Green manufacturing in the medical device industry : a case study

Introduction: Med Dev (name changed to protect confidentiality), is a medical device start-up using tissue engineering and drug delivery techniques to help combat the negative effects associated with secondary injury. Med Dev's first generation technology is a polymer scaffold that will be inserted into the injury site immediately post injury during a routine procedure. The scaffold prevents secondary injury (bruising and scarring) formation by filling the void space left by the injury, promoting cell growth over deleterious apoptosis (cell death), and slowly degrading away over the course of approximately one month. Med Dev's second generation technology is a photopolymerizable hydrogel which would function identically to the first generation, except that it would be injected into the injury rather than surgically inserted. Med Dev's first and second generation technologies, differ not only in their method of administration, but also in their manufacture. Commercially available polymers are mechanically processed for scaffold manufacture, whereas Med Dev must synthesize their own polymers for hydrogel manufacture. Polymer synthesis requires vast quantities of often toxic solvents to solubilize and later extract the polymer. In the first generation technology toxic solvent responsibilities lie with Med Dev's suppliers, whereas in the second generation technology Med Dev is directly responsible for their toxic solvents use. This is not to say Med Dev should not be aware of their supplier's use of toxic solvents when they are producing polymers for Med Dev's end-use, but rather to point out that Med Dev is more directly responsible for toxic solvent use when they produce their own polymers. In January, as Med Dev's director of operations I applied for a grant which required that I detail how Med Dev intended to build a green manufacturing facility. Understanding all the toxic solvents involved in a polymer synthesis, I thought while building a green manufacturing facility was a positive step toward becoming more environmentally sustainable, why stop there, why not incorporate green thinking into polymer synthesis process design. A thesis was born. The US EPA defines green chemistry as: "...the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances. Green chemistry applies across the life cycle, including the design, manufacture, and use of a chemical product." ' Green chemistry is essentially a pollution prevention methodology, resulting in resource conservation, waste reduction, and enhanced product safety. Companies are beginning to realize that pursuing green chemistry is not only good for the environment, but also for their bottom line; they are becoming increasingly aware that continued competitiveness in the allied chemicals industry actually requires the implementation of green chemistry principles. Paul Anastas and John Warner published what have become the central tenets of green chemistry in their 1998 book entitled "Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice."

Department dc:contributor.department

System Design and Management Program.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Gautreau, Leigh (Leigh Ann)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Michael Davies.

• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/55209

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/55209