Pharmaceuticals
Delivering clean, controlled, and compliant air for pharmaceutical facilities
SEMCO understands what pharmaceutical facilities need from their HVAC systems.
At SEMCO, we specialize in HVAC solutions engineered to meet the demanding requirements of pharmaceutical environments. Our extensive portfolio of products supports critical applications—from cleanrooms and QC areas to laboratories, production spaces, offices, and warehouses.
Our systems are designed to deliver exceptional air cleanliness, dehumidification, energy recovery, and overall efficiency, helping reduce life‑cycle costs across the entire building.
SEMCO understands what our pharmaceutical clients need to manufacture safe, effective, and stable products. That’s why we design and build our HVAC equipment and systems to fully support strict regulatory and operational requirements.
Air Treatment Challenges in the Pharmaceutical Industry
- Meeting Strict Regulatory Standards
- Managing Complex Facility Needs
- Ensuring Seamless Project Delivery
Pharmaceutical HVAC systems must operate within some of the most demanding conditions in the built‑environment sector. The industry’s strict regulatory framework—combined with the essential need to prevent contamination—creates unique challenges at every stage of system design and operation. Pharma campuses often include a wide range of spaces: cleanrooms, research labs, production and packaging areas, controlled storage, and distribution zones. Each environment requires precise control over temperature, humidity, airflow, pressurization, and filtration. This diversity adds complexity to system engineering, product selection, commissioning, and long‑term service.
Ensuring reliable, repeatable performance while meeting GMP, GDP, and other regulatory expectations requires expert coordination throughout the entire project lifecycle. Pharmaceutical clients need partners who can support them from initial system design through installation, validation, and ongoing after‑sales service—across every building type on site.
Supporting our customers from start to finish
With decades of experience and a proven portfolio of high‑performance HVAC technologies, SEMCO delivers integrated solutions tailored to the specialized needs of pharmaceutical facilities.
Whether you’re navigating stringent regulatory demands, managing a multifaceted building layout, or requiring end‑to‑end support from design through post‑installation service, SEMCO provides the performance, compliance, and confidence your operation depends on—every step of the way.
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Challenges and Solutions
The Challenge
Pharmaceutical manufacturing requires extremely low dew points
Many pharmaceutical processes demand dew points below 40°F (40 grains) to maintain product stability—conditions unachievable with conventional chilled water systems that typically bottom out at 48°F dew points.
Excess moisture in the air can have devastating effects on the drugs being manufactured, possibly wiping out weeks of production capacity and millions in inventory.
In addition to financial losses, these environmental failures can disrupt supply chains for critical medications, trigger regulatory investigations, and restrict manufacturing operations.
The Solution
The SEMCO Ascendant active desiccant system achieves 20°F dewpoint with built-in reserve capacity
The Ascendant combines conventional cooling with active desiccant dehumidification to achieve 20°F (20 grains) dewpoints or lower—well below the 48°F limit of conventional systems. This provides a 28°F safety margin against excess humidity, ensuring required conditions are maintained.
The Ascendant’s built in safety margin allows for:
- Disturbance rejection: Handles door openings, personnel entry, and equipment moisture without deviation
- Failure tolerance: Even with partial cooling loss, the desiccant wheel alone can maintain acceptable conditions
- Rapid recovery: Variable speed controls quickly work to eliminate excess humidity
The Ascendant’s ability to maintain ultra-low dewpoints with substantial buffer, transforms humidity from a constant risk into a controlled parameter, preventing million-dollar losses.
The Challenge
The FDA requires documented proof of continuous environmental control in pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities
Pharmaceutical quality is very highly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FDA requires all pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities to demonstrate that their equipment performance is validated and in compliance with their Current Good Manufacturing (cGMP) standards.
The Solution
SEMCO units are compliant and have validated performance
- All Ascendant and Pinnacle units come standard with integrated direct digital controls with factory-installed sensors that provide continuous monitoring and data logging of all critical parameters.
- Plenum fans are AMCA-rated.
- All SEMCO wheels have AHRI-certified performance.
- Wheels are NFPA 90A compliant.
- Double-wall construction eliminates exposed insulation where bacteria proliferate.
- The system’s ability to maintain conditions well within specifications provides the safety margin regulators require.
The Challenge
Pharmaceutical facilities require multi-level contamination prevention to protect product integrity
It is critical to protect against microbial contamination, cross-contamination between products, and particulate infiltration during pharmaceutical manufacturing because airborne particles, viable organisms, and product residues can cause batch rejection, product recalls, and FDA violations.
The Solution
The Pinnacle Series provides comprehensive contamination control
- The Pinnacle offers high levels of filtration with a HEPA option. The filters alone can remove particles, spores, and bacteria.
- The True 3Å™ wheel with its molecular sieve technology has less than 0.045% cross-
contamination between airstreams, preventing pathogen recirculation. - Double-wall panel construction eliminates exposed insulation where microbes proliferate.
- The system’s variable-speed fans control and maintain required pressure cascades.
SEMCO Solutions Overview
Though 60 years of experience and world-class product development, FläktGroup SEMCO has offerings that will support every part of your critical project, from project planning to installation and commissioning and beyond with service plans and upgrade paths.