Currently, chip manufacturers use substantial amounts of organic solvents, which are rapidly fouled during etching, rinsing, cleaning, and polishing processes. During the 10-100 required chip manufacturing steps, over 10 gallons of chemicals are consumed per production batch. At scale, a modern semiconductor fabrication line consumes over a thousand tons of high-grade isopropyl alcohol yearly. Chip foundries rely on incineration and distillation to treat spent solvents, which require large amounts of fossil fuel and lead to high costs and carbon emissions. Incineration also necessitates the replacement of disposed solvent with expensive virgin solvent, further exacerbating costs and carbon emissions. To address this economically and environmentally expensive practice, Seppure has developed a portfolio of organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) membranes to economically purify spent process solvents, allowing them to be recycled back into operations or re-directed to secondary uses. OSN membranes are highly chemical-resistant to organic solvents, enabling efficient operation within many industrial process streams and wastes. With pore sizes of about 1-2 nm, these membranes can selectively separate compounds at the molecular level. OSN-based separation requires no added heat and only small amounts of energy to operate pumps. Consequently, OSN offers substantial energy savings compared to distillation or incineration. For instance, distilling 1m³ of methanol requires 1750 MJ of energy, whereas an OSN membrane requires only 3 MJ – a 580-fold reduction. Seppure is a leader in OSN, with a portfolio of membranes displaying excellent chemical resistance and performance for various organic solvents. Therefore, these membranes can recycle solvent in the semiconductor industry.
