MilliporeSigma launches €150M climate-neutral filtration site in Ireland

MilliporeSigma, the U.S. and Canada Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, has opened a €150 million (USD $176 million) filter manufacturing facility in Cork, Ireland. The company said the site is its first designed for climate-neutral operations, powered entirely by renewable electricity.

Located in Blarney Business Park, the 3,000-square-meter cleanroom facility will supply filters used in the production of vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and emerging modalities such as cell and gene therapies. MilliporeSigma said the investment strengthens its “in-region-for-region” supply model by expanding European-based manufacturing to reduce cross-border risks.

“Ireland is a leading hub for biopharmaceutical manufacturing and innovation for Europe and globally,” MilliporeSigma CEO Jean-Charles Wirth said in a statement. “By expanding manufacturing in Cork, we reinforce our in-region-for-region manufacturing and supply model, reducing cross-border risks and providing manufacturers with reliable access to critical filtration technologies they need to deliver life-changing therapies.”

The company said the facility is expected to begin production in late 2025 and will produce devices used in aseptic processing, tangential-flow filtration, and virus filtration. The site will operate on 100% renewable electricity, incorporate heat recovery systems, and reuse up to 95% of its high-purity reverse osmosis water.

The Cork facility is part of Merck KGaA’s €440 million ($517 million) investment in filtration manufacturing in Ireland, which includes expansion at the company’s Carrigtwohill site. Together, the projects represent the company’s largest life science investment to date and are part of a €2 billion ($2.3 billion) global expansion program announced in 2020.