Case Study · Sanofi · Framingham, Boston, USA

Can a cleanroom airlock decontaminate itself?

Challenge

Moving equipment between cleanroom grades risks contamination, and manual airlock disinfection is slow and error-prone.

Approach

Two fully-automated UV222™ Material Airlocks deliver 360° far-UVC surface decontamination during every transfer.

Result

Grade D → C, with a log-3 surface reduction in under 20 minutes — rapid, reliable, and chemical-free.

The Challenge

Contamination risk at every transfer

Material airlocks sit at the boundary between cleanroom grades — and every transfer is a chance for contamination to cross over.

Traditional decontamination relies on manual wipe-downs and chemical agents: time-consuming, hard to standardize, and dependent on the operator. Sanofi wanted to minimize manual intervention and human error while keeping cycle times short enough not to slow production.

The Approach

Two automated UV222 Material Airlocks

Sanofi installed two fully-automated UV222™ Material Airlocks side-by-side at its Framingham site.

Each unit applies 360° far-UVC (222 nm) to all surfaces of items passing through. Because the cycle is automated, decontamination is consistent every time and uses no chemicals — removing both the variability of manual cleaning and the residues of chemical agents.

The Result

Rapid, reliable, chemical-free

The airlocks support a transition from Grade D to Grade C, delivering a log-3 surface reduction in under 20 minutes per cycle.

The outcome is a faster, more repeatable transfer step that reduces reliance on manual cleaning and chemicals — supporting both contamination control and throughput.

Want the full data?

A detailed report with methodology and results can be linked here.

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Far-UVC for your cleanroom?

Talk to our team about UV222 for GMP environments. Full references available on request.