Here, we presented a novel industrial application for membrane distillation (MD) in a pharmaceutical production facility’s wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Two semi-commercial air gap MD module designs (Xzero and Elixir500) 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 m3/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/m3 and $7/m3 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.