Vincent Puisor, Global Business Development Director, Water and Wastewater at Schneider Electric
The UN predicts that by 2030 there will be a 40% gap between global freshwater supply and demand. Amid the escalating decline in freshwater availability, industry still accounts for a staggering 20% of global freshwater withdrawals.
The increased threat of water scarcity, competition for water resources due to a growing global population, and new regulations for wastewater discharge, has highlighted the urgent need to address inefficiencies across all industrial sectors.
The semiconductor industry is no exception, with the chip manufacturing boom increasing water consumption by 20-30% in the last few years. Today, the industry is on average using five times more water for chip production in comparison to ten years ago. In fact, a single semiconductor fabrication plant can use up to 10 million gallons of water per day, which is equivalent to the daily water consumption of a city with a population of 300,000, while an average chip manufacturing facility today can use 10 million gallons of ultrapure water per day—as much water as is used by 33,000 US households every day.
Furthermore, the demand for high-quality ultrapure water (UPW) needed for cleaning and cooling continues to rise, with the average chip manufacturing facility using 10 million gallons of UPW each day.
Producing ultrapure water is typically 60 to 350 times more expensive than producing drinking water, mainly due to the additional purification processes and equipment required to remove virtually all contaminants. This cost is so high because of the energy consumption and chemical usage that is needed for water treatment processes. With water demand showing no signs of slowing down, it is crucial for manufacturers to review operations now to optimize processes and reduce their water consumption.
The operational case for enhanced circularity
According to recent analysis from S&P Global, “water scarcity is a risk in the coming decade for the tech hardware industry, particularly the water-intensive semiconductor subsector. Mishandling of such a risk could hit a chipmaker’s operations and creditworthiness.”
By 2030, 40% of chip production facilities are predicted to be in high- or extremely high-water-risk areas. Already many governments across the globe are increasing investments in domestic semiconductor manufacturing efforts to safeguard supplies while managing ESG concerns and environmental impacts.
Combine this threat with the expanding regulation to include zero liquid discharge (ZLD) treatment process -which has the capability to reduce plant overall energy consumption by up to 20% and coagulant & flocculant chemical usage by 5- 20% – and it is clear that it is essential that the semiconductor industry focuses efforts on the importance of smarter water use across their operations.
So, what does this look like in practice? Click here to read the full article in Semiconductor Digest
