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Laurell Technologies
Operations Manual WS-400 Lite Series
All information contained in this manual is the property of Laurell Technologies Corporation® and is NOT to be edited, reproduced or
distributed without express written permission from a corporate officer.
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1.6.3 RECOMMENDED ABATEMENT TECHNOLOGY
The vapor by-products expected in the effluent of the spin processor system should be
handled and disposed of in accordance with any and all safety and legal abatement
procedures. The recommended abatement technologies for efficient removal of
hazardous process by-products are solvent destruction or solvent recovery. Several
methods exist that are capable of removing the process by-products from the effluent
stream. Some are reportedly more effective than others in terms of efficiency. The
oldest abatement technology is to exhaust this effluent into the house
solvent
system,
which is normally present in a wafer manufacturing facility.
The trend of the industry is to abate the process by-products at the
point-of-use
(POU),
which localizes containment of the process effluent allowing ease of handling. Various
POU technologies, as described below, are available for controlling these process
by-products.
•
Thermal-oxidizers
convert the effluent gases into other compounds using either
flame combustion or a heated catalytic process. The flame combustion requires
fuel (usually hydrogen or natural gas) to maintain the flame.
•
POU
dry scrubbers
are chemical-absorbent materials that capture the effluent
onto absorbent granules. The benefits of dry scrubbers include cost
effectiveness, non-hazardous cartridge disposal, and, if available, recycling or
recovery of the solvent as a liquid.
More information on abatement technologies may be obtained from Semiconductor
Safety Association (a trade group) at (703) 790-1745 or
http://seshaonline.org/
1.6.4 LOCAL RESTRICTIONS (example)
The use of IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) creates an environmental concern. Certain local
jurisdictions have limitations on, and/or require permits for, the use of organic cleaning
solvents. For example, the San Francisco Bay Area Air Quality Management District
(BAAQMD) Regulation 2.1.118 limits the amount of volatile organic wipe cleaning
solvents that may be used without obtaining a specific permit to 20 gallons per year per
source area. Regular wipe down of the spin processor components could exceed this
regulation’s exemption limits alone or most likely when combined with similar operations
at an end-user’s facility.