The semiconductor industry uses millions of litres of water every day and understands the need for water reuse. Most of the industry follows a strategy to clean wastewater enough for a specific purpose. Here is how we fit in.
Water Treatment for Semiconductor Industry
Nyex™ water treatment technology benefits
The Arvia water treatment process combines two streams of technology together to overcome the deficiencies of each of those streams: electrochemistry and adsorptive technologies.
The contaminant is adsorbed onto the surface of our patented media and then is completely oxidised by the current. This method uses much less energy than traditional electrochemical processes.
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No sludge
One of the exciting things about the technology is that we do not produce any waste. We do not produce any sludge and all the organics are then oxidized so that they don’t have to be disposed of in an expensive secondary disposal route. Sometimes the breakdown products can be more hazardous than the original compounds that they started with, so a zero-waste model is very attractive to most of our clients.
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No chemical dosing
Nyex does not need chemical dosing so there are no chemicals to manage onsite and therefore minimal operation requirement. This is due to the unique combination of adsorption (which concentrates the pollutants onto the media) and electrochemistry (for oxidation).
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Removal to very low levels
Another benefit of using the dual technology in one process is that we can achieve extremely high levels of removal. The contaminants continue to be adsorbed by our media even at very low concentrations, which is how we can achieve such impressive removal rates. Essential for compliance to strict regulations and to increase the amount of water reuse in your facility.
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Minimal maintenance
In addition to all these benefits, our media regenerates during the process, so it does not need to be replaced. The only maintenance is a minimal top up of media once a year, which takes less than an hour. This means you do not need to buy a back-up process as there is extremely high up-time of Nyex.
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Modular design
Our Nyex™ systems are modular in design and are designed to ‘Plug and Play’ with your existing treatment processes. This ensures Nyex™ is in the right place to remove the problematic compounds which other treatment processes leave behind.
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Increase efficiencies of existing treatment processes
Our water treatment systems can be used to enhance the efficiencies of existing treatments. For example, by placing them before an RO process and protecting the membranes from harmful chemicals, the lifetime of the membranes can be extended.
Are there wastewater regulations to consider?
Millions of litres of water are used in the manufacture of semiconductors every day for both process and non-process applications. It is an expensive issue and also one which is gaining environmental interest. The semiconductor industry is being pushed to reuse more and more of their water, but this is not an easy task.
Semiconductor wastewater contains toxic solvents, corrosion inhibitors and other organic process chemicals. These contaminants are difficult to reduce, let alone remove to below level of detection.
Regulators have the power to shut down facilities which expel toxins in their effluent streams, and fines of $100m have been incurred by facilities to clean up ground water issues.
Our water treatment solutions are particularly effective at treating some organic chemicals found in semiconductor effluent. We offer you the following services:
Water reuse
In this world of limited resources, we celebrate and support the aspiration and drive by some semiconductor facilities to try to reuse 100% non-process water. It is clearly the right thing to do for the environment and will go some way to protecting the environmental reputation of this industry.
But perhaps the stronger driver is the cost savings that can be realised by increasing the amount of non-process water that is reused.
We feel very at home with these drivers, with having one of the most eco-friendly water treatment processes on the market, which is also extremely cost effective in terms of CapEx and OpEx compared with alternatives.
Talk to us about how Nyex can be used as part of your drive for Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD).
Blowdown water treatment
The demand for water for cooling applications from fresh water sources is immense, and one that has a huge impact on the cost of manufacture and the environment.
There is a major push by global players in this sector to enhance reuse of water for this application, with some having established goals of 100% water reclaim or re-use for all non-process water.
This goal can only be achieved through the deployment of novel technologies which are enablers in achieving the requisite water quality parameters for water reuse.
Specialist advanced water treatment process
Cleaning wastewater from a semiconductor foundry is not a one-step process. There are many types of contaminants to deal with, which need to be removed to below the level of detection. It is a specialist job, from a careful understanding of the waste streams, to smart sensors for segregating streams, to optimise waste management and treatment.
Our water treatment process, Nyex™ is extremely effective in removing toxic contaminants such corrosion inhibitors (for example, Azoles where we have demonstrated >99% removal), solvents, and organic contaminants in general to below the level of detection.
Low risk water treatment
What is important to you is important to us. We can support your validation or verification requirements. We understand your need for low-risk solutions so that is why when you work with Arvia you get the option for a three-step delivery:
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Bench testing in our laboratories
We can test your water against a range of our products to determine the treatment performance and efficiency under different conditions, providing data and insights to support the optioneering process.
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Pilot testing on your premises
We can install a pilot plant to assess and develop the treatment process under real operating conditions, and over longer time periods to capture variable conditions.
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Data driven full scale design
Data driven full scale design increases certainty over cost and performance early in the project, reducing risk. On-site installation, commissioning, and optimisation support from Arvia ensures maximum return on your investment.
