often times, expensive to operate. A key design element of the new facility was to improve on the existing, inefficient HVAC design, while creating a more robust facility containing mechanical redundancy. In this effort, several small, redundant fan coil units replaced the existing design parameter of a 100-percent outside air unit.
In the new facility, a dedicated outdoor air handling unit provides outdoor air. This outdoor air is sized to pressurize the cell banking suites. This amount of outdoor air is also sufficient to ventilate the spaces. These units recirculate air, which significantly increases energy efficiency as well as the control characterizations, space temperature, and humidity.
The overall project encompasses four Class 10,000 (ISO 7) process rooms, with a Class 10,000 (ISO 7) corridor on the entrance side of the process rooms and a Class 10,000 (ISO 7) corridor on the egress side of the process rooms. Entrance into the clean and dirty corridors is via a Class 100,000 (ISO 8) gown-in and gown-out room, respectively. The above rooms make up the classified cGMP spaces of the project and were constructed with AES modular wall/ceiling technology.
Frequently, the exception to the rule for laboratory facilities is recirculated air. It seems that the Mid-Atlantic region and its design engineers tend to design with the National Institutes of Health Laboratory Design Guidelines in mind, which results in facilities with 100 percent outside air. This was fine when utility bills were lower, but is getting more attention now that the cost of electricity and natural gas are rising at unprecedented rates. Laboratories do not necessarily require 100 percent outside air, and the thought process behind designing 100 percent outside air into a facility should be scrutinized during the design process. This presentation will show how to the project team changed the thinking behind an existing facility and provided the owner with a more energy-efficient and superior product.
Biographies:
Jason Rifkin has worked in the life science industry for the past 15 years and brings extensive experience in the biotechnology and life science sector. He previously worked for Celera Genomics as a Quality Control Supervisor and NeuralStem as a Researcher and Laboratory Manager. Mr. Rifkin has worked with Turner Construction Company as a life sciences construction market consultant and for Scheer Partners as a senior vice president in charge of development and construction of life science facilities. Mr. Rifkin is the principal of Equilibrium and oversees program management and design–build projects for life science facilities. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, a Master of Science degree in neurobiology from Montana State University, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Baltimore. Mr. Rifkin has also published articles in peer reviewed scientific journals.
Patrick Goetz has more than 20 years of experience in the l ife sciences industry, where he has prepared complex master plans for single and multi-building operations. The master plans have ranged from research and development to manufacturing facilities and campuses. Mr. Goetz's background also includes experience in the planning, design, construction, and start-up phase of a variety of biotechnology/pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities and research and development laboratories. Mr. Goetz's current duties at Southland include performing engineering analyses to determine work programs that satisfy customer work requests, producing proposals, and negotiating contracts. He also acts as the engineering leader for the life sciences group. In this role, he prepares basis of design and red line documents, and he reviews engineering calculations and design drawings. Mr. Goetz also remains involved during construction to review submittals, as well as work progress and conformance with the program.