Here, we presented a novel industrial application for membrane distillation (MD) in a pharmaceutical production facility's wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Two semicommercial air gap MD module designs (Xzero and Eldr500) were studied for comparison, with experimental results of product yield and heat demand up-scaled for inclusion in system simulations. District heating was considered to drive the 3 m(3)/h capacity MD process, with heat recovery employed in various process streams and for heating purposes in offices. The selected configurations show a high degree of thermal integration with an increase of yearly district heating purchases of 2-13%. Economic assessments of the full-scale MD system indicate that unit costs of purification would be $1.3/m(3) and $7/m(3) for Elixier500 and Xzero MD modules, respectively. Module heat losses should be considered in the future design of MD systems since the heat demand contributed to up to 77% of the specific costs.