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Product Briefing Outline: Pall Corporation has introduced a new generation of fully automated separation systems for the reclamation of water and silicon sludge from the spent grinding/sawing water. The system design follows a modular concept and comprises a dynamic membrane filtration (MF) unit, combined with physicochemical pre-treatment of the spent process water.

Problem: Shaping of silicon ingots prior to wafering comprises several cutting and grinding operations and requires large quantities of water that acts as a cooling liquid, as a lubricant and as a carrier for the silicon particles. The spent process water leaves the tools highly contaminated by silicon particles.

Solution: The systems completely clarify the contaminated process water. Typically 90 to 95% of the contaminated process water is transformed into particle-free permeate ready for re-use. The remaining concentrate may be directly discharged, mixed with other wastewater streams or further treated to meet discharge regulations as well as to de-water the silicon debris. The system improves sawing/grinding performance due to controlled, advantageous process water specifications. It can reduce machine fouling and uncontrolled sedimentation in pipes, tanks and sinks. The system also can reduce chemical hazards due to silicon-water interaction by controlled pre-treatment
of spent process water and can collect de-watered silicon debris with low chemical contamination as potential feedstock for silicon re-use.The Cost of Ownership of the reclaimed water ranges from $0.50 per m³ for small systems to $0.25 per m³ for large systems.

Applications: Reclamation of water and silicon sludge from the spent grinding/sawing water.

Platform: The system design follows a modular concept and comprises a dynamic membrane filtration (MF) unit, combined with physicochemical pre-treatment of the spent process water. The capacity of the standard systems ranges from 3m³/h to 36m³/h (up to 140MWp p.a.). Higher capacity systems are available on demand. System prices depend strongly on capacity and options selected as well as on the number of redundant components.

Availability: March 2009 onwards.